Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso was born on the 20th of March in 43 BC within the Paelignian town of Sulmo. This Apennine valley settlement lies east of Rome and served as his birthplace before he moved to the capital for education. His father belonged to an important equestrian family known as the gens Ovidia. Ovid studied rhetoric under two prominent teachers named Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro. These instructors taught him the art of argumentation which was essential for a legal career at that time. His brother excelled at oratory while Ovid tended toward emotional expression rather than strict argumentative logic. After his brother died at age twenty, Ovid renounced law entirely. He traveled to Athens, Asia Minor, and Sicily during this period of transition. He held minor public posts including service as one of the tresviri capitales. He also served as a member of the Centumviral court and later as one of the decemviri litibus iudicandis. He resigned from these positions around 29, 25 BC to pursue poetry instead. His first recitation occurred approximately in 25 BC when he was eighteen years old.
In AD 8 Emperor Augustus banished Publius Ovidius Naso to Tomis on the Black Sea without Senate approval or judicial proceedings. This event shaped all subsequent poetry written by the exiled poet. Ovid himself attributed his banishment to a carmen et error meaning poem and mistake but refused to disclose specific details. The Julian marriage laws of 18 BC promoted monogamous marriage to increase population birth rates. Ovid's writing concerning adultery may have been subversive to imperial moral legislation. Some scholars suggest Augustus used the poem merely as justification for something more personal regarding political power struggles. Julia the Younger and Agrippa Postumus were also banished around the same time. Her husband Lucius Aemilius Paullus faced execution for conspiracy against Augustus. Ovid potentially knew about this conspiracy yet remained silent during his exile. He wrote two poetry collections called Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto expressing sadness and desolation while far from Rome. He learned Sarmatian and Getic languages during his nine or ten years in Tomis. His third wife helped him during exile though she remained connected to the influential gens Fabia family.
The Metamorphoses stands as Ovid's most ambitious work consisting of fifteen books written in dactylic hexameter. Nearly twelve thousand verses contain almost two hundred fifty different myths from Greek and Roman tradition. Characters undergo transformations into trees rocks animals flowers constellations and other forms throughout the narrative. Book one describes world formation ages of man flood stories Daphne near rape by Apollo Io's abduction by Jupiter. Book two opens with Phaethon continuing Jupiter's love affairs with Callisto and Europa. Thebes mythology appears in book three featuring Cadmus Actaeon Pentheus. Four pairs of lovers appear in book four including Pyramus Thisbe Salmacis Hermaphroditus Perseus Andromeda. Proserpina's rape occurs within book five alongside Muses song. Arachne Philomela stories fill book six while Medea Cephalus Procris occupy book seven. Daedalus flight Calydonian boar hunt Baucis Philemon Erysichthon dominate book eight. Heracles Byblis incestuous relationships fill book nine. Orpheus Hyacinthus Pygmalion Myrrha Adonis appear in book ten. Peleus Thetis marriage Ceyx Alcyone love story fills book eleven. Achilles exploits centaur battle Iphigeneia occupy book twelve. Contest over Achilles arms Polyphemus fill book thirteen. Aeneas journey Pomona Vertumnus Romulus Hersilia fill book fourteen. Philosophical lecture by Pythagoras deification of Caesar concludes the final book. Ovid praised Augustus at poem end expressing belief that his work earned him immortality.
Ovid changed elegiac genre leadership from poet to Amor meaning Love or Cupid himself. This switch focused attention on triumphs of love over people rather than poet achievements alone. The Amores collection contains three books describing many aspects of love through relationship with mistress named Corinna. Book one includes fifteen poems covering Ovid's intention to write epic poetry thwarted when Cupid stole metrical foot changing work into love elegy. Poem four describes principles developed later in Art of Love while fifth introduces Corinna by name during noon tryst. Poems eight and nine deal with Corinna selling her love for gifts while 11 and 12 describe failed meeting arrangements. Poem 14 discusses Corinna's disastrous hair dyeing experiment while 15 stresses immortality of Ovid and love poets. Book two has nineteen pieces including opening Gigantomachy abandonment favoring elegy entreaties guardian see Corinna lament dead parrot affair servant discovery preventing vacation abortion prayer Isis illness warning unwary husbands. Book three contains fifteen poems depicting Tragedy Elegy fighting over Ovid visit races focus Corinna interest other men complaint Ceres festival Juno festival lament Tibullus deciding not love Corinna anymore regretting written poems farewell erotic muse. Critics view these poems as highly self conscious extremely playful specimens of elegiac genre.
The Tristia consist of five books composed by Ovid in Tomis expressing despair longing for Rome. First book contains eleven poems addressing how his book should act upon arrival in Rome final night departure voyage betrayal friend loyalty friends wife apology quality tone. Second book consists one long poem defending himself poetry using precedents justify work begging emperor forgiveness. Third book has fourteen poems focusing life Tomis seasons spent origins place emotional distress home longing. Fourth book features ten poems addressed mostly friends expressing love poetry solace triumph Tiberius requests correspondence autobiography. Final book contains fourteen poems focusing wife friends prayers Augustus Bacchus enemies letters requested apologies readers quality poetry. Epistulae ex Ponto collection includes four books further poetry from exile addressing different friends securing recall more desperately than Tristia. First book has ten pieces describing health state hopes memories yearning Rome needs exile. Second book contains impassioned requests Germanicus various friends speak behalf while describing despair life exile. Third book has nine poems addressing wife story Iphigenia Tauris criticism dream Cupid. Fourth book final work sixteen poems talks friends describes life exile winter spring Tomis halfhearted praise geography climate congratulations friends consulships requests help Tuticanus name fitting meter final poem enemy implores leave alone.
