Fasti by Ovid

Fasti by Ovid

'Times and their reasons, arranged in order through the Latin year, and constellations sunk beneath the earth and risen, I shall sing.'Ovid's poetical calendar of the Roman year is both a day by day account of festivals and observances and their origins, and a delightful retelling of myths and legends associated with particular dates. Written in the late years of the emperor Augustus, and cut short when the emperor sent the poet into exile, the poem's tone ranges from tragedy to farce, and its subject matter from astronomy and obscure ritual to Roman history and Greek mythology. Among the stories Ovid tells at length are those of Arion and the dolphin, the rape of Lucretia, the shield that fell from heaven, the adventures of Dido's sister, the Great Mother's journey to Rome, the killing of Remus, the bloodsucking birds, and the murderous daughter of King Servius. The poem also relates a wealth of customs and beliefs, such as the unluckiness of marrying in May.This new prose translation is lively and accurate, and is accompanied by a contextualizing introduction and helpful notes.

Review from previous edition 'a thorough and meticulous work, distinguished by accuracy and fidelity to the Latin, and it will surely suit the serious Latinless reader who desires a reliable guide to this challenging and remarkable poem' * Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 201204.36 *

Ovid: -

Ovid (43 BC-17/18 AD) was a Roman poet. Born in Sulmo the year after Julius Caesar's assassination, Ovid would join the ranks of Virgil and Horace to become one of the foremost poets of Augustus' reign as first Roman emperor. After rejecting a life in law and politics, he embarked on a career as a poet, publishing his first work, the Heroides, in 19 BC. This was quickly followed by his Amores (16 BC), a collection of erotic elegies written to his lover Corinna. By 8 AD, Ovid finished his Metamorphoses, an epic narrative poem tracing the history of Rome and the world from the creation of the cosmos to the death and apotheosis of Julius Caesar. Ambitious and eminently inspired, Metamorphoses remains a timeless work of Roman literature and an essential resource for the study of classical languages and mythology. Exiled that same year by Augustus himself, Ovid spent the rest of his life in Tomis on the Black Sea, where he continued to write poems of loss, repentance and longing.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780192824110
ISBN 10	0192824112
Title	Fasti
Author	Ovid
Series	Oxford World's Classics
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Year published	2013-04-11
Number of pages	224
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.