The Poetry of Ovid Literature Culture and Society in Ancient Rome

3 credits · Undergraduate

Ovid was perhaps Rome’s greatest poet and certainly the most wide-ranging in the topics and genres of his works. He wrote love poetry, satire, invective, elegiac letters from the perspective of mythical figures, and the most unique epic poem ever produced in the ancient world. In this course we’ll explore the length and breadth of Ovid’s works and discuss what they can teach us about Roman society, culture, and literature. We’ll also examine Ovid’s personal life and what led him to fall afoul of the emperor, who exiled him to the far reaches of the Roman Empire, an extremely harsh penalty that Ovid says was the result of “carmen et error”, a poem – and a mistake.