Discover Ovid’s Baucis et Philemon, retold as myth, fairy tale, fable, poem and as seen in art.
Jupiter and Mercury come to Earth and are treated poorly by all but Philemon and Baucis. They are so outraged about the non existing hospitality in the village- they send a terrible storm to flood the land sparing only Philemon, Baucis, and their humble dwelling and granting them immortality by transforming them into trees.
I stand in front of Jupiter und Merkur bei Philemon und Baucis (1630–33) by the workshop of Rubens, a baroque painting, at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie Saal XIII, in Vienna, Austria, I can not but think about Xenia and Tree Lore.

XENIA
In ancient times people recognized the importance of receiving strangers and foreigners hospitably and giving them food and shelter. Guests were seen as sacred in those days and hosts did everything they could to protect them. Hospitality, was like a divine right of the guest and a duty of the host.
The ancient Greeks were famous for their rules of hospitality. The word Xenia is of Greek origin, from ξεῖνος, which means “foreigner, stranger, guest.” This word appears in a number of other English words, such as “Xenophilia” and “Xenophobia”.
Zeus, the Greek god, is sometimes called Xenios and Xenia is Athena, in their role as a protectors of travelers and presiding over the laws of hospitality. Both embodying the religious obligation to be hospitable to travelers and to protect strangers.
Theoxeny or theoxenia is a theme in Greek mythology in which humans demonstrate their virtue or piety by extending hospitality to a humble stranger (xenos), who turns out to be a disguised deity (theos) with the capacity to bestow rewards.
These stories caution mortals that any guest should be treated as if potentially a disguised divinity and help establish the idea of xenia as a fundamental Greek custom.
The Romans called the concept of xenia, hospitium – derived from the word hospes, hospitis, which originated the English word “hospitality”. Hospitality and hostility are both derived from the same root word but they couldn’t be more different. Whereas hospitality is about welcoming all, hostility thrives on insider- outsider conflicts.
Hospitium involves being willing to take risks to welcome individuals as well as the broader goal of staying open to the insights of cultures other than our own, the old Romans already knew.
Giving alms to the one in need and hospitality to strangers are traditional virtues encouraged in religions worldwide:
Charity–to be moved at the sight of the thirsty, the hungry, and the miserable and to offer relief to them out of pity–is the spring of virtue.
~Jainism. Kundakunda, Pancastikaya 137
See to it that whoever enters your house obtains something to eat, however little you may have. Such food will be a source of death to you if you withhold it.
~Native American Religions. A Winnebago Father’s Precepts
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
~Christianity. Hebrews 13.1
Let him who believes in Allah and the Last Day be generous to his neighbor, and let him who believes in Allah and the Last Day be generous to his guest.
~Islam. Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 15
The husband and wife of the house should not turn away any who comes at eating time and asks for food. If food is not available, a place to rest, water for refreshing one’s self, a reed mat to lay one’s self on, and pleasing words entertaining the guest–these at least never fail in the houses of the good.
~Hinduism. Apastamba Dharma Sutra 8.2
All beings should be accommodated and served by me as attentively as I would show filial respect to my parents, due respect to my teachers, to elders, and arhats, up to the Tathagatas, all in equality…To make all beings happy, is to please the Tathagatas.
~Buddhism. Gandavyuha Sutra, Vows of Samantabhadra
Relieve people in distress as speedily as you must release a fish from a dry rill [lest he die]. Deliver people from danger as quickly as you must free a sparrow from a tight noose. Be compassionate to orphans and relieve widows. Respect the old and help the poor.
~Taoism. Tract of the Quiet Way
While travelling we were often shown generosity and courtesy by perfect strangers,
hospitality everywhere, thank you all.
Discover Baucis et Philemon as myth, fairy tale, fable, poem:
THE MYTH
The myth describing the tradition of hospitium among the Romans is here in front of me, masterly painted by an unknown artist working in the studios of the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens.
