The Roman poet, Ovid Nasóne Publio, and other Greek poets of his generation, were unaware of the civil wars that devastated Rome during the first century BC. Ancient poets such as Virgil and Horace, with their patriotic values and classicist aesthetics, were already far removed from the generation by Ovid, heir to Hellenistic aesthetics that represents the taste for erudition and social policy.
Terms for understanding Ovid's poetry
In Ovid's poetry, several technical terms are present, each with a specific role in the structure and style of the works. These poetic resources contribute to the richness and beauty of Ovid's poetry, allowing him to address mythological, romantic, and emotional themes in a dynamic and impactful way: |
Couplet – this is a metrical form composed of two lines, usually of different meters. In Ovid, elegiac couplets, for example, are common, being used in his Heroides and Love Remedies. |
Hexameter – a line with six feet, often used in epic poetry and in The Metamorphoses. Ovid's hexameter is used to tell stories and myths, giving a solemn and epic rhythm to the narrative. |
Dactyl – a metrical foot composed of a long syllable followed by two short syllables (¬ ᴜ ᴜ). The dactyl is frequently used in hexameter. |
Spondee – a metrical foot composed of two long syllables (¬ ¬). Less common in hexameter, the spondee is used to give variation to the rhythm. |
Elegy – a lyrical and melancholic poem, often addressing themes of love and loss. Ovid is known for his elegies, especially in the Sorrows and Remedies for Love, using the genre to explore personal emotions and romantic relationships. |
Metaphor – a figure of speech that establishes a relationship of similarity between two elements, transferring the meaning of one to the other. Ovid uses complex metaphors in his descriptions of mythological transformations. |
Similitude – an explicit comparison between two elements using words such as “like” or “just as.” Ovid often uses similitudes to enrich his stories, creating vivid and expressive images. |
The poet had numerous lovers and married three times. Of his three marriages, the first two were short-lived, but his third wife, of whom he speaks with respect and affection, remained with him until his death. Some of his love adventures provided poetic material for his work Amores (loves).
As far as is known, Ovid moved to Rome at an early age to finish his studies with professors Arelio Fusco and Porcio Latrón. He had contact with the greatest writers and poets of his time, such as Messalla, Cornélio Gallo, Properzio, Orazio, and attended the court of Emperor Augustus. It was clear that he had a much greater vocation and talent for poetry, but his father insisted that he train in eloquence and jurisprudence to access a political career.
After an educational trip to Greece, Egypt and Asia, and a stay in Sicily he held minor magistracies. According to his own words, ever since he went to school in Sulmona, his hometown, he already felt a strong inclination towards poetry. "Everything I tried to write came out in the form of verses." Therefore, he abandoned his law studies, necessary to climb the political career ladder. He went to Rome to build a future as a poet, as he considered that "the city owns everything that existed in the world".
Characteristics of Ovid's writing
Skillful verse of extraordinary ease and expressive fluidity, fervent imagination and intelligent temperament of narrator, colorist, and psychologist. Ovid is a dominant personality in Latin culture, and his influence is powerfully perpetuated in the Middle Ages, Humanism, and the Renaissance.
In the love elegies of the first period, he experiences an entire Roman society that was already profoundly different from the late republican one, often distressed by those problems revived in poetry by Virgil and Horace. In Metamorphoses and in some passages in Heroides, he is more incisive in his talent as a storyteller, as a painter of the marvelous and in capturing obscure aspects of the female soul.
The Age of Ovid
The Age of Ovid, the period of imperial Rome, extends mainly during the reign of Emperor Augustus, between the first century BC and the first century AD. This period was marked by great political and cultural transformations, with the rise of the Roman Empire and the strengthening of the Augustinian regime. In the literary field, there was a flourishing of the arts, with poets such as Virgil and Horace, who shaped Latin literature. Ovid stood out for his elegant and innovative poetry, with works such as The Metamorphoses and The Remedies of Love. However, his life was also marked by exile, imposed by Augustus, for reasons that are not entirely clear. |
In the first phase, his poetry has a casual tone and revolves around the theme of love and eroticism. Amores (Loves), Arte de amor (Art of loving) and Remédios de amor (Love remedies) stand out for the technical mastery in managing the elegiac couplet, for the brilliant and sometimes picturesque ease of the verse. The didactic purpose, advice, and examples of how to seduce women and interact with them, are mixed in these works with burlesque anecdotes and a custom tinged with satire.
