The story of the adventures of a young man named Lucius, who was turned into a donkey by a witch, was used by ancient authors at least twice: in the Greek novella of Pseudo-Lucian “Lucius, or the Ass” and in the Roman novel “Metamorphoses, or the Golden Ass” by Apuleius. In addition, Patriarch Photius reports the existence of another work on this subject, written by a Greek author, “Metamorphoses of Lucius of Patras,” but the text has not survived. Researchers have always been intrigued by the question of the origin of this plot, but its roots were not found either in the Greek or in the ancient Eastern tradition. In search of a solution to the problem of the origin of the mysterious plot, O.L. Levinskaya peers into the reflections in the artifacts of antiquity of the mysterious world of Egyptian and Greek myths, mysteries and magical practices. CONTENTS: Prehistory of “DONKEY” METAMORPHOSES IN ANCIENT FICTION: LUCIAN, APULEUS AND LUTIUS FROM PATRAS 5 ANCIENT EGYPT 8 Transformations 9 Donkey - the animal of Seth 10 Dramatic papyrus Ramesseum 11Dramaturgy 15Masks 16Set as a character in other ritual dramas 17 Magic papyri 21 MESOPOTAMIA 29 ANCIENT GREECE 31 “Donkey” metamorphoses in the fec tradition: Kirk and companions of Odysseus 32 “Donkey” metamorphoses in fec iconography 33 Homeric epic and iconophathia 36 Pickaxe: features of the image 43 The sorceress 43 Ancient Eastern tradition 45Mistress of Beasts 47Features of iconography Kirks 52Egyptian products in the Greek context 57 Minoan era 57 Mycenaean Greece 58 Archaic era 58 Mythology and iconography 62 Gorgon 62 Chimera 65 Centaur 66 Siren 67 Sphinx 68 Minotaur 71 Iconography of transformations 72 Actaeon 72 Io 73 Callisto 74 Zeus 74 Iphigenia 75 C travelers of Odysseus 75 “Animal-headed” creatures in ancient iconography 76 Seals 76 Frescoes 77 Parallel scenes on seals and frescoes 80 Terracotta figurines from Cyprus 84 Cypriot zoomorphic masks 85Bronze figurines from Tegea and Petrovuni (Arcadia) 85Fragment of the peplos of Despina from Lycosura (Arcadia) 86Miscellaneous 87From representation to image 90Some conclusions 93Hints 95Hint one 96Hint two 98Hint three 104The Homeric Kirk in the Platonic tradition 107The Kirk and Isis 115Conclusion of “METAMORPHOSIS, OR THE GOLDEN DONKEY” BY APULEOUS: ONCE AGAIN ABOUT THE GREEK SOURCE 138Appendix ABOUT MULES, DONKEYS AND “HALF DONKEYS” 153Bibliography 162List of abbreviations 174List of illustrations 175