Life (43 BCE -- 17 CE )

Born at Sulmo of equestrian rank by birth (not through property or service). Studied law and rhetoric at Rome under Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro; completed his education at Athens; traveled in Sicily and Asia Minor. On reaching manhood he assumed the angustus clavus, as he did not aspire to a senatorial career. Served in centumviral court, acted as arbitrator, and on the board of tresviri capitales, in charge of prisons and executions. Three times married; had one daughter by his second wife, and a stepdaughter from his third, who was a widow. Attended recitations of Macer, Horace, and Propertius (who was his personal friend). He was also a close friend of Tibullus. Banished to Tomis in A.D. 8, for "a poem and a mistake" ('duo crimina, carmen et error' Tristia 2.207), but retained his property. The carmen may well have been the Ars Amatoria, but the proximate cause of his exile was probably the error. "It is highly probable that he witnessed without preventing the guilty act of some member of the imperial family....This may have been the younger Julia's (Augustus' granddaughter) adulterous connexion with D. Silanus" (Teuffel, p 471). According to St. Jerome, he died in CE 17, still in exile. He may have survived to 18.

Works

Amores Love poems which "show little real feeling" (OCD). First edition (5 books) appeared soon after 16 B.C.; second (in 3 books) shortly before Ars Amatoria. (elegiacs)

Heroides Mostly letters of noble ladies to their lovers. Most are mythological, except for one by Sappho, the poet of Lesbos. The idea of a letter may be derived from Propertius 4.3, which uses epistolary form. Later added 3 pairs of letters, with letters and replies. (elegiacs)

Medicamina faciei femineae Fragmentary; a handbook of cosmetics for women. (elegiacs)

Ars Amatoria Blends love elegy with didactic poetry; Ovid is the "doctor of love" (19 centuries before Steve Miller) in 3 books. Books 1 and 2 instruct men how to find women; book three (added later) is aimed at women finding men. Published c. 1 B.C. (elegiacs)

Remedia Amoris Published soon after Ars, describes ways to escape entanglements (19 centuries before Paul Simon). (elegiacs)

Metamorphoses 15 books of stories of "changes of shape," mostly mythological, starting at the beginning of the world to Ovid's own day. Includes also metamorphoses from history (e.g. deification of Caesar) and philosophy (e.g. Pythagorean doctrines). Published after his exile, but was in progress at that time. (hexameters)

Fasti A poetical calendar of the first 6 months of the Roman year. Half completed at the time of his exile (6 of 12 books). The first six books were revised in exile and published posthumously; the last six were too incomplete to publish. (elegiacs)

Tristia Five books, written Ad. 8-12; sad, sometimes pitiful, supplications asking for mitigation of his sentence of exile. Addressed to various persons, whose names are suppressed.

Epistulae ex Ponto Four books, letters like those of Tristia, except names are given. 1-3 written A.D. 12-13; book 4 published posthumously.

Ibis A curse against an enemy (identity unknown) who persecutes Ovid and his wife; the title and idea for the poem are based on a poem of the same name by Callimachus.

Halieutica A fragmentary poem on fish. Published posthumously, unrevised, which accounts for its metrical and other "blemishes." (hexameters)

Nux The lament of a nut-tree over its sufferings from stones thrown at it by passers-by. An allegory of his own life.

Lost poems Gigantomachia, Medea (tragedy). The latter was highly praised by the ancients. Both are early. Priapeum, fragments of epigrams, a shortened adaptation of Aratus' Phaenomena. Known by title only: Liber in malos poetas, Epithalamium for Pullus Fabius Maximus, Epicedium on M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus, Panegyric on the Pannonian Triumph of Tiberius, Epicedium on Augustus, Poem praising the imperial house.

Some ancient comments on Ovid as a poet: Seneca, Nat. Quaest. III 27, 13: poetarum ingeniosissimus,...nisi tantum impetum ingenii et materiae ad pueriles ineptias reduxisset. Quintil. X 1, 88: lascivus quidem in herois quoque Ovidius et nimium amator ingenii sui, laudandus tamen in partibus. 98: Ovidii Medea videtur mihi ostendere quantum ille vir praestare potuerit, si ingenio suo imperare quam indulgere maluisset.

Bibliography

Ahl, Frederick M. Metaformations: soundplay and wordplay in Ovid and other classical poets (Cornell University Press, 1985).

Bate, Jonathan. Shakespeare and Ovid (Oxford University Press, 1993).

Colavito, Maria Maddalena. The Pythagorean intertext in Ovid's Metamorphoses : a new interpretation (E. Mellen Press, c1989).

Fränkel, Hermann Ferdinand. Ovid; a poet between two worlds (University of California Press, 1945).

Galinsky, Karl. Ovid's Metamorphoses : an introduction to the basic aspects (University of California Press, 1975).

Glenn, Edgar M. The Metamorphoses : Ovid's Roman games (University Press of America, c1986).

Knox, Peter E. Ovid's Metamorphoses and the traditions of Augustan poetry (Cambridge Philological Society, 1986).

Mack, Sara. Ovid (Yale University Press, c1988).

Otis, Brooks. Ovid as an epic poet (Cambridge U.P., 1966).

Ovid renewed: Ovidian influences on literature and art from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century (Cambridge University Press, 1988).

Rand, Edward Kennard. Ovid and his influence (Cooper Square Publishers, 1963)

Solodow, Joseph B. The world of Ovid's Metamorphoses (University of North Carolina Press, c1988).

Williams, Gareth D. Banished voices: readings in Ovid's exile poetry (Cambridge University Press, 1994).