batch.motif.roman-ovid-metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley-gutenberg-l10447-l10540
---
record_id: batch.motif.roman-ovid-metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley-gutenberg-l10447-l10540
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
passage_locator:
label: EXPLANATION. / BOOK THE FOURTEENTH. / EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION.; lines
10447-10540
start: '10447'
end: '10540'
translation: The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books VIII-XV
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: 'The passage summarizes explanatory traditions about Dido/Elisa: her royal
Tyrian origin, marriage to Sicharbas, Pygmalion’s murder of him, her deceptive
escape by sea, her arrival in Africa, the bull’s-hide land bargain and foundation
omens, her refusal of Iarbas and suicide on a sacrificial pile. It also notes
textual explanations involving Virgil, Ovid, Justin, and Greek etymology; gives
variants of the Cercopians/Cercopes transformed by Jupiter or into rocks after
conflict with Hercules; and introduces the fable in which Apollo offers the Sibyl
as many years as grains of sand, but she forgets to ask for lasting youth.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Dido/Elisa is described as the daughter of Belus, king of Tyre, and as jointly
inheriting the crown with Pygmalion.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Pygmalion causes Sicharbas/Sichaeus, Dido’s husband and priest of Hercules,
to be assassinated because of his wealth.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Dido pretends reconciliation with Pygmalion while planning to escape the kingdom.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: Dido loads her wealth on ships and mixes sand-filled bags with bags of gold
to deceive the king’s observers.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: At sea, Dido throws bags overboard and represents this as an offering to appease
her dead husband’s spirit.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: Dido persuades the accompanying officers that they should flee Pygmalion’s
resentment, and they join her plan.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: Dido offers sacrifice to Hercules and sails onward after taking Tyrian nobles
aboard.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: In Cyprus, Dido’s party carries off eighty young women, who marry her companions.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: On the African coast, Dido bargains for as much land as she can encompass
with a bull’s hide, then cuts the hide into thongs to enclose enough ground for
a fort called Byrsa.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:10
text: An ox’s head found in the first foundation site is interpreted as portending
slavery, while a horse’s head found elsewhere is interpreted as a more favorable
omen.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:11
text: When pressed by Iarbas to marry him, Dido asks for three months before deciding.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:12
text: Dido orders a sacrifice as expiation to her husband’s shade, has a pile erected
for burning his belongings, ascends it, and kills herself with a poniard.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: obs:13
text: The passage says Virgil invented the visit of Aeneas to Dido to trace Roman-Carthaginian
hatred to Aeneas’ time.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: obs:14
text: The passage says Ovid elsewhere follows Virgil’s account of Aeneas’ treacherous
conduct and represents Iarbas as capturing Dido’s city after her death and driving
Anna into exile.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
- id: obs:15
text: The Cercopians are described as beings whom Jupiter transformed into apes;
a variant identifies Candulus and Atlas as robbers transformed into apes after
being about to insult Jupiter.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
- id: obs:16
text: Another variant places the Cercopes in Libya and says they were changed into
rocks after offering to fight Hercules.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:16
- id: obs:17
text: Apollo is said to be enamoured of the Sibyl and offers her as many years as
she can grasp grains of sand.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:17
- id: obs:18
text: The Sibyl forgets to ask to remain youthful and consequently becomes gray
and decrepit.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:18
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Dido / Elisa
description: Daughter of Belus, wife of Sicharbas/Sichaeus, fugitive from Tyre,
founder associated with Byrsa/Carthage, and widow who kills herself when pressed
to marry Iarbas.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:9
- ev:12
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Pygmalion
description: Son of Belus and joint heir with Dido, whose avarice leads him to have
Sicharbas assassinated and whose resentment Dido escapes.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:6
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Sicharbas / Sichaeus
description: Dido’s uncle and husband, priest of Hercules, possessor of hidden treasures,
and victim of Pygmalion’s assassination.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- ev:12
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Hercules
description: Deity or heroic recipient of sacrifice in Dido’s escape narrative;
also appears in a Cercopes variant as the figure whom they offered to fight.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:16
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Iarbas
description: King of Mauritania who presses Dido to marry him; elsewhere in the
passage, he is said to capture her city after her death in Ovid’s Fasti account.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:14
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Aeneas
description: Figure whose visit to Dido is said to have been invented by Virgil
and followed by Ovid in another work.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- ev:14
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Cercopians / Cercopes
description: Robbers or treacherous beings associated with an island near Sicily
or Libya and transformed into apes or rocks in variant accounts.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
- ev:16
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Jupiter
description: Divine figure who transforms the Cercopians/Candulus and Atlas into
apes after they are about to insult him.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Apollo
description: Divine figure enamoured of the Sibyl who offers her many years measured
by grains of sand.
