Ovid: Ibis

by Robinson Ellis, Gareth D. Williams (Introduction), Gareth Williams (Introduction)

Ovid's rarely studied Ibis is an elegiac companion-piece to the Tristia and Ex Ponto written after his banishment to the Black Sea in AD 8. Modelled on a poem of the same name by the Hellenistic poet Callimachus, Ibis stands out as an artistically contrived explosion of vitriol against an unnamed enemy who is characterised in terms of the Egyptian bird with its unprepossessing habits. Based in a tradition of curse-ritual, it is the most difficult of Ovid's poems to penetrate. Robinson Ellis's edition remains an indispensable - if typically eccentric - platform for the study of the poem's obscurities. Indeed Ellis deserves the primary credit for bringing Ibis back from obscurity into the light of day.This reissue of Ellis's 1881 edition includes a new introduction by Gareth Williams setting the edition in the context of earlier and later developments in scholarship. Ellis's edition not only made a significant contribution to research into the Ibis, it is an important
representative of a particular vein of scholarship prevalent in nineteenth-century Latin study.

290 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 2007

Reviews

[Noah Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really intriguing read. I have been looking forward to this for a while as i was fascinated due to it's starkly different nature compared to Ovid's works. In contrast with the other exiled works, I think by this point that he had given up hope of every being permitted from his exile. As such he was able to channel his anger into this diatribe. I greatly enjoyed the attacks against the Ibis, although I found my enjoyment limited by the extremely numerous references to both historical and mythological figures, which whilst it emphasised the depth of his hatred, it made difficult reading at points due to the research required to understand these allusions. Despite this, I really enjoyed the vigour and tenacity with which he attacked the Ibis and I found some excellent quotes therein.

relinquish your throat to my knives

the retributive earth shall reject thy hated carcase with disgust

I’ll always be nourished, traitor, by expectation of your death.

[James Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Were the Ibis all that remained of Ovid, he would not have his reputation, it is not that great. What it is is an extremely literary series of curses and imprecations called down on an unknown other who he feels has taken too much pleasure in his exile. The range of myths cited reminds you this is the author of the Met, but beyond that makes following quite dense, you should know your Homer, Virgil, Ovid and more to track it without too much footnoting.

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

el mejor