Ovid

43 BCE–17/18 CE · Roman (Sulmo) · Roman Empire, Augustan Age

Known for: Author of Metamorphoses, the most influential mythological collection ever written

Publius Ovidius Naso was the wittiest, most irreverent poet of Augustan Rome—the anti-Virgil. His Metamorphoses retells over 250 myths through the theme of transformation with psychological brilliance and narrative innovation. His Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love) was an urbane, funny guide to seduction that may have contributed to his mysterious exile.

Augustus banished Ovid to Tomis on the Black Sea in 8 CE for reasons that remain debated—possibly his erotic poetry, possibly involvement in a scandal with Augustus's granddaughter Julia. He was devastated by exile and spent his remaining decade writing mournful poetry begging for recall that never came. Unlike Virgil's gravity, Ovid's tone is playful, ironic, and startlingly modern.

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