role_refs:
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:17
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Sibyl
description: Recipient of Apollo’s offer of long life who forgets to ask for lasting
youth and becomes aged and decrepit.
role_refs:
- role:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:17
- ev:18
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: Anna
description: Dido’s sister, said in the passage’s note on Ovid’s Fasti to be driven
into exile after Iarbas captures the city.
role_refs:
- role:13
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
roles:
- id: role:1
label: royal Tyrian woman
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Dido is called the daughter of Belus, king of Tyre, and joint heir to the
crown.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: fugitive strategist
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Dido feigns reconciliation, deceives Pygmalion’s observers, and persuades
officers to join her flight.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: role:3
label: city founder and self-killing widow
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Dido secures land by the bull’s-hide bargain, founds a fort, and later kills
herself on a sacrificial pile dedicated to her husband’s shade.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:12
- id: role:4
label: murderous avaricious king
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Pygmalion’s avarice causes Sicharbas to hide treasures, and Pygmalion has
him assassinated.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:5
label: murdered priest husband
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Sicharbas is Dido’s husband, priest of Hercules, possessor of treasures,
and assassination victim.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:6
label: sacrificial recipient or heroic opponent
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Dido sacrifices to Hercules, and a variant says the Cercopes were changed
into rocks after offering to fight Hercules.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:16
- id: role:7
label: royal suitor and later conqueror in cited account
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Iarbas presses Dido to marry him and is also said to capture her city after
her death in Ovid’s Fasti account.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:14
- id: role:8
label: legendary visitor in later literary account
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The passage says Virgil invented Aeneas’ visit to Dido and that Ovid followed
Virgil’s account elsewhere.
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- ev:14
- id: role:9
label: transformed offenders
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The Cercopians/Cercopes are described as robbers or treacherous beings transformed
into apes or rocks in variant accounts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
- ev:16
- id: role:10
label: divine transformer
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: Jupiter transforms the Cercopians or Candulus and Atlas into apes.
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
- id: role:11
label: divine suitor and granter of years
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: Apollo is enamoured of the Sibyl and offers her years counted by grains of
sand.
evidence_refs:
- ev:17
- id: role:12
label: recipient of flawed longevity
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: The Sibyl receives the offer of many years but forgets to ask for continued
youth and ages.
evidence_refs:
- ev:17
- ev:18
- id: role:13
label: exiled sister in cited account
assigned_to:
- fig:11
basis: Anna is identified as Dido’s sister and is driven into exile in the cited
Ovidian account.
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: sand-filled bags
literal_form: Bags filled with sand mixed among bags of gold on Dido’s ship.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: sym:2
label: shipborne wealth
literal_form: Dido’s treasures placed aboard ship during her departure from Tyre.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:3
label: bull’s hide
literal_form: A bull’s hide cut into thongs to enclose land for a fort.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: sym:4
label: ox head omen
literal_form: An ox’s head dug up during foundation work and read as portending
slavery.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:5
label: horse head omen
literal_form: A horse’s head dug up at a new site and read as a favorable omen.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:6
label: sacrificial pile
literal_form: A pile erected for burning the belongings of Dido’s dead husband,
on which she kills herself.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: sym:7
label: poniard
literal_form: The weapon with which Dido kills herself on the pile.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: sym:8
label: apes
literal_form: Animal form into which Jupiter transforms the Cercopians or Candulus
and Atlas.
associated_figures:
- fig:7
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
- id: sym:9
label: rocks
literal_form: Alternate transformed form of the Cercopes in the Zenobius variant.
associated_figures:
- fig:7
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:16
- id: sym:10
label: grains of sand
literal_form: The quantity Apollo uses to measure the years offered to the Sibyl.
