 the metamorphoses of apuleius, which st. augustine referred to as the golden ass (asinus aureus),st. augustine, the city of god 18.18.2' is the only ancient roman novel in latin to survive in its entirety. the protagonist of the novel is called lucius.the golden ass 1.24 at the end of the novel, he is revealed to be from madaurus, in ancient algeria,the golden ass 11.27 the hometown of apuleius himself. the plot revolves around the protagonist's curiosity (curiositas) and insatiable desire to see and practice magic. while trying to perform a spell to transform into a bird, he is accidentally transformed into an ass. this leads to a long journey, literal and metaphorical, filled with in-set tales. he finally finds salvation through the intervention of the goddess isis, whose cult he joins. ==origin==  the date of composition of the metamorphoses is uncertain. it has variously been considered by scholars as a youthful work preceding apuleius' apology of 158/9 ad, or as the climax of his literary career and perhaps as late as the 170s or 180s. apuleius adapted the story from a greek original of which the author's name is said to be lucius of patrae (the name of the lead character and narrator). this greek text has been lost, but there is ÎÎ¿ÏÎºÎ¹Î¿Ï á¼¢ á½Î½Î¿Ï (loÃºkios Ã¨ Ã³nos, loukios/lucius or the ass), a similar tale of disputed authorship, traditionally attributed to lucian of samosata, a contemporary of apuleius. this surviving greek text appears to be an abridgement or epitome of "lucius of patrae's" text. possibly the original lost story was written by lucian and the abridged version was later transmitted under his name. ==plot== book one the prologue establishes an audience and a speaker, who defines himself by location, education, and occupation. the narrator journeys to thessaly on business. on the way, he runs into aristomenes and an unnamed traveler. the unnamed traveler refuses to believe aristomenesâ story. t
2nd-century_novels Ancient_Roman_erotic_literature Fictional_donkeys Latin_prose_texts Picaresque_novels Shapeshifting Zoophilia_in_culture