Does the story of Lucius, a curious and lustful young man who is magically transformed into an ass, have anything to teach us today? Does it have a serious, philosophical and religious meaning, or is it just a form of literary play, full of adventures, magic, sex, violence, and religion? This volume studies the reception of the novel in the last hundred years, showing also the most promising and diverse research perspectives for the future. Apuleius claimed that a philosopher must possess a mirror; perhaps, his novel is a mirror for us to look into.

The present volume focusses on the reception of Apuleius' Golden Ass in the 20th and the 21st centuries, juxtaposing essays on reception with scholarly studies of the novel that represent new and promising research perspectives.

Translated from the Latin by the poet and author of I, Claudius, this ancient Roman novel follows the many adventures of a man who transforms into an ass. Driven by his all-consuming curiosity, a young man of good parentage named Lucius Apuleius takes a trip to Thessaly. Along the way, amidst a series of bizarre adventures, he inadvertently offends a priestess of the White Goddess, who promptly turns him into an ass. How Lucius responds to his new misfortune, and ultimately finds a way to become human again, makes for a funny and fascinating tale. The Metamorphosis of Apuleius, referred to by St. Augustine as The Golden Ass, is the oldest novel written in Latin to survive in its entirety. Originally written by Lucius of Patrae, this translation by Robert Graves highlights the ribald humor and vivid sense of adventure present in the original. Providing a rare window into the daily lives of regular people in ancient Greece, Robert Graves’s translation of this classic tale is at once hilarious, informative, and captivating.

Written towards the end of the second century AD, The Golden Ass tells the story of the many adventures of a young man whose fascination with witchcraft leads him to be transformed into a donkey. The bewitched Lucius passes from owner to owner - encountering a desperate gang of robbers and being forced to perform lewd 'human' tricks on stage - until the Goddess Isis finally breaks the spell and Lucius is initiated into her cult. Apuleius' enchanting story has inspired generations of writers such as Boccaccio, Shakespeare, Cervantes and Keats with its dazzling combination of allegory, satire, bawdiness and sheer exuberance, and remains the most continuously and accessibly amusing book to have survived from Classical antiquity.

In the fourth century, Saint Augustine called Metamorphoses "The Golden Ass," and since then this name has become better known than the book's actual title. The phrase "golden ass" may derive from the golden, or esteemed, status the book achieved; it may also contrast the opposite connotations of "golden" and "ass," since the donkey had an ignominious reputation in Apuleius's time, being associated in the Egyptian religion with the evil god Seth, an enemy of the god Isis.Typical of second century authors, Apuleius does not invent his basic plot but shows his education by taking it from a Greek work, probably one written by Lucian, who was rewriting a tale by Lucius of Patrae or an earlier Greek author. Consequently, Apuleius begins by depicting his character Lucius as a Greek, who apologizes for his unfamiliarity with Latin. Such an apology also allows Apuleius to excuse any foreign--in his case, African--idioms that might have found their way into his novel, but its intention most probably is to make the readers wonder at his highly rhetorical mastery of the language and to serve as a disguise for him. Near the end, however, his narrator Lucius describes himself as a "Maudauran," a reference to Apuleius's birthplace, as if Apuleius were revealing himself to be the narrator, but just briefly enough to leave readers wondering if the word, inappropriate to the character Lucius, might be a scribal error.Even if, as Saint Augustine presumed, the protagonist Lucius were a self-portrait of the book's author, Apuleius still manages to distance himself from most of the book, which consists of stories told to Lucius. These stories serve as parallels for the main narrative, since, like it, the stories are tales of suffering that lead to knowledge about the supernatural. In a general way, then, they resemble what was known about the mystery religions of the time: These religions were institutions with harrowing initiations that allegedly brought their initiates enlightenment.The Golden Ass begins with Lucius traveling to Thessaly, the land of his mother's family and an area famous for witchcraft. This introduces the pervasive theme of the novel--a connection of the feminine (particularly the maternal) and magic. Lucius hears a tale about a man named Socrates, who, like the philosopher Socrates, is rendered miserable by a shrewish woman, but in this case through her sorcery, which kills him when he reveals that she is an old witch. Although this story ought to frighten Lucius away from prying into magic, it incites his curiosity, as it may the readers'. Thereafter, despite warnings, Lucius seduces Fotis, a servant of the witch Pamphile, to learn the witch's secrets. Lucius wishes to turn himself into an owl (symbolic of wisdom) but instead becomes a donkey (symbolic of ignorance), since he has stolen the witch's magic. Tantalizingly, several times during the narrative, Lucius comes in close contact with roses, the antidote needed to transform him back into his human form; roses were associated with the grace of various mother goddesses. Not until the novel's end, however, does he have an opportunity to eat roses and return to human form. Most of the other characters are punished by divinely powerful maternal figures, including the goddesses Isis, Venus, and Fortune, as well as by witches, who are said to control the heavens.

Apuleius (c. 125-c. 180) was a student of Platonist philosophy and Latin prose writer who produced the novel "Metamorphoses", more popularly known as "The Golden Ass". This work is the only Latin novel to survive in its entirety. Adapted from an earlier Greek story, "The Golden Ass" tells of the adventures of Lucius, a young man who is obsessed with magic. In attempting to perform a spell, Lucius inadvertently transforms himself into an ass. His long and arduous journey is ornately illustrated by Apuleius' witty, imaginative, and often explicit language, in a series of subplots that carry the reader through to Lucius' salvation by the goddess Isis. These include the stories of Cupid and Psyche, Aristomenes, Thelyphron and others. The novel reflects Apuleius' own fascination with magic and the occult, and although comical at times, contains very serious messages about impiety towards the gods, and the risks of tampering with the supernatural.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "The Golden Asse" by Apuleius. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

A frank and vivid modern version of one of the most diverting of all classics. Lindsay's translation captures the genuine flavor, sharp dialogue, outrageous humor, racy delight and subtle style of Apuleius' sophisticated masterpiece.

Lucius, the narrator, is journeying to Thessaly. On his way he meets a man named Aristomenes, who tells him a story of Socrates, a friend of his whom he encountered along the road. Socrates had fallen in with a witch, who later killed him and frightened Aristomenes. Lucius believes the man's story and is intrigued.In Thessaly he stays with Milo and his wife, Pamphile, a notorious witch. Lucius encounters his aunt.Byrrhena, who warns him of Pamphile. While in town Lucius is also the centerpiece of the festival of Laughter when, drunkenly, he stabs three wineskins thinking they are robbers and is taken to a fake trial.Lucius begins to sleep with the maid, Photis. He begs her to let him watch Pamphile do magic, and Photis grudgingly agrees. They watch Pamphile turn into a bird, and after she leaves, Lucius clamors for the ointment she used. Photis accidentally gives him the wrong material, and he turns into an ass. He is terrified and angry, and Photis tells him the only way he can turn human again is by eating roses.Milo's house is robbed by a group of bandits, who take Lucius with him. He is beaten up and dragged to exhaustion. In the bandits' cave they bring in a young woman whom they'd kidnapped from a neighboring town for ransom. The old woman who tends them tells the girl the story of Cupid and Psyche.