Sent to Rome to study rhetoric under the leading rhetoricians of the time in preparation for a legal career, Ovid distinguished himself as a student, but ultimately chose the vocation of a poet. The equites, or knights, were the second class of Roman society and supported the status quo of the ruling senatorial elite.

Ovid was born in Sulmo (modern Sulmona, Italy), ninety miles and a world apart from Rome, into a prosperous family of the equestrian order. The bloody series of civil wars that followed until 31 bce coincides with the years of Ovid's childhood and adolescence: The chilling events that accompanied this-after his defeat by Octavian, his one-time ally, Mark Antony committed suicide, as did his lover Cleopatra-cannot have failed to leave their mark, but they do not haunt Ovid's early imagination as they do those of other Roman writers such as Vergil or Propertius. Life and Early Years at the Twilight of the Roman Republic Ovid was born in 43 bce, the year in which the ancient Roman republican system of governmentįinally came to an end when both heads of government fell in battle against the would-be usurper Mark Antony. Works in Biographical and Historical Context His verse is distinguished by clarity of expression and exactness.

He is considered a master Latin stylist whose technical accomplishments permanently enriched the language. His works are among some of the most influential in European literature and have inspired centuries of imitation.

Known for his elegiac couplets and a narrative poem called Metamorphoses that mythologizes the creation of the world, Ovid is widely recognized as one of the greatest poets of classical Rome.