Ovid’s Cipus (Metamorphoses 15. 565–621) and the Horned Man Paradox

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.