Fasti: lxviii (Penguin Classics) - Softcover

Ovid

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140446907 ISBN 13: 9780140446906

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2000

Synopsis

Written after he had been banished to the Black Sea city of Tomis by Emperor Augustus, the Fasti is Ovid's last major poetic work. Both a calendar of daily rituals and a witty sequence of stories recounted in a variety of styles, it weaves together tales of gods and citizens together to explore Rome's history, religious beliefs and traditions. It may also be read as a subtle but powerful political manifesto which derides Augustus' attempts to control his subjects by imposing his own mythology upon them: after celebrating the emperor as a Jupiter-on-earth, for example, Ovid deliberately juxtaposes a story showing the king of the gods as a savage rapist. Endlessly playful, this is also a work of integrity and courage, and a superb climax to the life of one of Rome's greatest writers.

About this title

Review:

"Fasti has burst upon the scholarly scene as a work of tremendous importance for our understanding of religion under the Principate...have provided us with what must be seen as a new commentary upon the poem...But the real value of this new Fasti, of course, lies not in its front or back material but in the lively rendition of Ovid's own words...Boyle and Woodard have given us a fresh-sounding poem with updated diction." --Christopher Brunelle, Boston College

Book Description:

Book IV of the Fasti, Ovid's celebration of the Roman calendar and its associated legends, is the book of April and honours the festivals of Venus, Cybele, Ceres, and their cults, as well as the traditional date of the foundation of Rome and many religious and civic anniversaries. Elaine Fantham accompanies her commentary with a revised text and a deliberately extended introduction. Besides including surveys of language, style, versification and textual transmission, the introduction looks at the shifting generic traditions of Greek and Roman elegy, and situates Ovid's composite poem in its Augustan literary and historical context.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0140446907
• ISBN 13: 9780140446906
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432
• Editor: Boyle Anthony, Woodard Roger