# Ancient Web: Benjamin Slade Read The Golden Ass as a Hyperlinked Classic Benjamin Slade's illustrated personal study of Apuleius's Golden Ass turns a Roman novel into an old-Web literary essay connected to translations, religion, art and other books. 2026-09-22 :: Switchboard Tech Services ![Ancient Web: Benjamin Slade Read The Golden Ass as a Hyperlinked Classic](https://switchboardtechservices.com/static/images/defaults/articles.webp) Part of the [Ancient Web Collection](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/ancient-web-collection/). A Roman man turns into a donkey, learns entirely too much about his neighbors, and eventually finds religion. Benjamin Slade decided that story deserved a very long webpage. [Visit Slade's illustrated study of *The Golden Ass*](https://jnanam.net/golden-ass/) The page is headed **The Golden Ass of Apuleius** and credits **B. Slade**. It announces itself as a first version open to correction, then develops an ambitious, image-heavy study of the second-century novel also known as *The Metamorphoses*. Slade's neighboring **Beowulf** resources are another subject in this collection; this page is a distinct essay on Latin fiction, religion, and interpretation. At the beginning, a dense network of links allows the reader to jump directly to **magic**, **desire**, **labor**, **Cupid and Psyche**, **Platonic dualism**, **Isis**, **the language of Apuleius**, and editions of the text. ## A personal critical edition, not just a plot summary Slade discusses the protagonist **Lucius**, whose transformation into an ass exposes him to the pleasures and cruelties of ordinary Roman life. One major section quotes a translation of the story's flour-mill episode to explore how the author depicts abused laborers, enslaved people, and animals. Another follows the story of **Cupid and Psyche** and asks how that nested romance reflects Lucius's own trials. The closing sections examine the novel's religious climax, in which Lucius's relationship with **Isis** becomes central. The page makes broad interpretive claims, from Apuleius's connections to Greek storytelling to parallels with later novelists and Hindu philosophy. Those are **Slade's literary readings**, which readers can evaluate against scholarship; the page does not establish every proposed influence as historical fact. The artwork is part of the experience. Captions identify illustrations attributed to **Percival Goodman**, **Jean de Bosschère**, **Burne-Jones**, and other artists. Links lead outward to translated classical texts, related mythology, and other writers. Numerous old external addresses are themselves a snapshot of how humanities study moved across independently hosted resources. The page does not provide a reliable original publishing date, and its old links are not proof that every referenced edition remains online. It qualifies as a surviving hand-built scholarly resource because the argument itself, headings, illustrations, and bibliographic pathway remain visible. The old Web could let an enthusiast build a sprawling multimedia commentary without a publishing platform deciding how long an essay ought to be. [Explore the original discussion of *The Golden Ass*](https://jnanam.net/golden-ass/). Part of the [Ancient Web Collection](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/ancient-web-collection/). - Categories: [Ancient Web](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/categories/ancient-web/) - Tags: [#ancientweb](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/tags/ancientweb/), [#literature](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/tags/literature/), [#classics](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/tags/classics/), [#hypertext](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/tags/hypertext/), [#apuleius](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/tags/apuleius/) [Articles RSS](https://switchboardtechservices.com/feeds/articles.xml "Subscribe using an RSS reader") --- Canonical URL: https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/ancient-web-benjamin-slade-read-the-golden-ass-as-a-hyperlinked-classic/ Language: en-us Content type: article Author: Switchboard Tech Services Published: 2026-09-22T07:16:29+00:00 Modified: 2026-10-18T21:00:47.370609+00:00