In modern eyes, more than love, it is about eroticism, or even a simple repertoire of spicy jokes. One must, of course, consider that what was understood as love in ancient times is closer to what we can call eroticism today. Therefore, when these books influence the courtly love of the troubadours (12th century), the differences will also be noticeable.
The sad elegy of the period of exile, in which a sometimes-remarkable vein of painful poetry, of lively and dramatic evocation of the distant homeland, is spoiled by the desire to please the emperor, to move him to pity and obtain the revocation of the announcement of such exile.
Heroides
Ovid's Heroides is a work composed of twenty-one elegiac poems, in which he gives voice to mythological heroines, presenting their anguish and suffering through imaginary letters. Each poem is an "epistle" written by a woman to her absent lover, such as Penelope, Medea, and Helen. The work explores themes such as love, betrayal, distance, and loyalty, revealing the emotional complexity of these mythological figures. Ovid mixes sensitivity and irony, offering a deep insight into the female psyche and romantic relationships, while also criticizing the social norms of the time. |
Main works of Ovid
Ovid's poems are all written in elegiac couplets, except Metamorphoses. He divided his works from before exile into two groups:
Light writings – Loves, Heroides and Art of loving
Compositions of more serious themes - Metamorphoses and Fasti.
Loves – love song in elegiac couplets in five books published at intervals in 14 BC, beginning around 20 BC They form a series of short poems describing the various phases of a love affair with a woman named Corinna. Their tone is not passion, but the witty and rhetorical exploration of the erotic commonplace and they narrate not a real relationship between Ovid and Corinna (she is not a real woman, just a literary construction), but all the vicissitudes of a typical affair with a woman from the underworld. The work was immensely popular, to the point that a second edition was also published, which was not common in Antiquity.
Ovid's Remedies for Love (Ars Amatoria) is a handbook of seduction and love advice, consisting of three books. In his work, Ovid offers guidance to both men and women on how to win and maintain love, covering courtship strategies, behavior, and the art of dealing with passion. With an irreverent and humorous tone, he mixes wisdom with fun and challenges the social conventions of the time. The work, which combines literary elegance with a pragmatic view of love, was controversial in its time, even being banned by Augustus, but it remains one of the most influential in classical literature. |
Loves is a love song in elegiac couplets in five books published at intervals in 14 BC, beginning around 20 BC. They form a series of short poems that describe the various phases of a love affair with a woman named Corinna. Its emphasis is not on passion but rather on the witty and rhetorical exploration of erotic clichés, and it narrates not a real relationship between Ovid and Corinna (she is not a real woman, just a literary construction), but all the vicissitudes of a typical affair with a woman from the underworld. The work was extremely popular, to the point that a second edition was also published, which was not common in Antiquity. |
Metamorphoses is an epic and mythological work composed of fifteen books, which narrates the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar. The work brings together more than 250 myths, addressing physical and spiritual transformations, such as the transformation of Dione into a tree and the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. With his engaging narrative and refined style, Ovid mixes humor, tragedy, and philosophy, analyzing themes such as love, revenge, identity, and the power of the gods. Metamorphoses is one of the greatest influences on Western literature because it offers a fascinating and dynamic vision of the mythological world. |
Heroides – an idea already used by Sextus Propertius was developed into something like a new literary genre. It is the collection of letters that the wives of famous heroes sent to their loved ones, including some of their responses. Thus, we find, among others, Penelope's letter to Ulysses, Briseis' letter to Achilles, Dido's letter to Aeneas or Helena's letter to Paris. The treatment of his literary sources is particularly ingenious; the correspondence of Paris and Helen is one of the minor masterpieces of antiquity.
Art of loving (Ars amandi or Ars amatoria) - Ovid's most important work, consisting of three books between the years 2 and 1 BC. It was a technical manual of burlesque seduction with instructions on how to find and win a partner.
