This extract from Ovid's 'Theban History' recounts the confrontation of Pentheus, king of Thebes, with his divine cousin, Bacchus, the god of wine. Notwithstanding the warnings of the seer Tiresias and the cautionary tale of a character Acoetes (perhaps Bacchus in disguise), who tells of how the god once transformed a group of blasphemous sailors into dolphins, Pentheus refuses to acknowledge the divinity of Bacchus or allow his worship at Thebes. Enraged, yet curious to witness the orgiastic rites of the nascent cult, Pentheus conceals himself in a grove on Mt. Cithaeron near the locus of the ceremonies. But in the course of the rites he is spotted by the female participants who rush upon him in a delusional frenzy, his mother and sisters in the vanguard, and tear him limb from limb. The episode abounds in themes of abiding interest, not least the clash between the authoritarian personality of Pentheus, who embodies 'law and order', masculine prowess, and the martial ethos of his city, and Bacchus, a somewhat effeminate god of orgiastic excess, who revels in the delusional and the deceptive, the transgression of boundaries, and the blurring of gender distinctions. This course book offers a wide-ranging introduction, the original Latin text, study aids with vocabulary, and an extensive commentary. Designed to stretch and stimulate readers, Gildenhard and Zissos's incisive commentary will be of particular interest to students of Latin at AS and undergraduate level. It extends beyond detailed linguistic analysis to encourage critical engagement with Ovid's poetry and discussion of the most recent scholarly thought.

Metamorphoses is an epic poem but is very different from what we expect in an epic. Original, inventive and charming, the poem tells the stories of myths featuring transformations, from the creation of the universe to the death and deification of Julius Caesar. Book III concentrates on the House of Thebes, and this selection details the story of Pentheus and his tragic end after refusing to acknowledge the god Bacchus. This edition contains the Latin text as well as in-depth commentary notes which provide language support, explanation of difficult words and phrases, and analysis of literary features as well as information on the background to the story. The introduction presents an overview of Ovid in his historical and literary context, as well as a plot synopsis and a discussion of the literary genre and metre. All words in the text are given in a full vocabulary at the end and there are also suggestions for further reading. This is the prescribed edition of the verse set text for OCR's AS GCE Classics Latin qualification, for examination from 2015 to 2017 inclusive.