Ovid: Everyman Poetry

Publius Ovidius Naso was born in Sulmo in the Abruzzi in 43 BC. He was trained as a lawyer in Rome, but devoted himself to poetry. Later acclaimed as master of the elegaic couplet, he had his first literary success with a collection of love poems, the 'Amores', followed by 'Heroides', imaginary love letters from ladies to their lords. The Art of Love, appeared in about 1 BC. Ovid was banished in AD 8 by the Emperor Augustus for some unknown reason, to Tomis on the Black Sea. He continued to write in exile until his death.