Ovid 43 B.C. – 17 or 18 A.D.

Publius Ovidius Naso Much of our information about Ovid’s life comes from Tristia, a poem he wrote after he had been exiled and his poems banned from public libraries. He was born in Sulmo (modern Sulmona) about 90 miles east and north of Rome, in 43 B.C., a year after Julius Caesar’s assassination, and a year before Cicero’s execution. At this time, there was a civil war in Italy, which ended with Octavian’s victory at Actium in 31 B.C.

Publius Ovidius Naso (cont.) He was born into a wealthy family of equestrian rank. Ovid was educated first in Sulmo and then in Rome Schooling at that time emphasized study of rhetoric and public speaking, important for law and politics. Ovid gave up political career In 26 B.C. or 25 B.C., he began to read his poetry in public perhaps at age 17 or 18. Ovid’s father had reservations about Ovid’s early interest in poetry: “Often my father said, why try a useless task? Tristia 4.10. 21-22.

Ovid’s Amores First published work was the Amores (Loves). They were short poems written in the first person in elegiac couplets. This became his favorite meter, which he used in all his poems except the Metamorphoses (which he wrote in dactylic hexameter). Ovid’s poems devoted to subject of poetry and love, but plays with readers, introduces comedy and satire into elegiac.

The Heroides The Heroides is a collection of 15 verse epistles addressed by women (female voices) to the men they loved and lost. Almost all the are characters from mythology; Penelope to Ulysses after waiting 20 years for his return, Medea to Jason after he deserted her, Dido to Aeneas, etc. Ovid was not working in an established tradition. He wrote dramatic monologues to create characters and reveal their psychologies.

Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love) The Ars Amatoria was an unprecedented didactic poem on art of seduction, written for men. Poem is in 3 books and a poet-lover teaches a course in love based on his own experiences and technical knowledge. 3 subjects: 1. The best pick-up places in Rome 2. Hunting techniques 3. The art of keeping the girl once caught

Ars Amatoria (cont’d) Later, Ovid decided to write a third book instructing women in the arts of love. Most of it has to do with appearance and behavior. In the Ars Amatoria Ovid parodies love elegy and didactic poetry. Also makes fun of political and moral climate of Augustan Rome and provides social commentary. Ovid followed this with Remedia - a sort of advice column in which the professor advises lovers how to escape their predicaments.

The Metamorphoses (Transformations) Ovid turned to epic and wrote his great mythological poem, the Metamorphoses. 250 stories from Greek and Roman mythology within a vaguely chronological framework Many stories from myth, that we are familiar with, are from this poem. Ovid was a master storyteller, always varying his narrative and his subject Some myths told in a few lines, other several hundred with elaborate detail, psychological realism Others dealt with obscurely and allusively Some are comedies, others tragedies, many told by other narrators within the myth, stories within stories.

Echo and Narcissus by Waterhouse Venus and Adonis By Titian Thisbe By Waterhouse Pygmalion and Galatea by Jean-Leon Gerome

Exile In A.D. 8, when copies of Metamorphoses were circulating among his friends, Ovid was banished from Rome by Augustus and his books removed from public libraries. He was exiled to Tomis, on site of modern Constanza, in Romania. It was a barren, uncivilized place inhabited by a Thracian tribe. In spite of many petitions from the poet and his many friends in Rome, Augustus never relented, nor did Tiberius who succeeded Augustus in A.D. 14. Ovid died in exile in late A.D. 17 or early 18.

Revives elegy’s ancient Greek association with death and lamentation. Works from exile Wrote two collections of poetry from exile; the Tristia and the Epistulae ex Ponto. Many are poetic epistles written in despair. Revives elegy’s ancient Greek association with death and lamentation. “Here I am, bereft of country, home and you, everything gone that could be taken from me. My art is still my companion and my joy - over that Caesar could not get jurisdiction.” Tristia 3.7.45-8

Questions/Discussions about Ovid and his works. What is love elegy? Why is meter used in poetry? Compare/contrast comedy and satire. What is an epistle? What is the difference between love elegy and didactic poetry? Why do you think was Ovid exiled? Some contemporaries of Ovid’s were Vergil (70-19 B.C.) and Horace (65 – 8 B.C.) What were they writing at that time?