Publius Ovidius Naso, known as Ovid, wrote the episode about Philemon and Baucis in his Metamorphoses. A collection of 250 myths in a 15-book catalogue written in dactylic hexameter about transformations in Greek and Roman mythology set within a loose mytho- historical framework. The Roman poet living 43 B.C.- 17 C.E., stands on the periphery of Greek and Roman mythology.
As Larry Brown states
“This story is unique to Ovid. It provides both the actual and thematic center of the poem, a mini-theodicy demonstrating the justice of god, along with the contrasting story of Erysichthon.
Each tale provides an unusual portrait of the gods acting justly by rewarding virtue and punishing wickedness: a generous couple feeds the gods and are turned into trees, to live together forever;
in the second case Erysichthon (son of Cecrops) cuts down a sacred tree and is punished with hunger (poetic justice).
Brooks Otis sees Ovid holding up true, mutual, heterosexual passionate love as a model, in classical literature a rare theme (tragedies were usually not about love unless it was unnatural).”
The unusual Greek names, Philemon and Baucis, are perhaps derived from words respectively meaning “kiss” and “coy”, a rather touching example of “opposites attract” that also stresses their mutual affection. – When the old couple dies, they are transformed into trees that grow forever in each other’s embrace.

Jupiter and Mercury- roman for Zeus and Hermes, decided to test man’s character and disguised themselves as travelers who went around asking strangers for hospitality. Everyone denied them their right to xenia, except an old couple who received the two guests and treated them with due kindness. Afterwards, the gods saved them, telling them to leave the city and run towards a mountain. Since the other citizens had failed in their duties toward the gods, Jupiter decided to send a flood and destroy the city.
This tale shows how important it was to abide by the laws of hospitium. It also serves as a warning to wicked people, reminding them that the guest they refuse could be a god in disguise who might punish them later.
DENDROLATRY- TREE WORSHIP
Ovid’s tale suggests also ancient tree cults (worship of trees); indeed, in lines following the Anthology passage, he states that Philemon and Baucis, as trees, were worshiped.
First, Ovid has his narrator (Lelex) tell about what he has seen growing side by side in the Phrygian hills, long after the transformation in their anonymous almost endless life as the yet-unnamed Baucis and Philemon are an oak (quercus) and linden (tilia) tree intertwined (tiliae contermina quercus 8.620).
Although he doesn’t specify which person was turned into which tree. Some possible arboreal interpretations are:
I can only offer tenuous but interesting associations, Hunt Patrick writes and cites Theophrastus:
Theophrastus might be a textual source for Ovid, since he divides trees into ‘male’ and ‘female’ types with oak apparently being ‘male’ and linden both ‘male’ and ‘female’. Theophrastus also describes oak as having a black core – recalling the blackened wooden beam (nigro…tigno 6.648). Furthermore, he distinguishes oak (drus in Greek) as “heavy” and linden (philura in Greek) as “light”, a dichotomy possibly reflected in the old couple. Theophrastus also mentions that both oak and linden can have winter budding, perhaps like Philemon and Baucis in old age.
He also quotes Hesiod (Works and Days, 233) saying that the oak produces honey and that the leaves of the linden are sweet, a gracious sweetness in common with the old couple who so hospitably receive the gods.
Later in Book 10, Ovid describes the oak and linden in direct sequence with the thickly-foliaged oak and soft linden (arbor… frondibus aesculus altibus nec tilia mollis 10.90-92).
Virgil before Ovid praises the rich linden (pinguem tiliam) for bees in the Georgics 4.183, just the sort of image for Ovid to subtext a possible transformation of oak and linden leaves into golden honey like their house (which also embodies them) into a gold-roofed temple.
Last but not least, it is also likely an important detail that Jupiter’s tree is the oak (=Philemon); could Mercury’s tree here be the light and graceful linden (=Baucis?).
Naomi Levin states, very rarely has man lived in complete harmony with his surroundings, like Baucis and Philemon:
For Ovid, the myth of Philemon and Baucis might have represented the joy of civilizing nature while still cultivating and appreciating the goodness of the earth.
