Ovid's Creation of the World
Revolution in Separation: A Textual Analysis on Ovid's
Creation of the World
In his rendition of the creation of the world, Ovid employs the motif of separation as opposed to creation/formation through the symbols of the disordered mass to juxtapose the message of Genesis and introduce an organically Roman take on how humanity came into existence.
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From the beginning of the poem, Ovid establishes the motif of necessary separation through explaining the world’s origin as simply confused matter to add a refreshing perspective to the ancient story of creation. In the opening line of the Metamorphoses, Ovid addresses the gods remarking that he “wish[es] to speak of bodies reshaped into new forms” (line 1). Although outwardly, it is a reference to the overarching theme of change in the anthology, it also serves to preface the most important motif in the Creation–separation. He introduces the notion that nothing can be created, instead, only altered by using the phrase “reshaped.”
This idea is reinforced when Ovid details how whomever god assembled the world. Ovid describes the initial state of what was to him, the universe, as “nature [being] the single entity in the entirety of the world, what they call Chaos: an uncultivated, disordered matter.” This origin explanation directly contrasts Genesis’ take on creation: “a formless void” (Genesis 1:2). In the bible, God or Yahweh created the world like a painter creates a piece. From a black canvas (darkness), a painter slowly adds in large colors for the sky, the sea, and the land. Reminiscent of scenery artist Bob Ross’s oil painting technique of firstly applying titanium white to texture the canvas, God said “let there be light” when confronted by the infinite void. God then methodically added the earth, sea, and nature, then the animals and humans–all from nothing.
Paul Gustave Dore, And God said: Let there be light (1877)
However in Ovid’s interpretation, the way in which the creator formed Earth is akin to how a sculptor creates a piece. As fellow Italian and generational sculptor Michelangelo famously asserted, “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” In the beginning, there was no void present. Instead, a beautiful entity hidden in disordered matter–the epitome of a diamond in the rough. Parallel to how a sculptor separates pieces of marble, whichever god it was separated the land from the sea and the air from the heavens. Instead of pointing in a certain direction and mountains appearing (how one can imagine God created the world according to the Bible), Earth’s present form was destined from the beginning; it just required a divine sculptor to realize that destiny.
Ultimately, Ovid’s perspective on how the world we inhabit came into existence comes into stark contrast to what was presented in Roman society as the status quo by employing the single motif of separation. Innovating on the 1400 year old narrative of Genesis, Ovid flipped the rendition on its head and created a world in which a nameless god separated shapeless, confused, mass into the form it was destined to take–the canvas for people to paint the portrait of humanity.