Summary of Books 9-12 of Ovid's Metamorphoses

Theseus and his men left Achelous' cave the next morning and Achelous turned back into water.

Book 9: Hercules, Nessus, and Deianira

When Hercules was taking his wife to his home in Tiryns, they came to a swollen river. Nessus, a centaur, offered to help Hercules get Deianira across the river. Hercules swam across and heard Deianira yelling for him. Assuming that the centaur was kidnapping her to rape her, Hercules shot him with an arrow tipped with Hydra's poison. The centaur, seeking vengeance, gave his shirt covered in Hydra's poison to Deianira and told her that it was a talisman that would renew love.

Years later, when Hercules had completed his labors and was still far from home, Deianira heard from "Rumour who talks and loves to tangle true / With false, and from near nothing flourishes /

Pluto, ruler of the Underworld, agreed to let Eurydice go back to the living as long as Orpheus didn't turn back to look at her until they were completely out of Hades. When the light of the world was beginning to show, Orpheus turned back and looked at his bride and she slipped away back into Hell and he couldn't get her back. For three years Orpheus mourned his wife and would only love small boys. He would play his songs in the forests and charm the trees and animals around him.

Book 11: First Foundation and Destruction of Troy

The other gods wanted to make their mortal favorites younger, too, but Jove insisted that such things were ruled by the Fates, not the gods. The gods gave in to Jove's argument, and none of the other mortals were restored to youth, including Minos whose great strength had declined with his age. His lands had been threatened by Miletus, but then the younger man had gone to Asia to found a new city. Cyanee, a nymph, gave birth to his twins, Byblis and Caunus in Asia.

Crete might have been impressed with Byblis' transformation if they hadn't been so caught up in the change wrought in Iphis. Ligdus and his wife, Telethusa, were going to have a child. Ligdus thought that if the child was a girl, he and his wife could not afford to keep it because they were poor. Telethusa could not convince him otherwise. While she slept, Isis appeared in her dream and told Telethusa to keep the child. Telethusa gave birth to a girl, but only she and the nurse knew the child's sex. Her husband named the baby Iphis, and the child was raised as a boy. Iphis was betrothed to Ianthe, a girl she loved, but Iphis was sad. She knew that a marriage between two girls would never work. Telethusa and her daughter prayed to Isis to help them, and the girl was turned into a boy. Iphis and Ianthe were married and their marriage was blessed by the gods.

Some topics in this essay:
Myrrha Cinyras, Thetis Proteus, Hercules Deianira, Hercules Juno, Iphis Ligdus, Unfortunately Hippomenes, Atalanta Atalanta, Iolaus Hercules', Orpheus Hades, Laomedon Priam, book 10, book 11, book 9, hydra's poison, midas' ears, bitten snake died, girl loved, boy iphis, heart day, found city, nessus deianira, hercules nessus deianira, whispered midas' ears,