Hippolytos's Chariot Crash from Ovid's Metamorphoses Roman
writer Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 B.C.–A.D. 17) retells the
myth of Hippolytos and Phraidra in his epic poem Metamorphoses,
an adaptation of ancient myths about human transformations
brought about by the gods. In this passage from book 15, lines
497–534, Ovid tells the story of the chariot crash in
Hippolytos's own words. The "son of Apollo" refers to Asclepius,
god of medicine and healing, who in this retelling brings the
young hero back to life using potent herbs. Banished, I was
driving in my chariot along the shore, when the sea surged with
a huge cloud of water, swelled to a crest—it seemed the size of
a mountain. Then a bull with horns burst from the waves…torrents
of water streamed from his nostrils, he vomited ocean from his
mouth! My horses bucked and quaked with fear at his monstrous
form. I tried in vain to rein them in. My horses' rabid strength
would not have surpassed my own, but the hub of my wheel struck
a stump and snapped off the