Ovid
Ovid (43 BC–probably AD 17), whose Latin name was Publius Ovidius Naso, was a Roman poet. Born at Sulmo, now Sulmona in Italy, he studied rhetoric in Rome before devoting himself to poetry. He wrote in Latin.[1]
Writings
His Amores is a collection of love poems, surviving in three books. Heroides presents imagined letters from legendary heroines, while Fasti explores the Roman religious calendar. His best-known work, Metamorphoses, tells stories of transformation drawn from Greek and Roman mythology.[1]
Exile
In AD 8, the emperor Augustus banished Ovid to Tomis on the Black Sea, now Constanța in Romania. Ovid connected his punishment with his poem Ars Amatoria and an unspecified error; the circumstances remain uncertain. His exile poetry includes Tristia and Letters from the Black Sea. He died at Tomis, probably in AD 17, without being allowed to return to Rome.[1]
Later influence
Metamorphoses was widely admired and translated during the Middle Ages and became a source of subjects for painters. Artists who drew on its stories included Titian and Nicolas Poussin.[2] In English literature, Christopher Marlowe translated the Amores as All Ovids Elegies.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 William Turpin, “Life of Ovid”, Ovid, Amores (Book I), Dickinson College Commentaries. Accessed 10 October 2026.
- ↑ National Gallery, London, “Who was Ovid?”. Accessed 10 October 2026.
- ↑ A. H. Bullen, ed., The Works of Christopher Marlowe, vol. 3 (London: John C. Nimmo, 1885), editorial note to “Ovid’s Elegies” and Book I, Elegy I; digital edition, pp. 65–66.