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Book 11: Midas
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Metamorphoses, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Metamorphosis
Humanity vs. Nature
Love and Destruction
Gods and Humans
Time, Fate, and Poetry
Summary
Analysis
After punishing King Midas, Apollo visits Troy, a newly founded city. The founder, Laomedon, is slowly building the city walls. Apollo and Neptune disguise themselves as humans and agree to build the walls in exchange for gold. When they finish the walls, Laomedon refuses to pay them. Neptune floods Troy and forces Laomedon’s daughter Hesione to be sacrificed to a sea-monster. Apollo rescues Hesione, but Laomedon refuses to pay him the reward for his heroic deed. Apollo then captures Troy with the help of Peleus and Telamon.
Troy is an important city later on in the Metamorphoses. Although it is initially founded by Laomedon, it is not finished being built by him but by Neptune and Apollo with the help of Peleus and Telamon—King Aeacus’s sons and the old allies of Athens. In this way, Troy is a city that is founded by a cooperation between gods and humans. Going forward, the gods will continue to be involved in Troy’s affairs.
Themes