associated_figures:
- fig:9
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:17
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Dido’s Tyrian background and Pygmalion’s murder of Sicharbas
summary: Dido is presented as Belus’ daughter and joint heir with Pygmalion; Pygmalion
kills her wealthy husband Sicharbas, priest of Hercules.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Dido’s deceptive maritime escape
summary: Dido feigns reconciliation, loads wealth onto ships, uses sand-filled bags
to mislead observers, throws bags into the sea as a supposed offering to her husband’s
spirit, and persuades officers and nobles to join her flight.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:3
label: Cyprus abduction and marriages
summary: After leaving Tyre, Dido’s group lands in Cyprus and carries off eighty
young women who are married to her companions.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: scene:4
label: African land bargain and foundation omens
summary: Dido bargains for land measured by a bull’s hide, cuts the hide into thongs
to enclose a fort site called Byrsa, and interprets buried ox and horse heads
as omens affecting the foundation location.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- id: scene:5
label: Dido’s refusal of Iarbas and death
summary: Pressed by Iarbas to marry, Dido delays, orders a sacrifice to her husband’s
shade, raises a pile for his belongings, ascends it, and kills herself with a
poniard.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
- id: scene:6
label: Literary explanation of Aeneas and Dido
summary: The passage states that Virgil invented Aeneas’ visit to Dido to explain
Roman-Carthaginian hatred and notes that Ovid elsewhere followed Virgil’s account
while adding events involving Iarbas and Anna.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:11
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- ev:14
- id: scene:7
label: Cercopians transformed
summary: The passage gives traditions in which the Cercopians or Cercopes are transformed
into apes by Jupiter, or in another variant into rocks after challenging Hercules.
figure_refs:
- fig:7
- fig:8
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:8
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
- ev:16
- id: scene:8
label: Apollo’s flawed gift to the Sibyl
summary: Apollo, enamoured of the Sibyl, offers her years equal to the grains of
sand she can grasp; she forgets to ask for youth and becomes aged and decrepit.
figure_refs:
- fig:9
- fig:10
symbol_refs:
- sym:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:17
- ev:18
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Fugitive queen founds a city through cunning land measurement
taxonomy_refs:
- culture_hero
basis: Dido flees Tyre and obtains African land by bargaining for an area measured
by a bull’s hide, then cutting it into thongs to enclose a fort site.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:9
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage presents this as an explanatory foundation story and notes
that the hide fable may be a Greek etymological invention; the culture-hero label
is broad.
- id: motif:2
label: Deceptive escape by substituted treasure and ritual pretext
taxonomy_refs:
- trickster_boundary
basis: Dido mixes sand-filled bags among gold, throws bags overboard as if sacrificing
treasures to her husband’s spirit, and persuades the officers to flee with her.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy reference is approximate because the passage emphasizes strategic
deception and flight rather than a named trickster figure.
- id: motif:3
label: Foundation omens from buried animal heads
taxonomy_refs:
- royal_legitimacy
basis: An ox head and then a horse head are discovered during foundation digging
and interpreted as unfavorable and favorable omens for the city site.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage does not explicitly frame these omens as royal legitimacy;
it frames them as signs for the city’s future.
- id: motif:4
label: Widow’s sacrificial self-death to avoid remarriage
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: Dido responds to Iarbas’ marriage pressure by arranging a sacrifice to her
husband’s shade, mounting a pile, and killing herself with a poniard.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
confidence: high
cautions: The passage gives the act in explanatory summary form and does not elaborate
Dido’s inner motive beyond the marriage pressure and ritual pretext.
- id: motif:5
label: Punitive transformation of offenders into animals or stones
taxonomy_refs:
- shapeshifter
basis: The Cercopians/Cercopes are said to be transformed into apes by Jupiter in
one tradition and into rocks in another variant after challenging Hercules.
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
- ev:16
confidence: high
cautions: The taxonomy term 'shapeshifter' is used broadly for metamorphosis; the
beings are transformed rather than voluntarily shifting shape.
- id: motif:6
label: Divine lover grants flawed longevity
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_beloved
- sacred_exchange
basis: Apollo is enamoured of the Sibyl and offers her years counted by grains of
sand; because she omits a request for enduring youth, she becomes aged and decrepit.
evidence_refs:
- ev:17
- ev:18
confidence: high
cautions: Only the short fable summary is present; the full narrative details are
not included in the supplied passage.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly contrasts the explanatory Dido tradition with Virgil’s
poetic version, stating that Virgil invented Aeneas’ visit to Dido to account
for Roman-Carthaginian hatred.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Virgilian Aeneas-Dido episode
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: This is the translator’s explanatory claim within the passage; no external
verification is made here.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage says Ovid’s Fasti follows Virgil’s account of Aeneas’ treacherous
conduct while adding that Iarbas captures Dido’s city and drives Anna into exile.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Ovid, Fasti, Book 3 Dido tradition
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The supplied text provides only a summary of the Fasti account, not
the Fasti passage itself.
