Ovid (wrote ca. 8 CE)

Written by Julia Schulz

Fig. 1: Manuscript of the Beginning of the Metamorphoses at the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vat. lat. 1594, fol. 1r), 15th century.

Biography

Publius Ovidius Naso was a Roman poet and author born on March 20, 43 BCE in Sulmo, north of Rome.1 There are no contemporary sources mentioning Ovid aside from Seneca the Elder who underwent rhetorical training together with the poet. He discusses the rhetorical abilities of Ovid but does not give information about his life. All biographical details known about Ovid come from the author himself.2

Ovid wrote many poems during his life but is probably best known for the Metamorphoses (see fig. 1), a mythological narrative poem consisting of 15 books which he finished writing around 8 CE.3

His mention of Syene

In his 5th book of the Metamorphoses, Ovid mentions Syene as the origin of Methion, ancestor of the character Phorbas, who dies during this scene set at the wedding feast of Perseus and Andromeda4:

“And Phorbas the descendant of Methion.
Who hailed from far Syene, with his friend
Amphimedon of Libya, in their haste
to join the battle, slipped up in the blood
and fell together: just as they arose
that glittering sword was driven through the throat
of Phorbas into the ribs of his companion.”5

The characters Phorbas and Methion are not mentioned further in the book. Their hometown Syene poses, at the time of Ovid, the southernmost part of the Imperium.6

Sources

  1. Volk 2010, 22. ↩
  2. Volk 2010, 20. See Ov. Tr. IV, 10. ↩
  3. Holzberg 2017, 7. ↩
  4. The wedding banquet of Perseus is inspired by Homer’s Odysseus at the court of the Phaeacians (Odyssey IX-XII) and Virgil’s Aeneas in Carthage (Aeneid II-III) (Keith 2002, 241). ↩
  5. Ov. Met. V, 74. Online available at Perseus Digital Library (Latin/English). ↩
  6. Bömer 1976, 247. ↩