Ovid Flashcards
What did Ovid do in his early life?
Ovid was well educated due to his wealthy equestrian background and he studied rhetoric in Rome. Despite showing promise in this field, he neglected his studies in favour of verse writing. He then went to Athens for finishing school and went on to hold minor judicial roles.
When Ovid left his judicial role to cultivate his poetry, what were his first works?
Amores, Heroides, the Art of Beauty, The Art of Love and Remedies for Love. These share a common theme of love and amorous intrigue, reflecting the brilliant, sophisticated society Ovid lived in.
How many times did Ovid marry? What were their outcomes?
He married three times. The first two were short lived but his third wife remained constant with him until death and he spoke of her with respect and affection.
Describe Ovid’s social circle.
Ovid was part of a pleasure-seeking, luxurious society. He enjoyed the encouragement and friendship of Marcus Valeria Messalla, patron of the circle with included Tibullus. Ovid’s other friends included Horace and Sextus Propertius.
What were Ovid’s two later more ambitious projects and what happened to interrupt the writing process?
Metamorphoses and Fasti (the Calendar). The former was nearly complete and the latter half finished when in 8AD the empower Augustus banished Ovid to Tomis on the Black Sea.
Why was Ovid sent into exile in 8AD?
It is not fully known. Ovid blames a carmen, probably the Art of Love, and another cause. He claims it was an indiscretion rather than a crime. He may have been an accomplice in the adultery of Augustus’ granddaughter Julia, banished at the same time. It is suggested that Ovid behaved in some way that was damaging to the honour of the imperial family and to Augustus’ moral reforms.
What was Ovid’s full name and where was he born
Publius Ovidius Naso born at Sulmo, a small town east of Rome
What happened to Ovid’s wife when he was in exile in Tomis?
Since Ovid’s punishment was the milder form of banishment called relegatio, it didn’t entail loss of citizenship or property. So, his wife stayed in Rome to protect his interests.
What was Ovid’s exile like? Did he write while in exile?
Tomis was a half Greek half barbarian port at the extreme edge of the Empire. It was a cruel punishment but Ovid hoped for mitigation of his sentence. In his ‘Tristia’ and ‘letters from the Black Sea’ he made pathetic pleas to the emperor.
Did Ovid ever get out of exile before his death?
No; neither Augustus nor Tiberius relented and Ovid died in exile in 17/18AD
What form did Ovid’s writings take?
Ovid’s surviving poetry is all in elegiac couplets except the Metamorphoses which is in 15 books of hexameter verse.
Describe briefly Ovid’s Ars Amatoria.
It was a manual of seduction and intrigue for a man about town. Later, by popular demand, a third book of similar instruction for women was published. Although he disclaims the teaching of adultery, Ovid’s teachings could easily be applied to the seduction of married women. It is a medley of social and personal satire.
What was the nature of Ovid’s Fasti?
The Fasti is an account of the Roman year and it’s religious festivals, which are described as they occur and traced to their legendary origins. It was a national poem, intended to take its place in the Augustan literary program.
What was the effect of Virgil’s Aeneid on Ovid’s Metamorphoses?
The Aeneid had been canonised as the national epic and anything after it anything that was a straightforward historical or mythological epic wouldn’t compare. So Ovid chose to write an epic on a new unique plan.
Give a brief summary of Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
It’s a collection of legendary stories in which transformation plays some part. The stories are told in chronological order, beginning with the creation of the universe (where chaos transforms into order) and ends with the metamorphosis of chaos to order that the Civil Wars and the Peace of the Augustan Age show.
