Publius Publius OvidiOvidius Nasous Naso(43 BC- AD 17)(43 BC- AD 17)

Denyce AlvarezDenyce Alvarez

Latin 2—A3Latin 2—A3

May 17, 2010May 17, 2010

Courage conquers all things: it even gives strength to the body.

-Ovid

About Ovid

• Publius Ovidius Naso• Commonly known as Ovid• Born March 20, 43 BC

– Sulmo (now Sulmona, Italy)

• Married three times, had one daughter.

• Family: old and respected; Equites– Rich

• Lived during Augustus’ reign.

Education

• Father able to send himself and his older brother to study in Rome.

• Showed true qualities of an orator, instead he pursued career in writing

Work

• His father had high expectations for him.

• Before indulging himself to establish an official career (not writing) he traveled to Athens, Asia Minor and to Sicily.

• When he got back, he decided the job his father wanted did not suit him.

• Instead, he pursued writing.

Conflicts

• In AD 8, Ovid was banished by Emperor Augustus.

• To Tomis. • Exile purpose was unknown

– But it was said his writings influenced the behavior of Augustus’ daughter Julia, which he disliked.

• During his exile, Augustus banned his books from the library– But his popularity wasn’t affected.

Exile

• Reached Tomis, AD 9. – Tomis, place where

barbarian attacks were mostly held.

– No civilized society. – Little Latin was spoken– Climate was bad

• Ovid became very depressed

Death

• Ovid died in Tomis, in AD 17

• Buried there, wasn’t allowed to return back to Rome

Writings

• Writing came to him naturally• He wrote about what he felt. • Wrote a lot about love and romance

– Because he wrote about what he felt, he did get married 3 times.

• Used Greek dactylic measures to apply into Latin language—hard to do.

• Poems known to be smooth, fluent and balanced.

• He and his writings were always admired.

Writings influences

• Ovid’s works influence great writers like Shakespeare and Chaucer.

• His work, Fasti made it easier for historians to take a look into Roman life.

Ovid’s works• The Amores (The Loves) was his first poem. Consisting

of five books, published in intervals, beginning about 20 BC. This forms a series of short poems showing the phases of a woman’s love affairs, Corinna.

• The Heroides (Heroines) were a collection of letters that Greek and Roman mythology heroines wrote to the man of their lives.

• Medicamina facie feminae, a didactic poem. This was followed by a manual called Ars Amatoria, which covers the art of seduction. Its first two books were the original works, but through his popularity, a third one was made in response to women’s demands.

• Fasti (Calendar) consists of one whole Roman year and its religious festivals. It consists of 12 books, one per each month it was also a national poem, which contains a lot of flattery.

Ovid’s Works (Continuation)• Metamorphoses is a very long poem that consists in 15

books. It is written in a hexameter verse, having about 12,000 lines. It tells about myths and legends in which metamorphosis (transformation) takes place. It is told in chronological order. The poem’s theme is passion (pathos).

• The Trista (Ars—book ii of Trista)and Epistulae ex Ponto were written by him and sent to Rome, about one book per year, when he was exiled. It was a five book poem. It held letters to emperor and to his wife and friends telling how he feels, wanting to return to Rome. Here he says that he didn’t do wrong to deserve to be exiled.

• He wrote Ibis a poetic curse written for his anonymous enemy. He couldn’t write this kind of verse, even if it made him famous because he lacks the encouragement he used to have.