Is the Myth of Philemon and Baucis in Ovid’s Metamorphoseon a Myth?

A significant part of the Roman literature was created during the era of Emperor Augustus, which is described as the “golden age” in prose and poetry. The most prominent representatives of this era are Horace, Virgil, and Ovid. Ovid wrote Metamorphoses, which is considered to be his most significant poetry work. Among the numerous transformations in his work, a central place is taken by the story of the metamorphosis of Philemon and Baucis. This study emphasizes the three main spatio-temporal focus points of the events described in the story, where philosophical and ethical messages are revealed and objectified in the socio-cultural context of the Augustan era. This metamorphosis serves as an apotheosis of conjugal love, fidelity, hospitality, hard work, righteousness, and piety. It is also a reverence for the emperor’s domestic policy, aimed at bringing stability to the family and restoring the old Roman values. The genre characteristic of the story of Philemon and Baucis is determined through the chronotope: it combines elements of myth, fairy tale, and family-agricul tural idyll. Ovid’s poetic talent offers a new structure in the presentation of familiar Greek myths and contributes to their popularization in the Antiquity and beyond.