Publius Ovidius Naso

Ovid
The Roman poet Ovid from an engraving.
Born	March 20, 43 BC Sulmo
Died	17 AD Tomis
Occupation	Poet

Publius Ovidius Naso. better known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was an Ancient Roman poet. He was born on March 20, 43 BC in Sulmona, then called Sulmo. People today do not know when he died. It was probably either 17 AD or 18 AD. He died in Tomis, which is modern-day Constanţa in Romania.

With Virgil and Horace he is considered among the three great poets of Latin literature. Ovid usually wrote in verses. Ovid was the most widely read classical author in medieval times and the Renaissance.

Works

Engraved frontispiece of George Sandys' 1632 London edition of Ovids Metamorphoses Englished.

Works by Ovid (with approximate dates of publication)

• Amores ("The Loves"), five books, published 10 BC and revised into three books ca. 1 AD.
• Metamorphoses, ("Transformations"), 15 books. Published ca. AD 8.
• Medicamina Faciei Feminae ("Women's Facial Cosmetics"), also known as The Art of Beauty, 100 lines surviving. Published ca. 5 BC.
• Remedia Amoris ("The Cure for Love"), 1 book. Published 5 BC.
• Heroides ("The Heroines"), also known as Epistulae Heroidum ("Letters of Heroines"), 21 letters. Letters 1–5 published 5 BC; letters 16–21 were composed ca. AD 4–8.
• Ars Amatoria ("The Art of Love"), three books. First two books published 2 BC, the third somewhat later.
• Fasti ("The Festivals"), 6 books extant which cover the first 6 months of the year, providing unique information on the Roman calendar. Finished by AD 8, possibly published in AD 15.
• Ibis, a single poem. Written ca. 9 AD.
• Tristia ("Sorrows"), five books. Published 10 AD.
• Epistulae ex Ponto ("Letters from the Black Sea"), four books. Published 10 AD.

Lost works, or works by other poets

• Consolatio ad Liviam ("Consolation to Livia")
• Halieutica ("On Fishing") — generally considered spurious, a poem that some have identified with the otherwise lost poem of the same name written by Ovid.
• Medea, a lost tragedy about Medea
• Nux ("The Walnut Tree")
• A volume of poems in Getic, the language of Dacia where Ovid lived in exile, not extant (and possibly fictional).

Other websites

• University of Virginia, "Ovid Illustrated: The Renaissance Reception of Ovid in Image and Text"
• Works by Ovid at Project Gutenberg
• Latin and English translation
  • Perseus/Tufts: P. Ovidius Naso Amores, Ars Amatoria, Heroides (on this site called Epistulae), Metamorphoses, Remedia Amoris. Enhanced brower. Not downloadable.
  • Sacred Texts Archive: Ovid Archived 2012-10-22 at the Wayback Machine Amores, Ars Amatoria, Medicamina Faciei Femineae, Metamorphoses, Remedia Amoris.
  • The Metamorphoses of Publius Ovidius Naso Archived 2007-07-22 at the Wayback Machine; elucidated by an analysis and explanation of the fables, together with English notes, historical, mythological and critical, and illustrated by pictorial embellishments: with a dictionary, giving the meaning of all the words with critical exactness. By Nathan Covington Brooks. Publisher: New York, A. S. Barnes & co.; Cincinnati, H. W. Derby & co., 1857 (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & layered PDF Archived 2006-03-05 at the Wayback Machine format)
• Original Latin only
  • Latin Library: Ovid Amores, Ars Amatoria, Epistulae ex Ponto, Fasti, Heroides, Ibis, Metamorphoses, Remedia Amoris, Tristia.
  • Gutenberg Project: Fasti Archived 2004-10-09 at the Wayback Machine With introduction and extensive notes in English by Thomas Keightley. Plain text version.
  • Works by Ovid
• English translation only
  • New translations by A. S. Kline Amores, Ars Amatoria, Epistulae ex Ponto, Fasti, Heroides, Ibis, Medicamina Faciei Femineae, Metamorphoses, Remedia Amoris, Tristia with enhanced browsing facility, downloadable in HTML, PDF, or MS Word DOC formats. Site also includes wide selection of works by other authors.
  • Two translations from Ovid's Amores by Jon Corelis. Archived 2012-12-08 at Archive.today
  • English translations of Ovid's Amores with introductory essay and notes by Jon Corelis
  • Some English translations of Ovid by famous literary figures
• Commentary
  • Perseus/Tufts: Commentary on the Heroides of Ovid