The Greeks believed not only that trees and brooks had spirits but also that natural phenomena could be explained by means of myths. Every element of nature stemmed from divine intervention. Storms, earthquakes, and plagues were physical manifestations of godly anger.
Attributing emotions to nature helped man to understand the world around him. This tight understanding bridged a gap between man and nature, which enabled – with a small leap of imagination – the transformation of one matter into the other.
Philemon and Baucis are humans who become part of their landscape. Flesh becomes bark, hair becomes leaves… Man becomes nature. The result of this naturalization of man is the humanization of nature. The land becomes an entity with a human soul…Man and nature… The story of humanity has been an unending conflict between civilization and that needing civilizing. One is constantly assaulting the other: man with his axes and ploughs, and nature with its tempests and floods.
MYTH: Lelex tells of Philemon and Baucis
At this, the river-god fell silent. The wonder of the thing had gripped them all. But that daring spirit, Pirithoüs, son of Ixion, scornful of the gods, laughed at their credulity. ‘These are fictions you tell of, Acheloüs, and you credit the gods with too much power, if you think they can give and take away the forms of things.’ The others were startled, and disapproved of his words, Lelex above all, experienced in mind and years, who said:
‘The power of the gods is great and knows no limit, and whatever heaven decrees comes to pass. To help convince you, in the hills of Phrygia, an oak and a lime tree [linden tree] stand side by side, surrounded by a low wall. I have seen the place, since Pittheus, king of Troezen, sent me into that country, where his father Pelops once ruled.
There is a swamp not far from there, once habitable land but now the haunt of diving-birds and marsh-loving coots. Jupiter went there, disguised as a mortal, and Mercury, the descendant of Atlas, setting aside his wings, went with his father, carrying the caduceus. A thousand houses they approached, looking for a place to rest: a thousand houses were locked and bolted. But one received them: it was humble it is true, roofed with reeds and stems from the marsh, but godly Baucis and the equally aged Philemon, had been wedded in that cottage in their younger years, and there had grown old together. They made light of poverty by acknowledging it, and bearing it without discontent of mind. It was no matter if you asked for owner or servant there: those two were the whole household: they gave orders and carried them out equally.
So when the gods from heaven met the humble household gods, and stooping down, passed the low doorway, the old man pulled out a bench, and requested them to rest their limbs, while over the bench Baucis threw a rough blanket. Then she raked over the warm ashes in the hearth, and brought yesterday’s fire to life, feeding it with leaves and dried bark, nursing the flames with her aged breath. She pulled down finely divided twigs and dry stems from the roof, and, breaking them further, pushed them under a small bronze pot. Next she stripped the leaves from vegetables that her husband had gathered from his well-watered garden. He used a two-pronged stick to lift down a wretched-looking chine of meat, hanging from a blackened beam, and, cutting a meagre piece from the carefully saved chine, put what had been cut, to seethe, in boiling water.
In the meantime they made conversation to pass the time, and prevent their guests being conscious of the delay. There was a beech wood tub, suspended by its handle from a crude peg: this had been filled with warm water, and allowed their visitors to refresh their limbs. In the middle of the floor there was a mattress of soft sedges. Placed on a frame and legs of willow it made a couch. They covered it with cloths, that they only used to bring out for the times of sacred festivals, but even these were old and worn, not unworthy of the couch. The gods were seated.
The old woman, her skirts tucked up, her hands trembling, placed a table there, but a table with one of the three legs unequal: a piece of broken pot made them equal. Pushed underneath, it countered the slope, and she wiped the level surface with fresh mint. On it she put the black and green olives that belong to pure Minerva, and the cornelian cherries of autumn, preserved in wine lees; radishes and endives; a lump of cheese; and lightly roasted eggs, untouched by the hot ashes; all in clay dishes. After this she set out a carved mixing bowl for wine, just as costly, with cups made of beech wood, hollowed out, and lined with yellow bees’ wax. There was little delay, before the fire provided its hot food, and the wine, of no great age, circulated, and then, removed again, made a little room for the second course. There were nuts, and a mix of dried figs and wrinkled dates; plums, and sweet-smelling apples in open wicker baskets; and grapes gathered from the purple vines. In the centre was a gleaming honeycomb. Above all, there was the additional presence of well-meaning faces, and no unwillingness, or poverty of spirit.’

