Metamorphoses III: Edited with Introduction, Notes, and Vocabulary

by Ovid, A.A.R. Henderson (Editor)

-- Introduction with chapters on Ovid's life and suggestions on reading the Ars Amatoria-- Original Latin texts (based on the 1916 Teubner edition by R. Ehwald with changes in readings, spellings, and punctuation)

-- Line-by-line notes

-- English summaries for each major section

-- Fold-out in back with basic vocabulary

Genres: Poetry, Classics

137 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1979

About the author

Publius Ovidius Naso (20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horatius, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him the last of the Latin love elegists. Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus exiled him to Tomis, the capital of the newly-organised province of Moesia, on the Black Sea, where he remained for the last nine or ten years of his life. Ovid himself attributed his banishment to a "poem and a mistake", but his reluctance to disclose specifics has resulted in much speculation among scholars.
Ovid is most famous for the Metamorphoses, a continuous mythological narrative in fifteen books written in dactylic hexameters. He is also known for works in elegiac couplets such as Ars Amatoria ("The Art of Love") and Fasti. His poetry was much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and greatly influenced Western art and literature. The Metamorphoses remains one of the most important sources of classical mythology today.

Reviews

[Imogen]

Used this for translation in my Latin class. The commentary and vocabulary at the back were very useful, although if you're fussy about type-faces I wouldn't get this one, basically the same font as is used on this site for writing reviews.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading Ovid in Latin is a treat. His language, alliteration and colour creates vivid images.