The Golden Ass

A Latin novel by Apuleius, probably written in the second century CE, about Lucius, who is transformed into a donkey and later initiated into the worship of Isis.

Apuleius: A Roman North African writer and Platonist philosopher of the second century CE. He wrote the novel in Latin and appears as its authorial voice.
Lucius or the Ass: A Greek prose narrative, surviving in a shorter form, about a man transformed into a donkey. It shares the novel’s central plot, but its relationship to Apuleius’s version remains debated.
Metamorphosis: A transformation from one bodily form or state into another. Lucius’s change into an ass drives the novel’s episodes and delays his return to human form.
Isis cult: A religious tradition centered on the worship of Isis that spread throughout the Roman Empire. The cult offers Lucius protection and a lasting religious identity after his ordeal.
Lucius: The protagonist of Apuleius’s novel, transformed into a donkey and eventually devoted to Isis. His transformations and choices connect the novel’s comic episodes to its ending.
Onos: The Greek word for “ass,” also used as the title of the surviving short Greek narrative related to Apuleius’s novel. Its title names the animal form central to both versions of the story.
Curiosity: A desire to know or experience something, especially the unfamiliar or forbidden. Lucius’s reckless pursuit of magic begins the chain of events that changes his body.
Roman religion: The practices, institutions, and beliefs through which ancient Romans related to their gods. The ending places an Egyptian-derived cult within the diverse religious life of the empire.
Frame story: A narrative structure in which a principal story encloses one or more shorter narratives. Lucius’s journey contains stories told by other characters, including Cupid and Psyche.
Greek novel: A genre of extended prose fiction that flourished in the Greek-speaking Roman Empire. Apuleius adapts conventions of Greek prose fiction for a Latin-speaking audience.

Linked from 4 pages