num_pages: 252
description: The Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius, which according to St. Augustine was referred to as The Golden Ass (Asinus aureus), is the only Latin novel to survive in its entirety. 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 &amp; perhaps as late as the 170s or 180s. Apuleius adapted the story from a Greek original, possibly by Lucius of Patrae (if that name isn't merely derived from that of the lead character &amp; narrator). The Greek text has been lost, but there is Λούκιος ἢ ὄνος (Loúkios è ónos, Lucios or the Ass), a similar tale of unknown authorship that is possibly an abridgement or epitome of Lucius of Patrae's text, wrongly attributed in ancient times to Lucian of Samosata, a contemporary of Apuleius. The text is a precursor to the literary genre of the episodic picaresque novel, in which Quevedo, Rabelais, Boccaccio, Cervantes, Voltaire, Defoe &amp; many others have followed. It is an imaginative, irreverent &amp; amusing work that relates the ludicrous adventures of one Lucius, a virile young man who is obsessed with magic. Finding himself in Thessaly, the "birthplace of magic," Lucius eagerly seeks an opportunity to see magic being used. His overenthusiasm leads to his accidental transformation into an ass. In this guise, Lucius, a member of the Roman country aristocracy, is forced to witness &amp; share the miseries of slaves &amp; destitute freemen who are reduced, like Lucius, to being little more than beasts of burden by their exploitation at the hands of wealthy landowners. The Golden Ass is the only surviving work of literature from the ancient Greco-Roman world to examine, from a first-hand perspective, the abhorrent condition of the lower classes. Yet despite its serious subject matter, the novel remains imaginative, witty &amp; often sexually explicit. Numerous amusing stories, many of which seem to be based on actual folk tales, with their ordinary themes of simple-minded husbands, adulterous wives &amp; clever lovers, as well as the magical transformations that characterize the entire novel, are included within the main narrative. The longest of these inclusions is the tale of Cupid &amp; Psyche, encountered here for the first but not the last time in Western literature.
language: English
title: The Golden Ass
titlecomplete: The Golden Ass
characters: Venus (goddess), Pamphile, Fotis, Charite, Milo (Apuleius), Thrasillus, Psyche (mythology), Lucius, Tlepolemus, Isis, Cupid
genres: Fiction, Roman, Ancient, Literature, Ancient History, Classics, Novels, Humor, Mythology, Fantasy
ratings_count: 15080
places: Greece, Thessaly
awards: awardedAt: -378662400000
name: Mikael Agricola -palkinto
publisher: Penguin Classics