Metamorphoses - is an epic of great scope but with a very particular style, as it is imbued with the author's typical playful and loving technique. A long poem in fifteen books written in hexameter verse and totaling about 12,000 lines. Ovid told and explained the stories of almost 250 myths and legends from the Roman world in which metamorphosis plays some role, however small.
It was a mature work in which the poet combined heroism with comedy, romance, and elegy throughout the fifteen books that comprised it. Fortunately for him, Ovid had plenty of material to work with and draw inspiration from, so he was able to choose the most well-known and satisfying version of the myths to enhance his creativity.
The stories are told in chronological order from the creation of the universe (the first metamorphosis, from chaos to order) to the death and deification of Julius Caesar (the climactic metamorphosis, again from chaos (Civil War) to order (Augusta Peace).
It is no coincidence that in the last lines the poet says: "I have reached the conclusion of a work that neither the wrath of Jupiter, nor fire, nor iron, nor relentless time will be able to destroy it." Ovid reached the height of his popularity. His works, undoubtedly innovative, made him one of Rome's greatest poets.
Fasti – are inspired by the Aitia of Callimachus. The poet wanted to illustrate in elegiac couplets, in twelve books, one for each month of the year, and sing in order the origin and myths associated with the festivals of the Roman Calendar. The poem, in 8 AD, was interrupted in book 6, due to exile in Tomi.
The various festivals are described as they occur and trace back to their legendary origins. The Fasti was a national poem, destined to take its place in Augustus's literary program and destined to rehabilitate its author in the eyes of the ruling dynasty. It contains much praise for the imperial family and much patriotism, which the undoubted brilliance of the narrative passages does not entirely redeem.
Medea - from his early years, in the circle of Messalla, Ovid composed this tragedy, highly praised in Antiquity. The loss of Ovid's tragedy, which he wrote while still in Rome, is particularly deplorable. The critic Quintilian and the historian Tacitus praised the work. It is likely that it influenced Seneca's play on the same theme.
Exile still unexplained
Emperor Augustus suddenly decided to exile Ovid to Tomi, a city near the Danube and on the shores of the Black Sea that Rome had recently conquered. The causes of the exile remain unknown. The poet himself provides, in a cryptic way, two reasons to explain his fall from grace:
A poem - it is reasonable to imagine that it referred to the immorality of one of his works, Arte de amor. Emperor Augustus took advantage of his position as supreme pontiff and official of laws and customs to try to control all religious, social, and moral issues in society. Augustus set out to reestablish the ancient Roman customs, which, in his opinion, had made Rome strong, powerful, and irreproachable.
In particular, he was concerned with strengthening marriage, which was considered until the first century BC as the cornerstone of Roman morality. He amended and enacted new laws on adultery and chastity and placed a limit on divorces. He also rebuilt more than eighty temples and restored the main priestly orders.
Therefore, the condemnation of Ovid's amorous works should not be surprising, as it was not difficult to find a critique of the two basic pillars of Roman society that Augustus intended to strengthen: religion and family. Ovid spoke of temples as appropriate places to socialize, of adulterers among the gods as examples to follow and gave advice on how to win over other people's women. However, it is surprising that the emperor decided to exile the poet because of a poem composed eight years ago.
A mistake – numerous hypotheses have been formulated, although none of them are entirely conclusive. It has been said that perhaps Ovid had an affair with Livia, the emperor's fiancée; who may have been an unwitting witness to Augustus' incest with his own daughter Giulia; who may have participated in a conspiracy against Augustus led by Agrippa Postumus, the emperor's nephew, or even who may have secretly witnessed a mysterious rite of Isis intended only for women.
Ovid's Exiles
Ovid's exile is one of the most striking episodes in his life. In 8 AD, the poet was banished from Rome by order of Emperor Augustus, a measure that, to this day, has no definitive explanation. Ovid mentions two aspects of his exile: |
Exile 1 - Ovid was exiled to Tomis, a city on the Black Sea (present-day Constanța, Romania), in a distant and isolated region. He describes his forced departure as painful, leaving his family and friends. This exile, in his view, occurred for mysterious reasons, associated with a "mistake" (probably related to the work Ars Amatoria, which was considered immoral), and with the "crime" that he never fully revealed. |
Exile 2 - In his second exile, Ovid faced isolation in an even more acute way. He spent his years in Tomis in a constant struggle against longing and suffering. His Sorrows (or Tristia) and Epistles of Exile expressed his despair and attempted to appeal to the emperor for forgiveness and return to Rome, but he was never readmitted. Ovid's exile symbolizes the loss of his literary and social identity, with the poet confronting the harsh reality of banishment. |
The theory that currently arouses the greatest consensus is that which would link Ovid's punishment with Julius, nephew of Augustus, and with the senator Décimus Giunio Silano, both exiled in the same period as Ovid and who may have committed adultery with the poet's complicity.
