Ovid

Biography

Publius Ovidius Naso, commonly known as Ovid, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. Born in Sulmo (modern Sulmona, Italy) in 43 BC to an equestrian family, he received an excellent education in rhetoric in Rome, preparing him for a career in law and politics. However, Ovid soon abandoned these pursuits to dedicate himself to poetry. His early works, such as the "Amores" and "Ars Amatoria," established him as a master of elegiac verse, focusing on themes of love, seduction, and urban life. His most ambitious and influential work, the "Metamorphoses," is an epic poem in fifteen books that chronicles the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar, all through the lens of mythological transformations. In 8 AD, Emperor Augustus banished Ovid to Tomis (modern Constanța, Romania) on the Black Sea, for reasons that remain somewhat obscure, though Ovid himself referred to "carmen et error" (a poem and an error). He spent the last decade of his life in exile, writing the poignant "Tristia" and "Epistulae ex Ponto," which lament his fate and appeal for recall. He died in exile around 17 AD, never having been permitted to return to Rome.