Golden Ass Essay -- Apuleius Roman Literature Mythology Papers

Golden AssApuleius Golden Ass, the only surviving novel of the Roman Empire, is a tale of a Greek overlord devoting his life to the goddess Isis following his transformation to an ass and back. Although a work of fiction, the novel reveals a great deal about religion in Apuleius society. This information, however, must be hitched with a critical eye. He incorporates stories from Greco-Roman mythology not to affirm their validity, but to reveal their commonness to society. Apuleius insults other(a) religions that are not of the Pantheon with severe viciousness, while the superior general public may have been more open to them. In the end, he praises Isis and Osiris as the supreme gods while giving first hand account of their righteousness. Overall, Apuleius view of religion cannot be trusted.From the very start we see Apuleius using references to Roman myths as similes to everyday occurrences. When Fotis, the slave, enters his bedroom to make love to him, he remarks that sh e stood, transformed into a living statue the Love-goddess rising from the sea. The flushed hand with which she pretended to screen her mount of Venus showed that she was well aware of the resemblance certainly it was not held there from modesty. He describes a slave girl trying to seduce him as Venus rising out of the sea. Some of this description may be a exaggeration for Lucius love of Fotis. However, Apuleius goes beyond this by linking Fotis directly to Venus. Thus, the most beautiful goddess in the Pantheon is easily seen in a slave girl. Similarly, Thelyphron, when telling the story how members of a family attacked him, describes himself as feeling like Adonis mauled by the wild boar, or Orpheus torn in pieces by the Thracian women. This... ...ddess. To prove his point, Apuleius first discounts all other worships. Throughout the novel he describes things that happen to individuals in terms of the traditional Greco-Roman myths. He subtly chips away at the traditio nal Roman gods, avoiding a direct attack on the Pantheon because the vast majority of his audience believed in it. If he attacked them directly, he would surely not be considered credible. With the other religions, however, Apuleius reserves nothing. He declares religions of Asia Minor to be fraudulent and calls monotheistic religions blasphemous. After questioning the other religions, Apuleius goes on to praise the worship of Isis. As a result, we the contemporary reader cannot think too much about Roman religion from The Golden Ass.Works CitedApuleius. The Golden Ass. Trans. Robert Graves. Noonday Press, 1998. ISBN 0-374-50532-2.