An Anthology of Ovid from the Metamorphoses to the Epistulae ex Ponto

This 16 week course on Ovid will cover sections of the Metamorphoses, the Heroides, the Amores, Ars Amatoria, Remedia Amoris and Medicamina Faciei Feminae, the Fasti, the Ibis and finally the Tristia and the Epistulae ex Ponto. Each week we will look at the most important (and interesting) parts of the texts and consider them within the political and social context of Rome.  Participants are welcome to present their own research, ideas and opinions on the texts during what will be a fascinating journey from Chaos and the beginnings of the world to the sad and desperate unhappiness of a genius banished from his beloved wife and city, to the ends of the Empire.  The cost of this wide ranging, detailed, course is £295.

The tutorials will take place on Tuesday evenings from 7-8.30 pm starting on Tuesday 9^th January.

N.B.  THERE ARE TWO READING WEEKS so there are no tutorials on 20^th February or 9th April.  The last tutorial will be on 7^th May.

Weeks 1-4:  9^th, 16th, 23^rd and 30^th January

The Metamorphoses is a beautiful tapestry of transformations written in poetic language that brings old and new myths to life in a way that no other text can.  In the first four weeks of this course we will unpick, amongst others, the duality of themes such as love and loss; birth and death; gender and sexuality; morality and monstrosity and anger and desire.  The unremitting and unjust cruelty of the gods demonstrates the harm that comes with great power, but Ovid also shows how they can become comedic figures of fun when they lose their dignity through the temptation of amor.  Participants will gain a solid appreciation and understanding of the myths and the nuances which underlie this mercurial poem.

Weeks 5-6: 6^th and 13^th February

The Heroides is a collection of fictional letters.  In these letters Ovid gives a voice to women who have been wronged by the men in their lives.  Ovid brings us the unsent letters of 15 women who had no voice to rage against the men who hurt, betrayed and humiliated them. Dido speaks to Aeneas of her love burning like torches of wax with sulphur and asks ‘do I not wrongly rate you?’  Sappho talks to Phaon of the beauty that lay in ambush for her eyes. While Hypermnestra’s heart is struck with fear remembering that night ‘profaned with blood’ and Briseis’ tears have the weight of words.  A further 6 are pairs of letters between lover and beloved.  We will undertake a close reading of the letters that give the women a voice and look at the acts that caused such pain and anguish.

READING WEEK: NO TUTORIAL ON 20^TH FEBRUARY

Weeks 7-8: 27^th February and 5^th March

The Amores is a collection of books about Ovid’s own love life intended to serve as instruction to others. The Amores  starts with a metapoetic joke where Ovid says that he had intended to write Epic poetry but Cupid ‘stole a foot’ from every second line and so the work ends up following in the tradition of Latin Love Elegy instead.  Cupid responds by shooting Ovid with an arrow.  As in poems by the likes of Catullus and Propertius, it is likely that the Ovid of the poems is a persona or literary device through which to demonstrate the foolishness, failures and delusions of a man in love.  As a whole, the Amores gives men advice on how to seduce a woman.

Weeks 9-10: 12^th and 19^th March

The Ars Amatoria moves on from the Amores and instructs a man on what to do with a woman once he has ‘caught’ her.  It is a collection of books which act as an instruction manual in the art of relationships and seduction.  The first two books are aimed at men and gives useful advice such as remembering a girlfriend’s birthday and the kinds of things that should and should not be said to her.  The third book is aimed at women and uses thinly veiled mythological allusions to give advice on how to prepare to meet her lover, sexual acts and what to do, and avoid doing, ‘in the bedroom’.

Given the connection to this final book, we will also look at the Medicamina Faciei Feminae this week which is the defence of, and recipes for, women’s cosmetics.

Weeks 11-12: 26^th March and 2^nd April

The Remedia Amoris moves on from the Amores and deals with heartbreak following the end of the love affair.  In these books, Ovid offers advice on how to move forward by concentrating on the negative traits of the ex-lover rather than on the positive.  It suggests staying away from alcohol to avoid becoming maudlin, keeping busy with things that do not evoke memories of the ex- over and steering clear of romantic poetry and literature.  Tragic women of mythology such as Dido and Medea are evoked as examples of victims of heartbreak – Ovid offers ways to ensure that his readers do not suffer the same fate.

READING WEEK: NO TUTORIAL ON 9^th APRIL

Week 13: 16^th April

Six books of the Fasti are extant: it is not known whether this is due to an accident of survival or because they were left unfinished when Ovid was exiled from Rome in 8AD.  The books are in chronological order from January to June and provide details about the origin of Roman religious festival and customs.  The information comes through the medium of eye-witness reports from prophets which detail their conversations with Roman gods and goddesses.  There is a political element to this work that means it may well have been one of the reasons why Augustus exiled Ovid.

Week 14: 23^rd April

The Ibis, written shortly after Ovid’s exile to Tomis is an outpouring of fury and venom against an adversary he nicknames Ibis.  Ovid is beyond furious with someone (quite possibly Augustus) and begins the poem with a declaration of war.  He goes on to invoke the gods to inflict poverty, hunger and exile upon his enemy.  His fury mounts and Ovid asks the gods to make this torment last for all eternity, long after the deaths of Ovid and his adversary.  The poem ends with a list of mythological and historical torments that Ovid would like to see inflicted on ‘Ibis’ and a warning that if Ibis does not cease their attack that he will write with even more detail.

Weeks 15-16: 30^th April and 7^th May

By the time Ovid wrote the Tristia and the Epistulae ex Ponto he seems to have calmed down and is, as the name Tristia suggests, a sad and broken man.  The Tristia is a collection of sorrowful letters sent during Ovid’s exile beyond the Black Sea in which he addresses his wife and friends telling them of his difficult journey from Rome to the furthest reaches of the Empire into exile.  In keeping with his other works, Ovid draws on mythological parallels talking about the carmen et error which resulted in his banishment. Unfortunately, however, he does not reveal the details of which text and mistake he is referring to.  As the years go by, the letters become sadder and Ovid contemplates death composing his own epitaph.

The Epistulae ex Ponto are another collection of letters written from exile, but they address specific individuals including his wife and Germanicus, the nephew of Augustus.  In these letters he continues to bewail his fate and express a desire to return to Rome.   Sadly, this desire was never realised, and the final letter was published posthumously.

For more information and to book go to: www.ginamay.co.uk/, email events@ginamay.co.uk, call Gina on 07873561560