Metamorphoses

A band of frenzied and rejected Thracian women kill Orpheus, angering the god Bacchus. Bacchus turns the Thracian women into trees.

Bacchus grants King Midas a wish for his help. Midas asks that everything he touch turn to gold. Soon Midas regrets this gift. Ovid writes, “no plenty can relieve his hunger; thirst / burns in his throat; justly the loathsome gold / tortures him” (253). Midas prays to Bacchus for help, and Bacchus undoes the gift.

Later, Midas judges a musical contest between Apollo and the god Pan. When he sides with Pan, Apollo angrily turns Midas’ ears into donkey ears.

Apollo and Neptune help King Laomedon build the walls of Troy. Laomedon does not honor them, so they flood the city and threaten his daughter, although Hercules rescues her.