batch.motif.roman-ovid-metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley-gutenberg-l6507-l6591
---
record_id: batch.motif.roman-ovid-metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley-gutenberg-l6507-l6591
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
passage_locator:
label: EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION. / EXPLANATION.; lines 6507-6591
start: '6507'
end: '6591'
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: "“until she changes him into marble, as he is fastening on the neck of a
mangled heifer.”"
summary: A wolf continues its bloody slaughter until an unnamed female figure changes
it into marble. The petrified body retains its form except for color, marking
that it is no longer a living wolf. Peleus, still banished, is not allowed by
the Fates to settle there; he goes to the Magnetes and receives expiation for
murder from Acastus. The accompanying notes explain ritual, geographical, genealogical,
variant, and later narrative details connected with the wider episode.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The wolf continues slaughtering and is driven by the sweetness of blood.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: An unnamed female figure changes the wolf into marble while it is fastening
on the neck of a mangled heifer.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The transformed body preserves everything except its color.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The stone color shows that the figure is no longer a wolf and should no longer
be feared.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: The Fates do not permit the banished Peleus to settle in the land.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: Peleus goes as a wandering exile to the Magnetes and receives expiation of
murder from Acastus.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:7
text: A note describes supplicants’ symbols of peace as olive branches wrapped with
woolen bands, making the hand emblematic of harmlessness.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: A note says marine deities were honored by pouring wine on the sea waves.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:9
text: A note reports that Apollodorus gives Phthia, not Trachyn, as the place to
which exiled Peleus repaired.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: A note says Hippolyta accused Peleus after he did not encourage her advances,
and Acastus later removed Peleus’s arms and left him on Mount Pelion among wild
beasts.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:11
text: The same note says Mercury, or according to some Chiron, aided Peleus and
gave him a sword made by Vulcan.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: wolf
description: A wolf persisting in slaughter, transformed into marble while attacking
a heifer.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: unnamed female transformer
description: The female figure referred to as “she” who changes the wolf into marble.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Peleus
description: The banished son of Aeacus, a wandering exile who receives expiation
of murder; the notes also describe later danger and rescue involving him.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: the Fates
description: Powers that do not permit Peleus to settle in the land.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Acastus
description: The Hæmonian who gives Peleus expiation; a note identifies him as son
of Pelias and describes a later plot against Peleus.
role_refs:
- role:5
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:7
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: the Magnetes
description: The people or district to whom Peleus goes; a note identifies them
with Magnesia in Thessaly.
role_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:9
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Hippolyta
description: Acastus’s wife, described in a note as enamored of Peleus and as accusing
him after he rejects her advances.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Mercury or Chiron
description: Alternative helper figures in the note who come to Peleus’s assistance
and give him a sword made by Vulcan.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: marine deities
description: Deities said in a note to be honored by pouring wine upon the sea waves.
role_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Jupiter and Thetis
description: Figures in a note where Fulgentius interprets Jupiter as fire and Thetis
as water.
role_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
roles:
- id: role:1
label: blood-driven destructive animal
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The wolf persists in furious slaughter and is urged by the sweetness of blood.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: transformer
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The female figure changes the wolf into marble.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: banished wandering exile
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Peleus is called banished and a wandering exile.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: settlement-denying fate powers
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The Fates do not permit Peleus to settle in the land.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:5
label: giver of expiation
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Acastus gives Peleus an expiation of murder.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:6
label: plotter against Peleus
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The note says Acastus takes Peleus to Mount Pelion, removes his arms, and
leaves him among wild beasts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:7
label: false accuser
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The note says Hippolyta accused Peleus after he did not encourage her advances.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:8
label: accused and endangered hero
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The note says Peleus is accused, disarmed, abandoned, helped, and later uses
the sword given to him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:9
label: helper and weapon-giver
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The note says Mercury, or according to some Chiron, comes to Peleus’s assistance
and gives him a sword made by Vulcan.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: petrified wolf
literal_form: marble or stone body retaining wolf form except for color
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: blood
literal_form: sweetness of the blood urging the wolf onward
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:3
label: mangled heifer
literal_form: heifer whose neck the wolf fastens upon
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:4
label: olive-and-wool peace tokens
literal_form: olive branches surrounded with woolen bandages
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:5
label: sea-wave libation
literal_form: wine poured upon the sea waves for marine deities
associated_figures:
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:6
label: fire and water opposition
literal_form: Jupiter interpreted as fire and Thetis as water in Fulgentius’s explanation
associated_figures:
- fig:10
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:7
label: divine-made sword
literal_form: sword made by Vulcan and given to Peleus by Mercury or Chiron
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:8
label: Mount Pelion exposure
literal_form: Mount Pelion as the place where Peleus is disarmed and left among
wild beasts
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs:
- mountain
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Wolf petrified during slaughter
summary: A wolf continues its bloody attack until an unnamed female figure turns
it into marble while it grips a heifer; the stone form keeps the wolf’s shape
but not its color.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Peleus denied settlement and purified
summary: The Fates prevent banished Peleus from settling; he travels to the Magnetes
and receives expiation for murder from Acastus.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Explanatory note on supplication tokens
summary: A note explains that olive branches wrapped with wool served as symbols
of peace for people begging mercy or pardon.