The transformation of Philemon and Baucis.
‘Meanwhile the old couple noticed that, as soon as the mixing bowl was empty, it refilled itself, unaided, and the wine appeared of its own accord. They were fearful at this strange and astonishing sight, and timidly Baucis and Philemon murmured a prayer, their palms upwards, and begged the gods’ forgiveness for the meal, and their unpreparedness. They had a goose, the guard for their tiny cottage: as hosts they prepared to sacrifice it for their divine guests. But, quick-winged, it wore the old people out and, for a long time, escaped them, at last appearing to take refuge with the gods themselves. Then the heaven-born ones told them not to kill it. “We are gods,” they said, “and this neighbourhood will receive just punishment for its impiety, but to you we grant exemption from that evil. Just leave your house, and accompany our steps, as we climb that steep mountainside together.”
They both obeyed, and leaning on their sticks to ease their climb, they set foot on the long slope. When they were as far from the summit as a bowshot might carry, they looked back, and saw everywhere else vanished in the swamp: only their own roof was visible. And while they stood amazed at this, mourning their neighbours’ fate, their old cottage, tiny even for the two of them, turned into a temple. Wooden poles became pillars, and the reed thatch grew yellow, until a golden roof appeared, richly carved doors, and a marble pavement covering the ground. Then the son of Saturn spoke, calmly, to them: “Ask of us, virtuous old man, and you, wife, worthy of a virtuous husband, what you wish.”
When he had spoken briefly with Baucis, Philemon revealed their joint request to the gods.
“We ask to be priests and watch over your temple, and, since we have lived out harmonious years together, let the same hour take the two of us, so that I never have to see my wife’s grave, nor she have to bury me.”
The gods’ assurance followed the prayer. They had charge of the temple while they lived: and when they were released by old age, and by the years, as they chanced to be standing by the sacred steps, discussing the subject of their deaths, Baucis saw Philomen put out leaves, and old Philemon saw Baucis put out leaves, and as the tops of the trees grew over their two faces, they exchanged words, while they still could, saying, in the same breath: “Farewell, O dear companion”, as, in the same breath, the bark covered them, concealing their mouths.
The people of Bithynia still show the neighbouring trees, there, that sprang from their two bodies. Trustworthy old men related these things to me (there was no reason why they should wish to lie). For my part, I saw garlands hanging from the branches, and placing fresh ones there said: “Let those who love the gods become gods: let those who have honoured them, be honoured.” ’
~ Metamorphoses Book VIII . A. S. Kline’s Version.

TRANSCRIPT in verse form near Ovids Latin original narrative POEM:
The Story of Baucis and Philemon
~Metamorphoses, by Ovid, written 1 A.C. , translated by Sir Samuel Garth, John Dryden, et al.

TRANSCRIPT- prose Version II: Baucis and Philemon
In a hilly land, called Phrygia, there is a steep-sided valley. Most of the valley is filled with a dark lake.
Beside the lake grow two trees, an oak and a linden, their branches entwined. Hanging from every bough and branch there are ribbons. Long ago, great Zeus, whose temple is the sky, and Hermes, the messenger of the gods, heard whispers from the House of Rumour that there was a town at the bottom of a steep-sided valley in the hilly land of Phrygia where the sacred laws of hospitality were flouted, where strangers were not welcomed. They decided to see if these stories were true.
They changed their shapes as the gods can, so that to all the world they looked like a pair of travellers.
They flashed down from the sky into the town on the night of a terrible storm. From house to house they ran in the rain begging for food, begging for shelter. Every request was greeted with kicks and curses and insults. A hundred homes they visited.
