Synopses & Reviews
Book IV of Ovid's celebration of the calendar and the associated legends of the Roman year treats the month of April, a particularly happy phase of the Augustan ceremonial year. Around the festival of Venus and the anniversary of the foundation of Rome, Ovid retells the legends of Rome's royal founder Romulus and the Trojan hero Aeneas. The introduction and commentary pay special attention to Ovid's art as a poet, but aim to provide both the general background and specific explanations of his historical and religious material.
Synopsis
Book IV of Ovidâs celebration of the calendar and the associated legends of the Roman year treats the month of April, a particularly happy phase of the Augustan ceremonial year. Around the festival of Venus and the anniversary of the foundation of Rome, Ovid retells the legends of Romeâs royal founder Romulus and the Trojan hero Aeneas. The introduction and commentary pay special attention to Ovidâs art as a poet, but aim to provide both the general background and specific explanations of his historical and religious material.
Synopsis
Book IV of the Fasti, Ovidâs 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 Ovidâs composite poem in its Augustan literary and historical context.
Synopsis
The first English language commentary on any book of the Fasti since Frazerâs five volume edition and annotated Loeb of 1929/31.
Table of Contents
Introduction: 1 The Fasti in its historical context; 2. Genre; 3. Themes; 4. Style; 5. The text; P. Ovidi Nasonis Fastorvm Liber IV; Commentary.