Ovid's works interpreted various ways over centuries depending social religious literary contexts different times. Since own lifetime he famous criticized Remedia Amoris reports criticism people considered books insolent Gluttonous Envy burst my name well known already it will more so if only feet travel road started many poems forming mind. After such criticism subsided Ovid became one best loved Roman poets during Middle Ages Renaissance. Writers used his work read write about sex violence without orthodox scrutiny routinely given commentaries Bible. Voluminous French work Ovide Moralisé moralizes fifteen books Metamorphoses composed influencing Chaucer. Poetry provided inspiration Renaissance idea humanism specifically many Renaissance painters writers. Arthur Golding moralized translation full fifteen books published 1567 version supplement original Latin Tudor era grammar schools influenced Christopher Marlowe William Shakespeare. Montaigne alluded Ovid several times Essais comments Education Children Miguel de Cervantes used Metamorphoses platform inspiration prodigious novel Don Quixote. Jesuit schools Portugal cut passages from Metamorphoses 16th century seeing poems elegant compositions worthy students educational purposes felt whole might corrupt students. Ratio studiorum effective Colonial Brazil early 17th century Brazilian students read Epistulae ex Ponto learn Latin grammar. Archbishop Canterbury Bishop London ordered contemporary translation Ovid love poems publicly burned 1599 Puritans following century viewed Ovid pagan immoral influence. John Dryden composed famous translation Metamorphoses stopped rhyming couplets 17th century refashioned own image Augustanism making over another Romantic movement 19th century considered Ovid poems stuffy dull over formal lacking genuine passion Romantics preferred poetry exile.
In 1992 classical scholar Amy Richlin published influential article critiquing prevalence rape within Ovid's Metamorphoses renewed focus sexual assault Ovid's poetry since #MeToo Movement 2017. Several feminist reinterpretations Ovid's Metamorphoses directly indirectly criticize treatment women texts. Ali Smith novel Girl Meets Boy 2007 reimagines lesbian relationship Iphis Ianthe Book nine Metamorphoses. Madeleine Miller novella Galatea 2013 retelling passage Book ten sculptor Pygmalion carves statue Galatea falls love brought life gods. Miller imagines Galatea grappling identity statue-turned-woman exhibiting resilience resistance husband oppressive control. Fiona Benson Forward Prize winning poetry anthology Vertigo Ghost 2019 experiments different forms represent Ovid depictions female victims Zeus' rape sexual violence including Danaë Semele Cyane Io. Nina MacLaughlin focused theme sexual assault Ovid's Metamorphoses collection short stories Wake Siren 2019. Bob Dylan made repeated use Ovid wording imagery themes album Modern Times songs borrowed lines Peter Green translation Workingman's Blues Ain't Talkin Levee Gonna Break Spirit Water Huck Tune quotes Green translation Genesis song Fountain Salmacis Nursery Cryme faithfully reports myth Hermaphroditus Salmacis narrated Ovid's Metamorphoses.
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Common questions
When and where was Publius Ovidius Naso born?
Publius Ovidius Naso was born on the 20th of March in 43 BC within the Paelignian town of Sulmo. This Apennine valley settlement lies east of Rome and served as his birthplace before he moved to the capital for education.
Why did Emperor Augustus banish Publius Ovidius Naso to Tomis?
Emperor Augustus banished Publius Ovidius Naso to Tomis on the Black Sea without Senate approval or judicial proceedings in AD 8. Ovid himself attributed his banishment to a carmen et error meaning poem and mistake but refused to disclose specific details regarding subversive writing concerning adultery under Julian marriage laws of 18 BC.
What are the main contents of the fifteen books of The Metamorphoses by Publius Ovidius Naso?
The Metamorphoses stands as Ovid's most ambitious work consisting of fifteen books written in dactylic hexameter containing nearly twelve thousand verses with almost two hundred fifty different myths from Greek and Roman tradition. Characters undergo transformations into trees rocks animals flowers constellations and other forms throughout the narrative spanning world formation ages of man flood stories Daphne near rape by Apollo Io's abduction by Jupiter and many others.
How does the Amores collection describe love through the mistress named Corinna?
The Amores collection contains three books describing many aspects of love through relationship with mistress named Corinna including poems covering Ovid's intention to write epic poetry thwarted when Cupid stole metrical foot changing work into love elegy. Poems eight and nine deal with Corinna selling her love for gifts while 11 and 12 describe failed meeting arrangements and poem 14 discusses Corinna's disastrous hair dyeing experiment.
Which poetry collections did Publius Ovidius Naso write during his exile in Tomis?
Ovid wrote two poetry collections called Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto expressing sadness and desolation while far from Rome after being banished around AD 8. He learned Sarmatian and Getic languages during his nine or ten years in Tomis and his third wife helped him during exile though she remained connected to the influential gens Fabia family.
Who published influential articles critiquing sexual assault themes in The Metamorphoses since 1992?
In 1992 classical scholar Amy Richlin published influential article critiquing prevalence rape within Ovid's Metamorphoses renewed focus sexual assault Ovid's poetry since #MeToo Movement 2017. Several feminist reinterpretations Ovid's Metamorphoses directly indirectly criticize treatment women texts including Ali Smith novel Girl Meets Boy 2007 reimagines lesbian relationship Iphis Ianthe Book nine Metamorphoses.