At last, tired, foot-sore, hungry, wet through they trudged up the side of the valley leaving the town behind. As they did so, they saw they were approaching a little hut. Standing in front of it was an old woman. This was Baucis. She and her husband Philemon had met in this place, had married in this place, had grown grey and white together. Children had never come. They were very poor but they had accepted their plight and so they had made light of it. They were devoted to one another. The only thing in the world they had that they valued was a goose, who guarded their home. Now Baucis saw these bedraggled strangers approaching and she hobbled over eagerly.
“You! Mighty Zeus, whose temple is the sky, has decreed anyone who approaches our home in need of food, in need of shelter, ought to be welcomed. What we have, we’ll share with you. Come inside now, come inside.”
Zeus and Hermes, disguised as men, had to stoop to enter the hut. They were welcomed warmly by the old man Philemon. He shook them each by the hand; he gave them each a stool to sit on. They sat. The old woman, she blew into the ashes at the bottom of the grate so that the grey glowed red again. The old man put on his cloak. He hobbled out into the storm to pick some vegetable from his garden. The old woman cut a hunk from their lump of long-cherished pork. She threw it into the pot. The old man threw in the vegetables. They poured on water, sprinkled on herbs, threw in garlic, and then they talked about whatever they could, in the hope they could keep their guests’ minds off the long delay before it was time to eat.
The old man gave them a beech wood bowl, full of warm water, to wash off the dust and grime of their journey. The old woman dragged a table from the shadows into the centre of the room so that they could sit around it when the time came to eat. One leg was far too short: the table wobbled very badly. But she kept a shard of tile, just for this purpose, and she slid it under the short leg. She rubbed the surface of the table with stalks of fresh mint so that it smelled fragrant. They sat around it. She gave them things to nibble while they waited: olives, wild cherries that had been steeped in wine, lumps of cheese, radishes, eggs that had been roasted in the embers. One jug full of wine was all they had. She poured it out carefully between the four of them. They sipped it, making it last as long as they could. Then came the stew, and, after the stew, they had nuts and grapes and figs and dates and a slice of sweet honeycomb.
All through the meal there was talk, there was laughter, and, outside, the rain came down in black sheets.
The woman Baucis looked at the wine jug. She was sure it had been empty and yet it was full. She poured it out between the four of them and still it was filled to the brim. She turned to her husband and whispered,
“These are gods, two of the great Olympian gods, here in our home. What kind of meal was this to give to two of the great Olympian gods? We have no choice. Husband, go outside and kill the goose! We will pluck it and roast it in their honour.”
The husband stood. He smiled at the strangers and shuffled out of the cottage. Inside the old woman raised her voice, hoping she could drown out the squawking and the honking of the dying goose. But the old man was old. Age had made him slow, and the goose could tell something was wrong. He chased the goose back and forth, then back and forth. Inside the cottage, by now the old woman was shouting. In burst the goose. It took shelter behind the strangers. The two travellers stood.
“There is no need for you to kill this creature whom you love so much. We are gods but already you’ve given us far more than we could have hoped for. Old man, old woman, follow us now.”
Puffing and grunting, Baucis and Philemon followed the travellers to the top of the valley. When they reached the ridge, they turned and they sank to their knees in awe. For the town at the bottom of the valley had gone. Where it had been, there was a dark lake. They turned towards the travellers. They shielded their eyes, for no strangers standing there now: Zeus and Hermes, awful in their bright glory.
“We have punished this town. Only you were spared. We were touched by the warmth of your welcome.
We will give you both a wish. Speak now! Anything will be granted you. Speak now!”
The old woman spoke first: “Mighty Zeus, transform our hut into a golden temple, that we might worship there for however many years of life we have left.”
Zeus bowed his head. “Another wish!”
It was the old man who spoke then, but it could have been his wife – they were of one mind.
“Will you make us die together? Will you make us die in the same moment, so that I will not have to stand beside her grave, so that she will not have to bury me?”
Both of their wishes were granted them. For many more years, they were priestess and priest of a golden temple. Then one morning, early, the old man was digging his garden before the heat of the sun was too fierce. His wife called to him.
