Pyramus and Thisbe

An Interactive Illustration with the Latin Text

The story of Pyramus and Thisbe is a familiar one. It's what Shakespeare based his tragi-comedy Romeo and Juliet on. The Roman poet Ovid retold the story from earlier versions in his 1st century BCE epic poem the Metamorphoses. In his version, Pyramus and Thisbe live in a high-walled village in houses that share a wall in Babyon (modern-day Iraq). They are teenagers who fall in love but are, for reasons Ovid does not divulge, forbidden from marrying by their parents. Through the secret methods of would-be lovers, they plan to meet outside the village walls where tragedy befalls them both through rash actions based on foolish assumptions.

Can you identify the bold phrases from the Latin text on the right in the image? Roll over the image to see how you did!

from Ovid's Metamorphoses, lines 4.55-166

text from The Latin Library

woodcut showing two dying figures with a lion, village, and fountain in the background
image edited from Madeleine Steierstaart's Creative Commons Share-Alike photograph of a 15th century woodcut in a French translation and adaptation of Ovid's Metamorphoses by Colard Mansion.

Pyramus et Thisbe, iuvenum pulcherrimus alter,    55
altera, quas Oriens habuit, praelata puellis,
contiguas tenuere domos, ubi dicitur altam
coctilibus muris cinxisse Semiramis urbem.

... lateantque sub umbra
arboris: arbor ibi niveis uberrima pomis,
ardua morus, erat, gelido contermina fonti.    90

.... venit ecce recenti
caede leaena boum spumantes oblita rictus,
depositura sitim vicini fontis in unda;
quam procul ad lunae radios Babylonia Thisbe
vidit et obscurum timido pede fugit in antrum,    100
dumque fugit, tergo velamina lapsa reliquit.

...ut vero vestem quoque sanguine tinctam     107
repperit, "una duos" inquit "nox perdet amantes,
e quibus illa fuit longa dignissima vita;

quoque erat accinctus, demisit in ilia ferrum,
nec mora, ferventi moriens e vulnere traxit.    120

sed postquam remorata suos cognovit amores,
percutit indignos claro plangore lacertos
et, laniata comas amplexaque corpus amatum,
miscuit, et gelidis in vultibus oscula figens
"Pyrame," clamavit...

dixit et, aptato pectus mucrone sub imum,    162
incubuit ferro, quod adhuc a caede tepebat.

About this Page and Future Development

This page was developed as a programming task to create a roll-over image with the intention of creating a reading aid for students in intermediate Latin studying Ovid's poetry. As a learning aid, the design would be more effective if the image responded to the words in the text being rolled over. Adding audio narration may increase learner engagement.