Ovid, the torments of the Roman poet of love [2/2]

Listen to the rest of Ovid's story told by Virginie Girod. A young Roman aristocrat, he gave up a legal and political career to write love poetry in a Rome with free morals. One of his major works,

, is a real flirting manual! In three books full of mythological references, the poet distills his advice on seduction for Roman men and women. It is a literary success, Ovid is famous. He contracts a third marriage with Fabia, a woman from a family of consuls and frequents the Roman elite.  

Finished with love poetry, Ovid begins writing Metamorphoses, an immense poem in which he undertakes to tell the universal history of humanity since creation through the myths he knows so well.  

Everything changed at the beginning of the year 8 AD. The Emperor Augustus summoned him immediately. Without trial and without judgment, Ovide is condemned to relegation, an exile where he retains his civil rights and his property. It's a social death. The poet died without having seen Rome again. 

We do not know the nature of Ovid's fault: he saw something that he should not have seen and which offended the emperor. Officially, he is accused of

which allegedly pushes the Romans to debauchery. But the book was written 8 to 10 years before the exile! So, what happened? 

Themes covered: Roman empire, elegiac poetry, love passion, mythology 

“At the heart of history” is a Europe 1 Studio podcast

- Presentation: Virginie Girod 

- Production: Caroline Garnier

- Director: Nicolas Gaspard

- Composition of the original music: Julien Tharaud 

- Writing and Distribution: Nathan Laporte

- Communication: Marie Corpet

- Visual: Sidonie Mangin

Bibliography:  

Carcopino Jérôme: “Ovid on the island of Elba? », Mixtures of the French school of Rome, year 1962, 74-2, p. 519-528. 

Hermann Léon: “The secret fault of Ovid”, Belgian review of philosophy and history, 1938, 17-3-4, p. 695-725.

Sources:  

The art of loving 

The Heroides 

The loves 

The Metamorphoses