He saw her standing outside the temple staring at her feet, and, when he looked, her toes had taken root and brown bark was spreading up her legs. He hobbled towards her. He put his arms around her waist; she put her arms around his back. As they embraced, they could feel buds emerging from the tips of their fingers. He could feel leaves growing from the bald crown of his head. As the bark spread across their faces, they looked into one another’s eyes for the last time and said,
“Goodbye, dear one.”
The lake can still be found even now. The temple is long gone; but beside the lake still grow two trees, an oak and a linden, their branches entwined as though they are embracing. And hanging from every bough and branch there are ribbons, offerings, gifts left by lovers.

From a “A Wonder Book” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. London: Hodder & Stoughton, (1922).
FAIRY TALE: Baucis and Philemon
Long ago, on a high hill in Greece, lived Philemon and Baucis.
They were poor, but never unhappy. They had many hives of bees from which they got honey, and many vines from which they gathered grapes. One old cow gave them all the milk that they could use, and they had a little field in which grain was raised.
The old couple had as much as they needed and were always ready to share whatever they had with any one in want. No stranger was ever turned from their door.
At the foot of the hill lay a beautiful village, with pleasant roads and rich pasture lands all around. But it was full of wicked, selfish people, who had no love in their hearts and thought of only themselves.
At the time of this story, the people in the village were very busy. Zeus, who they believed ruled the world, had sent word that he was about to visit them. They were cooking a great feast and making everything beautiful for his coming.
One evening, just at dark, two beggars came into the valley. They stopped at every house and asked for food and a place to sleep; but the people were too busy or too tired. They were thinking only of the coming of Zeus.
With sore feet and being very tired, the two beggars came to the hut of Philemon and Baucis. These good people had eaten very little, for they were saving their best food for Zeus.
When they saw the beggars, Philemon said, “Surely these men need food more than Zeus. They look almost starved.”
“Indeed, they do!” said Baucis, and she ran quickly to fix supper for the men.
She spread her best white cloth upon the table, and fixed bacon, herbs, honey, grapes, bread, and milk. She set these upon the table in all the best dishes she had and called the strangers in.
Then what do you think happened? The dishes that the strangers touched turned to gold. The pitcher was never empty, although they drank glass after glass of milk. The loaf of bread stayed always the same size, although the strangers cut slice after slice.
“These are very strange travelers,” whispered the old couple to each other.
“They do wonderful things.”
That night Philemon and Baucis slept upon the floor so the beggars might have their one bed. In the morning they went with the travelers to the foot of the hill to see them safely started on their way.
“Now, good people,” said one of the strangers, “we thank you, and whatever you wish shall be yours.”
As he said this, his face became like that of the sun. Then Philemon and Baucis knew that Zeus had spoken to them.
“Grant, O Zeus, that one of us may not outlive the other,” they cried in one voice.
“Your wish is granted,” said Zeus; “yes, and more. Go to your home and be happy.”
Philemon and Baucis walked home and lo! Their hut was changed into a beautiful castle.
The old people turned around to thank their guests, but they had disappeared.
In this castle Philemon and Baucis lived many years. They still did all they could for others, and were always so happy that they never thought of whishing anything for themselves.
As the years went by, the couple grew very old and feeble.
One day Baucis said to Philemon,
“I wish we might never die, but could always live together.”
“Ah, that is my wish too!” sighed old Philemon.
The next morning the palace was gone; Baucis and Philemon were gone; but there on the hill stood two beautiful trees, an oak and a linden.
No one knew what became of the good people. After many years however, a traveler lying under the trees heard them whispering to each other.
“Baucis,” whispered the oak.
“Philemon,” replied the linden.
There the trees stood through sun and rain, always ready to spread their leafy shade over every tired stranger who passed that way.
FABLE: Philemon and Baucis

Jean de La Fontaine, was one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century.
He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional languages.
He adapted Philemon and Baucis into French free verse.
