Ovid
Publié le 22/02/2012
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(43 b.c.–a.d. 17) Roman Poet. According
to some literary historians, Ovid was the most popular
Roman poet. Ovid was born Publius Ovidius Naso
near Rome to a middle-class family. He studied in
Athens and traveled widely in Asia and Sicily. Ovid,
as he was commonly known, began writing poetry as
a young man and soon developed a strong following
and reputation among the citizens of the Roman
Empire. Ovid's greatest work is Metamorphoses, a
collection of 15 books that used Greek and Roman
mythology, particularly those stories of lovers who
are transformed into other objects, to trace the history
from the beginnings of Chaos to the rule of Julius
Caesar. He also wrote Fasti, a poetic description of the
Roman religious calendar and the myths and legends
behind each festival. Rome's first emperor, Augustus,
banished Ovid from Rome in a.d. 8. The poet died in
exile in Tomi, a city on the Black Sea.
In Europe's Middle Ages, Ovid's poetry was a
primary source of knowledge of Greek and Roman
mythology. It is still a prominent source of the stories
of these ancient cultures.