March 20, 43 B.C. - 17 A.D.
On March 20, 43 B.C., Publius Ovidius Naso was born at Sulmo (now Sulmona). The family was an old landowing class of equestrian rank. His father was wealthy and was able to elude the confiscation of his property during the struggles of civil war.
Ovid's father took both he and his older brother to Rome so they could receive and education fromthe best teachers. Their father's desire was for both boys to be trained for careers in law and public office.
The brother proved to be proficient in the oratorical delivery while Ovid found hisdelight in the writing and composing of verse. His training in public speaking benefited him well. Evidence of this training is seen in his writing skills.
Ovid did try to practice the skill he had learned and studied and he did make efforts to direct his career as such. He held several minor public offices but simply did not have the ambition to make a successful run.
He found himself at the heart of the glittering, attractive however immoral societal life of Rome. This lifestyle went hand in hand with his creative personality. The leader of this giddy society was Julia, the beautiful and witty daughter of Augustus.
Julia was eventually banished and disinherited by her father for an affair she conducted openly with Iulus Antonius. He was the son of Mark Antony, an old enemy of Augustus. Julia defied her father's moral reform crusade as well as insulted him by flaunting the affair with a family member of his enemy. Augustus was outraged.
At this time Ovid published the cruel, brilliant Ars Amatoria. This ingrained Ovid's name into the already furious Augustus. Ovid wrote an apology of sorts, Remedy of Love, and redirected his attention to the Metamorphoses and the Fasti. By this time he had met and married Livia, his third wife. Livia was to be his last and truest love.
In A.D. 8, Ovid was banished by Augustus to the town of Tomi. Ovid was implicated in the overly active promotion of Germanicus (Livia's choice), the rival of Tiberius. He was not deprived of property or civil rights, but the quiet life in Tomi was no replacement for the glittering life in Rome. The unpleasant weather, the restlessness of the Goths and the lack of fellow Romans contributed to Ovid's despair and disgrace.
As he lived in Tomi, he wrote with the focus on trying to get his sentence of banishment lifted. The works included the Tristia, which was addressed to important and influential people in Rome, and the Epistulae ex Ponta.
Sadly, Augustus died in A.D. 14 and Tiberius succeeded him. Tiberius was determined that Ovid would remain in banishment. Ovid began to feel hopeless and his despair deepened.
Ovid died in A.D. 17, three years after Augustus' death and Tiberius' succession in the city of Tomi and was buried in the area.
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