CADMO Y LOS PELIGROS DE LA MIRADA EN OVIDIO, METAMORFOSIS III.

Cadmus' episode opens book III of Ovid's Metamorphoses and puts him in the crossing of a double foundation: that of the Theban Cycle and that of a poetics of transgression that extends over the whole text. Such poetics is based on the gaze as a factor of sacrilegious behaviours. In this sense, the main components of Cadmus' story are scattered through the other narrations of Metamorphoses III, which develop them according to their own plot. The profanation of the nemora sacra constitutes the departure point of the cycle of misfortunes of the Theban family. It's closure is the final metamorphosis of Cadmus and his wife Harmonia into serpents. In this paper we intend to explore the construction of this poetics founded on prohibition in Metamorphoses III. We will make emphasis on the idea of transgression related to the metamorphic process suffered by its characters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]