- id: claim:3
claim: The passage proposes that the bull’s-hide story of Byrsa may derive from
Greek interpretation of a Phoenician place-name resembling the Greek word for
hide.
claim_level: linguistic_similarity
target: Phoenician 'Bostra' / Greek βυρσὰ etymological explanation of Byrsa
evidence_refs:
- ev:19
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: This is reported as a probable invention by Greeks in the passage;
the underlying Phoenician narrative is not supplied.
- id: claim:4
claim: 'The Cercopes tradition is presented with variant transformations: apes in
the Jupiter/Candulus-and-Atlas account and rocks in the Zenobius/Hercules variant.'
claim_level: same_motif
target: Cercopes transformation variants
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
- ev:16
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage names sources and variants but does not quote them directly.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 10450-10456
quote_or_summary: Dido/Elisa is identified as Belus’ daughter, Pygmalion’s joint
heir, and a woman of extraordinary beauty.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 10456-10463
quote_or_summary: Sicharbas/Sichaeus, Dido’s uncle and husband and priest of Hercules,
hides treasures; Pygmalion has him assassinated.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 10462-10466
quote_or_summary: Dido first resents the murder, then pretends reconciliation to
conceal her plan to escape the kingdom.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 10468-10475
quote_or_summary: Dido secures cooperation, requests to leave her retreat, puts
wealth aboard ship, and mixes sand-filled bags among bags of gold to deceive Pygmalion’s
observers.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 10475-10479
quote_or_summary: At sea she throws the bags overboard, claiming to appease her
husband’s spirit by sacrificing the treasures that cost him his life.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 10479-10484
quote_or_summary: Dido warns the officers that Pygmalion will punish them for wasting
wealth and persuades them that flight is advantageous.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 10484-10487
quote_or_summary: After officers and Tyrian nobles join her plan, Dido sacrifices
to Hercules and sets sail again.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 10487-10490
quote_or_summary: At Cyprus, Dido’s party carries off eighty young women who become
the wives of her companions.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 10495-10501
quote_or_summary: In Africa, Dido bargains for land enclosed by a bull’s hide, cuts
the hide into thongs, and encloses enough ground for a fort called Byrsa.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 10501-10507
quote_or_summary: Foundation digging reveals an ox’s head, interpreted as portending
slavery, then a horse’s head at another site, interpreted as more favorable.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: lines 10514-10516
quote_or_summary: Iarbas, king of Mauritania, presses Dido to marry him, and she
asks for three months to decide.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:12
type: summary
locator: lines 10516-10521
quote_or_summary: Dido orders a sacrifice to her husband’s shade, raises a pile
for burning what belonged to him, ascends it, and kills herself with a poniard.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:13
type: summary
locator: lines 10521-10526
quote_or_summary: The passage says Virgil invented Aeneas’ visit to Dido to derive
Roman-Carthaginian hatred from Aeneas’ time, though it notes a possible anachronism.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:14
type: summary
locator: lines 10526-10530
quote_or_summary: The passage says Ovid’s Fasti follows Virgil on Aeneas’ treachery
and represents Iarbas capturing Dido’s city and driving Anna into exile.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:15
type: summary
locator: lines 10534-10538
quote_or_summary: Aeneas sees islands of Cercopians transformed into apes by Jupiter;
Aeschines and Suidas name robbers Candulus and Atlas who are transformed into
apes after being about to insult Jupiter.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:16
type: summary
locator: lines 10538-10540
quote_or_summary: Sabinus explains the Cercopes by monkey-like treachery; Zenobius
places them in Libya and says they were changed into rocks after offering to fight
Hercules.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:17
type: summary
locator: FABLE III [XIV.101-153], supplied passage ending
quote_or_summary: Apollo is enamoured of the Sibyl and offers her as many years
as she can grasp grains of sand.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:18
type: summary
locator: FABLE III [XIV.101-153], supplied passage ending
quote_or_summary: The Sibyl forgets to ask to remain in youthful bloom and consequently
becomes gray and decrepit.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:19
type: summary
locator: lines 10507-10513
quote_or_summary: The passage says the bull’s-hide story was probably invented by
Greeks from a Phoenician name, Bostra, resembling Greek βυρσὰ, 'hide.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: Literal extraction is strong because the passage is explanatory and explicit.
Motif labels are partly interpretive and require review, especially taxonomy alignment
for foundation, trickster, and royal-legitimacy categories.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Used only the supplied passage and metadata. No external taxonomy IDs beyond the provided motif family and symbol labels were introduced.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:roman-ovid-metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley-gutenberg__l10447-l10540
passage_sha256=65ece28d1ce61959a10a85b4d91c527eb219214cf7fd4f319f235faed4e5e3bd