Publius Ovidius Naso: Tristia. Ex Ponto, ed. Arthur Leslie Wheeler [The Loeb Classical Library 151], Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press and London: William Heinemann Ltd 1959

Signature: Zo-OVI 1361-5240/c

Figures: Frontispiece; Contents; p. 177, 178

Following Emperor Augustus’s (63 BC–AD 14) edict in 8 AD, Ovid was exiled from Rome to Sarmatian Tomis (Constanța, Romania) on the west coast of the Black Sea, where he died in 17 AD. The specific reasons for the exile are still unclear. However, the relatively mild conditions of the exile (regulatio) allowed Ovid to continue publishing poems at home. One hundred elegies, divided into the five books of Tristia (c. 8–12 AD) and the four books of Epistulae ex Ponto (c. 12–17 AD), appeared during this period. The thematic redundancy of the texts was often criticized by scholars: Ovid repeatedly voiced complaints about his difficult fate, his poor physical and mental condition, and his hard life in exile, which he hoped would ease the sentence against him. He described the peoples of the Black Sea region as long-haired, bloodthirsty barbarians, of whom he lived in constant fear. However, current research points to the pseudo-ethnological character of these descriptions: Ovid’s remarks show clear parallels with stereotypes anchored in ancient literature since Homer (cf. Holzberg 2011, pp. 601–603). Against this background, it becomes possible to characterize Ovid’s dramatization of his life circumstances as a text strategy, particularly to emphasize his literary achievement. [TT]

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