It is not often that we get to say that there is a new translation of a classical text that has taken the world by storm. But that was exactly what happened when Professor Stephanie McCarter released her 2022 translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. We were honoured that Professor McCarter agreed to talk to us about the mysterious Ovid and her process of translation.

Stephanie McCarter is currently a Professor of Classics at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. She published a monograph entitled Horace between Freedom and Slavery: The First Book of Epistles in 2015 and a translation of Horace’s Epodes, Odes and Carmen Saeculare in 2020.

We would like to warn our listeners that this episode will touch on instances of violence and sexual assault. This is not one to listen to with the kids in the car.

<figure class="wp-block-audio aligncenter"></figure>

Special Episode – Ovid’s Metamorphoses with Professor Stephanie McCarter

Who was Ovid?

Ovid is one of our favourite Latin poets over at the Partial Historians. This is partially due to his work, which can be touching but also highly comedic. However, it is also because Ovid himself is hard to figure out.

He lived and worked during the reign of Augustus but claimed to have been exiled in approximately 8 CE. Academics are still trying to figure out what Ovid did that was so terrible… or whether he was making it up entirely!

Whatever he was up to, Ovid’s back catalogue is pretty impressive. He composed the Amores, the Heroides, the Fasti, the Ars amatoria, and his masterpiece, the Metamorphoses.

Translating Ovid for the 21st Century

Translation is an immensely difficult and often underappreciated task. We don’t mean getting out your dictionary and figuring out a passage here and there. We delve into the technique of translating an entire work, trying to make it accessible and enjoyable for a new generation, whilst staying true to the voice of the original author. Whew! What an undertaking.

Professor McCarter’s translation of the Metamorphoses is the first English translation of the work by a woman in many decades and it seems to have struck a nerve. There are many episodes of sexual violence in this work that have been softened or glossed over in previous translations. McCarter’s work aims to be more accurate and direct in the language, not shying away from the troubling aspects of these myths. This has allowed themes to emerge more clearly from text.

It was a delight to talk to someone as passionate and dedicated to their work as Professor McCarter. Her work highlights the way that translations often reflect the values of their creator and their context, hence the need for fresh interpretations.

Things to look out for:

• The powerful art of Elizabeth Columba


• An amazing New Yorker article on McCarter’s work


• The uterus and double helix cleverly woven into the mind-blowing cover art for McCarter’s book by Aiko Tezuka


• Professor McCarter makes reference to concordances as part of her process. These are essentially word indexes – very handy tools for translators!


• Exciting news about McCarter’s next projects!

Sound Credits

Our music is by Bettina Joy de Guzman.

Automated Transcript

Generated by Otter AI.

Dr Rad  00:15

Welcome to the partial historians,

Dr G  00:18

we explore all the details of ancient Rome.

Dr Rad  00:23

Everything from political scandals, the love affairs, the battles waged, and when citizens turn against each other. I’m Dr. Rad. And

Dr G  00:33

I’m Dr. G. We consider Rome as the Roman saw it by reading different authors from the ancient past and comparing their stories.

Dr Rad  00:44

Join us as we trace the journey of Rome from the founding of this city. Hello, and welcome to a special episode of the partial historians. I am one of your hosts, Dr. Rad,

Dr G  01:06

and I’m Dr. G.

Dr Rad  01:09

Now, Dr. G, you know that I break out in a cold sweat at the thought of translating anything. It’s

Dr G  01:16

true. I think I do as well at this point, I feel Yeah. So I’m

Dr Rad  01:20

super excited to have an expert in translation on our show. Today, we are going to be chatting to Stephanie McCarter, who is currently a Professor of Classics at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. She published a monograph entitled horrors between freedom and slavery, the first book of epistles in 2015, and a translation of Horace’s oppose, owed and calm and secular era in 2020. However, she has recently been spending more time with a man named of it, her 2022 translation of his Metamorphoses has received much acclaim, and this is what we will be focusing on today. However, before we start, we would like to warn our listeners that this episode will touch on instances of violence and sexual assault. Welcome, Stephanie

Stephanie McCarter  02:25

Thank you so much. This is this is a great treat. I’m super excited to be on this particular podcast because I spend so much time in Australia, my husband’s and Aussie. So I sometimes try to my kids are all these. So this is exciting. It

Dr Rad  02:42

is very exciting for us to have you on the show and to talk about this particular translation. But before we get into the actual translating stuff, just so I can, you know, ease myself into it, not have too many nightmares. Let’s start with a brief biography of of it, who is this guy? Well,

Stephanie McCarter  03:01

he is who he we think if he was who he would like us to believe he is. So most of what we know from him comes from his own poetry, we know very little about him outside of that. And you know, part of constructing his biography means picking and choosing the bits you want to believe, right. But we in terms of who he is, we know he was the last of the major Agustin poets, who were living in writing during the rise and reign of Augustus, along with Virgil and then Horace I tend to think of Virgil, Horace and Ovid is the big three. We need to be really careful with what he tells us because most of it comes from one poem, trusty 410, which he writes when he’s in exile, and he’s clearly trying to frame himself in a particular kind of quasi heroic light. So it’s hard to know what’s poetic fiction and what is fact. He was born in Salmo Italy in 43 BCE, but a year after the assassination of Julius Caesar almost to the day, March 20. Caesar, of course, famously killed on the Ides of March. And so he was about 12 or so when I guess this came to power. So when he really came of age during guesses rise, and then he died about a year after Augustus. So his life really straddles this period of Rome’s own metamorphosis, right from a Republic into an empire. And so I think that might be one reason he’s interested in the idea of transformation because one of the things he brings out in the metamorphosis is how states transform. So I think some of this is tied into his own experience in Rome. Um, his family was equestrian so that he was not from a super elite family, but certainly wealthy enough to send him to be educated in Rome along with his brother, who died when he was young. He clearly He received a stellar oratorical education which he put to great use in the poem. But he ultimately decided not to embark on a career as a politician or an order, and he decided that poetry was where he wanted to proceed instead,