One of my favorite Roman Authors is Publius Ovidius Naso.  He wrote primarily poems like Metamorphosis and hehe his erotic work Ars Armatoria (It claims to provide teaching in three areas of general preoccupation: how and where to find girls (and husbands) in Rome, how to seduce them, and how to prevent others from stealing them) and Remedia Amoris (In this poem, Ovid offers advices and strategies to avoid being hurt by love feelings , or to fall out of love, with a stoician overtone. Such strategies include: To leave your partner; What to do after you have left your partner)  These are all written for the male point of view, of course.  Ovid was so very interesting because he was eventually banished by Emperor Augustus to the Black Sea Coast (modern Bulgeria/Romania).  He was banished because he subverted the moral reforms of Emperor Augustus and rumored to have an affair with Iulia (granddaughter to the Emperor). 

One of the reasons I have a passion for history is the backstory.  History is so fascinating and Ovid is just a clear reason to show history is not black and white...but totally murky with sex and violence - usually at the same time.

Posted by: Robert Woolwine at 08:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 203 words, total size 1 kb.