Some researchers have speculated about the veracity of Ovid's exile, since what can be assumed about the subject derives from the poet's own words. However, we do not know how dependable the information provided is. The contrast between his writings and the various testimonies seems to indicate, although not definitively, that Ovid created a poetic world based on an authentic experience of exile.
However, it is unclear whether the latter exactly happened to Tomi. In any case, given that his compositions are artistic works, it is of little importance to verify whether they are reliable testimonies of his personal stories. Neither the emperor's pleas nor flattery helped, and although after Augustus' death in 14 AD, Ovid tried to get Tiberius to revoke the sentence, the new emperor did not heed the poet's pleas, nor those of his wife Fabia.
Works written in exile
Ovid arrived at his place of exile in the spring of AD 9. Tomis was a semi-Hellenized port exposed to periodic attacks from neighboring peoples. There was a lack of books and high society; little Latin was spoken; and the climate was harsh. In his loneliness and depression, Ovid turned again to poetry, now of a more personal and introspective kind.
Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto were written and sent to Rome at the rate of about one book per year from A.D. 9. They consist of letters to the emperor and to Ovid's wife and friends describing their miseries and asking for clemency. For all his depression and self-pity, Ovid never retreats from the one position with which his self-respect has been identified - his status as a poet.
Epistulae ex Ponto - written in exile of which he published three books together with the Tristia, elegies in epistolary form, each dedicated to a friend in Rome (the fourth book of the Epistulae ex Ponto was published posthumously),
Ibis – poem that shows how Ovid's poetic powers had not yet been seriously impaired. This is a long and elaborate curse directed at an anonymous enemy. It is a forceful display of obscure mythological learning, composed without the aid of books. But in the absence of any sign of encouragement from home, Ovid did not have the courage to continue writing the kind of poetry that made him famous.
Pontic – has clear addressees, alternating sincere expressions of gratitude towards faithful friends with disappointment towards those who have forgotten him. On several occasions, he even mentions that he ran out of inspiration and sense of humor and that he had suicidal thoughts.
Influences on literature
Ovid's popularity was part, however, of a general secularization and an awakening to the beauties of profane literature. He was the poet of wandering scholars, as well as of vernacular poets, troubadours, and miners; and when the concept of romantic love, in its new chivalric or “courtly” guise, was developed in France, it was the influence of Ovid that dominated the book in which his philosophy was expounded, the Roman de la rose (Romance of the Rose).
Ovid's popularity grew during the Renaissance, particularly among humanists who were striving to recreate ancient modes of thought and feeling, and printed editions of his works followed in an endless stream from 1471. In the 15th and 17th centuries it would be It is difficult to name a notable poet or painter who was not in some debt to him. The Metamorphoses offered one of the most accessible and compelling avenues into the riches of Greek mythology.
Epitaph on Ovid’s Tomb
The epitaph on Ovid’s tomb, although not widely known, is often associated with the expression of his grief over his exile and the loss of Rome. In one of the most traditional versions, Ovid is said to have written something like: “Here lies Ovid, poet of metamorphoses, banished by the imperial order, but who transformed his grief into immortal words.” This epitaph reflects the tragedy of his life: exiled from Rome and separated from his home city, but with his literary work enduring through the centuries. The expression of his exile, his transformations, and his poetic skill are central elements of this type of remembrance. |
But Ovid's main appeal comes from the humanity of his writing: its joy, its sympathy, its exuberance, its pictorial and sensual quality. These are the things that have recommended him, down the ages, to the troubadours and the poets of courtly love, to Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and Ezra Pound ֎
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