figure_refs: []
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Explanatory note on Peleus, Acastus, and rescue
summary: A note recounts Hippolyta’s accusation against Peleus, Acastus’s attempt
to have Peleus killed on Mount Pelion, and Peleus’s rescue by Mercury or Chiron
with a Vulcan-made sword.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:5
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: animal transformed into stone after bloodshed
taxonomy_refs:
- shapeshifter
basis: The wolf, driven by blood and slaughter, is changed into marble while attacking
a heifer.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The available taxonomy has no specific petrification motif; “shapeshifter”
is only a broad fit because the change is imposed rather than voluntary.
- id: motif:2
label: fated exile seeking purification for blood-guilt
taxonomy_refs:
- departure
basis: Peleus is a banished wandering exile whom the Fates prevent from settling,
and he receives expiation of murder from Acastus.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage gives only the end point of the wandering and purification,
not the full exile narrative.
- id: motif:3
label: supplication signaled by harmless peace tokens
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_exchange
basis: The note identifies olive branches bound with wool as tokens carried by those
begging for mercy or pardon, with the covered hand signifying harmlessness.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: This is an explanatory note rather than a narrated action in the excerpt.
- id: motif:4
label: false accusation followed by attempted exposure to beasts
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The note says Hippolyta accuses Peleus after he rejects her advances, and
Acastus disarms and abandons him on Mount Pelion to be torn by wild beasts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: This motif is present only in the translator’s explanatory note, not in
the main lines of the excerpt.
- id: motif:5
label: endangered hero aided by helper with divine-made weapon
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The note says Mercury or Chiron aids Peleus and gives him a sword made by
Vulcan.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The helper is given in variant form, and the episode is summarized in
a note.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The note reports a nearby variant in which Apollodorus sends exiled Peleus
to Phthia rather than to Trachyn.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Apollodorus’s account of Peleus’s exile itinerary
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The note supplies only the destination difference and does not quote
or summarize Apollodorus’s full narrative.
- id: claim:2
claim: The note attributes to Fulgentius an allegorical reading in which Jupiter
is fire and Thetis is water, making their non-union an opposition of elements.
claim_level: archetypal_reading
target: Fulgentius’s allegorical interpretation of Jupiter and Thetis
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: This is a later interpretive explanation reported in a footnote, not
an explicit comparison made by Ovid’s narrative in the excerpt.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: 6507-6510
quote_or_summary: The wolf persists in furious slaughter, urged by blood, until
she changes him into marble while he fastens on a mangled heifer’s neck.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt summarized with brief quotation.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 6510-6513
quote_or_summary: The body preserves everything except color; the stone color shows
that he is no longer a wolf and should no longer be feared.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 6513-6518
quote_or_summary: The Fates do not allow banished Peleus to settle; he goes to the
Magnetes and receives expiation of murder from Hæmonian Acastus.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: Footnote 23, Ver. 276
quote_or_summary: The note explains that olive branches wrapped with woolen bandages
were peace tokens held by those begging mercy or pardon, and that the wool-covered
hand signified inability to do harm.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: Footnote 20, Ver. 247
quote_or_summary: The note says marine deities were honored by pouring wine on the
waves of the sea.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: Footnote 22, Ver. 269
quote_or_summary: The note says Apollodorus states that Peleus, when exiled, went
to Phthia and not to Trachyn.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: Footnote 32, Ver. 409
quote_or_summary: The note identifies Acastus as son of Pelias; his wife Hippolyta
accuses Peleus after he refuses her advances; Acastus disarms Peleus on Mount
Pelion and leaves him to wild beasts; Mercury or Chiron assists him with a sword
made by Vulcan.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: Footnote 19, Ver. 227
quote_or_summary: The note identifies Peleus as son of Æacus, who was son of Jupiter
by Ægina, daughter of Æsopus.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: Footnote 31, Ver. 408
quote_or_summary: The note identifies the Magnetes as the people of Magnesia, a
district of Thessaly, famous for horsemanship.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: Footnote 18, Ver. 226
quote_or_summary: The note says Fulgentius suggests Jupiter, or fire, will not unite
with Thetis, who represents water.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/roman/project-gutenberg/metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: medium
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The main narrative extraction is direct, but many motifs and comparison claims
derive from translator footnotes rather than from the principal narrative lines.
The unnamed female transformer is not identified within the supplied excerpt.
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: |-
Only the supplied passage and metadata were used. Taxonomy references were limited to available references and left empty where no close fit was supported.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:roman-ovid-metamorphoses-books-8-15-riley-gutenberg__l6507-l6591
passage_sha256=fedc9dfef28c21bb10c475fcf2fd779071d003972ec26bfe4e8890d715e8f6b6