Ovid's Cipus (Metamorphoses 5.565-621) and the Horned Man Paradox

The Cipus episode in Ovid’s Metamorphoses 15, featuring a Roman with horns, is unusual because it contains no moment of transformation. The narrative also contrasts with that of Valerius Maximus in ways that the difference between genres cannot entirely explain. I suggest that Ovid alludes to the Horned Man paradox, a comparatively well known (and often derided) logical problem. This would add to existing evidence that Ovid knew and played with philosophical themes, most obviously in the Speech of Pythagoras earlier in Metamorphoses 15.

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Kent Academic Repository (University of Kent)
Published
2025-10-31
Primary Topic
Organic Chemistry Synthesis Methods
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article

Ovid's Cipus (Metamorphoses 5.565-621) and the Horned Man Paradox

Dunstan Lowe
Kent Academic Repository (University of Kent)
Organic Chemistry Synthesis Methods
article

Ovid's Cipus (Metamorphoses 5.565-621) and the Horned Man Paradox

Dunstan Lowe
article en

Abstract

The Cipus episode in Ovid’s Metamorphoses 15, featuring a Roman with horns, is unusual because it contains no moment of transformation. The narrative also contrasts with that of Valerius Maximus in ways that the difference between genres cannot entirely explain. I suggest that Ovid alludes to the Horned Man paradox, a comparatively well known (and often derided) logical problem. This would add to existing evidence that Ovid knew and played with philosophical themes, most obviously in the Speech of Pythagoras earlier in Metamorphoses 15.

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Organic Chemistry Synthesis Methods
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Ovid's Cipus (Metamorphoses 5.565-621) and the Horned Man Paradox — Dunstan Lowe · Kent Academic Repository (University of Kent) (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS