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The Greatest Roman Poets. Virgil & Ovid. Roman Poets:. Virgil & Ovid were around during the Augustan Age of Rome. These poets are compared to the former Greek poets Homer & Hesiod. They both brought immortality to Roman Mythology. . 1. VIRGIL:. Virgil was essentially Rome’s national poet.
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The Greatest Roman Poets Virgil & Ovid
Roman Poets: • Virgil & Ovid were around during the Augustan Age of Rome. • These poets are compared to the former Greek poets Homer & Hesiod. • They both brought immortality to Roman Mythology.
1. VIRGIL: • Virgil was essentially Rome’s national poet. • Born October 15, 70 B.C. as PubilusVirgiliusMaro in the village of Andes. • Sent to get educated in Milan and Rome. • Studied Greek and Roman literature & poetry • Devoted his life to his studies and was not concerned with a military or political lifestyle. • He lived as a recluse (in seclusion) and was sickly (often ill).
Virgil cont… • His poetry made him rise to fame in Rome and he established friendships with influential people. • Never abandoned his love of the countryside which is evident in his poems. • Died of a fever on September 21, 19 B.C. before his final revision of the Aeneid (most famous epic poem). • Buried in Naples.
VIRGIL’S WORKS: • His earliest work was a collection of 10 pastoral poems entitled Eclogues. *(pastoral poetry - verses about the countryside and shepherds) • The poems speak of an ideal and unrealistic life • Others present ideas to be used in the real world • Others even mourn the eviction of farmers from their lands. • Another poem, Georgics reflects Virgil’s love of the Italian countryside. • In this work he begs farmers to return to their land and restore the agricultural lifestyle.
Virgil’s works cont… • Aeneid is his most famous epic poem. • This poem follows the course of actions of the hero Aeneas after the fall of Troy • His settling in the new land • The founding of a new race • Introduces all the great characters of Roman mythology (mortal & immortal). • A few of those named: Dido, Romulus, Jupiter (Zeus), Venus (Aphrodite), etc. • Annual printings of at least one version of the Aeneid have been done for the past 500 years.
2. OVID: • Born March 20, 43 B.C as PubliusOvidiusNaso in the small town of Sulmo (90 miles east of Rome). • Sent to Rome to be educated (like Virgil). • He was a member of the Roman knightly class (highest social class, elite class) • Ovid attempted a career in public life, but did not like it and abandoned it. • He settled in Rome and began socializing with a society of poets. • Ovid began to write poems and became an immediate success.
Ovid cont… • His life was not entirely full of glory. • In A.D. 8, he was exiled to Tomis on the Black Sea. • Reasons behind exile are a mystery, but it was rumored that it involved an adulterous affair with the emperor’s granddaughter. • He died A.D. 17, begging to be allowed to return home to Rome.
OVID WORKS: • His autobiographical work, Tristia (sorrow), describes the main events of his life in his own words. • Ovid wrote many poems throughout his life: • Amores, a series of poems describing love affairs • Heroides, imaginary love poems written to mythological characters. • Fasti, describes various Roman religious festivals held monthly • Only the first six books of the first six months have survived.
Ovid’s works cont… • Ovid’s most famous work is the narrative poem Metamorphoses. • It consists of about 12,000 lines • Covers everything from the creation theory to the death of Julius Caesar. • An incredible source of Roman mythology