Subject taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses
For Monseigneur le Duc de Vendôme
Nor gold nor grandeur brings us happiness:
~ Jean de La Fontaine, Book 12, Fable 25.

As Diderot puts it:
How instructive this fable is!
Conjugal love, peace, and happiness that have taken refuge in a hut; the sensitivity that the poor and unfortunate only find among the humble;
the hut changed into a temple because the couple rendered the purest worship to the gods through their union;
the simplicity of their wishes, which shows that happiness is to be found in the middle way and in anonymity, and how irrational mankind is to seek it so far from themselves.
POEM: Baucis and Philemon
Life lies to hand in hoe, spade, pruning-knife,
Plain wooden furniture and wattle walls,
In those unspoken words ‘my husband’, ‘wife’,
In one another’s flesh which still recalls
Beneath the map of age their savoured youth.
It is an ambience in which they move
Having no need to grasp or grub for truth;
It is the still persistence of their love.
That one should die before the other’s death
And drain the world of meaning is their fear:
Their hope, to draw together their last breath
And leave the sunlight on a common bier.
Life is the meaning and the bread they share;
Because they need no Gods, the Gods are there.
~Dick Davis. From The Covenant, Anvil Press, © 1984.
~ ○ ~
I collect #treelore on twitter, have a look if you like.
Works Cited & Multimedia Sources
Discover TREELORE
- Baucis and Philemon. Transcript. PDF. http://classictales.educ.cam.ac.uk/stories/metamorphoses/baucisphilemon/explore/Baucis%20&%20Philemon%20transcript.pdf
- Baucis and Philemon. Wikipedia.
- Brown, Larry A. Philemon & Baucis (book 8). Ovid’s Metamorphoses. 2018. http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/xeno.ovid5.htm
- Charity and hospitality, in: Wilson Andrew. A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts. 1991. https://www.unification.net/ws/theme141.htm
- Coder Kim D. Cultural Aspects of Trees, Traditions and Myths.
- Crews Judith. Forest and tree symbolism in folklore.
- Dick Davis. Baucis and Philemon. The Covenant, Anvil Press, © 1984. http://www.poemtree.com/poems/BaucisAndPhilemon.htm
- Diderot Denis. Baucis and Philemon. Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 2. 1752.The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d’Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Malcolm Eden. Ann Arbor. 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.950.
- Frazer James George. The Golden Bough. 1922.
- Garth Sir Samuel. Dryden John. et al. Metamorphoses, by Ovid, written 1 A.C. 1994-2009 on: http://classics.mit.edu/Ovid/metam.8.eighth.html
- Golding Arthur. Ovid. Metamorphoses. London. W. Seres. 1567.
- http://classictales.educ.cam.ac.uk/stories/metamorphoses/baucisphilemon/explore/Baucis%20&%20Philemon%20transcript.pdf
- Hunt Patrick. Arborisms in Ovid’s Baucis and Philemon from Metamorphoses 8.620-720. 2018. https://archive.li/bVolJ
- La Fontaine Jean de. Baucis and Philemon. Book 12. Fable 25. http://www.musee-jean-de-la-fontaine.fr/jean-de-la-fontaine-fable-uk-212.html
- Levin Naomi. METAMORPHOSES OF MAN AND NATURE: The Myth of Philemon and Baucis as Represented by Rubens and La Fontaine. 2007.https://web.archive.org/web/20160303175648/http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/philolog/2007/03/metamorphoses_of_man_and_natur.html#more
- Metamorphoses Book VIII (A. S. Kline’s Version) on: http://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph8.htm#482327671
- Philemon and Baucis. http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/68/fairy-tales-and-other-traditional-stories/5096/philemon-and-baucis/
- Tate, W. K., Withers, S., Browne, H.. The Child’s World. 1917.
- Weblinks for Stage 54. BAUCIS ET PHILEMON. Ovid, Metamorphoses VIII: lines 626-660, 679-719 https://www.cla.cambridgescp.com/files/cscp/cla/weblinks/s54.html