Art of Love

The Roman poet Ovid (43 BCE–17/18 CE) was born Publius Ovidius Naso in Sulmo, in central Italy, and trained in rhetoric at Rome before turning to poetry. In 8 CE the emperor Augustus banished him to Tomis, on the Black Sea, where he remained until his death. His Metamorphoses, a mythological epic in fifteen books, runs from the creation of the world to the deification of Julius Caesar. His other major works include the Ars Amatoria, a guide to love, and the Tristia, written during his exile. The Metamorphoses became a central source for later European writers, among them Chaucer, Shakespeare, and Ted Hughes.