Ovid's
Fasti is a long, possibly
unfinished
Latin poem in
elegiac meter by the Roman poet
Ovid.
It is believed that Ovid wrote the poem
during his exile in Tomis
towards the
end of his life.
History
The poem is an extensive treatment on the
Roman calendar or
Fasti,
loosely imitated from the
Works and
Days by
Hesiod. Each of its separate
books discusses one month of the Roman calendar, beginning with
January. It contains some brief
astronomical notes, but its more significant
portions discuss the religious festivals of the
Roman religion, the rites performed upon
them, and their
mythological explanations.
These explanations preserve much mythological and religious lore
that would have otherwise been lost. The poem was written to
illustrate the
Fasti, or
almanac
and official calendar, published by
Julius
Caesar after he remodelled the Roman year.
Only the six books which concern the first six months of the year
are extant. It may be that Ovid never finished it, that the
remaining half is simply lost, or that only six books were
intended. Ovid apparently wrote, or at least revised, the poem
while he was in exile at Tomis. In other poems, such as the
Tristia, he complained of the
conditions of his exile there. The
Tristia mentions the
poem, and that its completion had been interrupted by his exile. In
that poem he mentions that he had indeed written the whole thing,
and finished revising six books. However, no ancient source quotes
even a fragment from the six missing books. The poem is dedicated
to
Germanicus, a high ranking member of
the
emperor Augustus's
family. These circumstances have led
some to speculate that the poem was written on religious,
patriotic, and
antiquarian themes in order to improve Ovid's
reputation and standing with the rulers of Rome, and secure his
release from exile.
However, Ovid slips in some subtle insults aimed at Augustus, such
as an episode in which he acknowledges the emperor's status as
"Jupiter-on-Earth" and then retells a myth depicting Jupiter as a
savage rapist.
Outline
January (Book 1)
The first book opens with a prologue which contains a dedication
(1-62) of the poem to
Germanicus, Ovid's
recusatio, and a description of the poem's
theme as the Roman calendar, festivals, and annual astronomical
events, followed by a discussion of
Romulus'
and
Numa's invention of the Roman calendar. The
first episode (63-294) is an interview between the poet and the god
Janus about the details of his nature as
primal creator (
Chaos), history, iconography,
and festival on the Kalends of January. The second long episode
(317-456) describes the
Agonalia, the
aetiologies of sacrificial animals, the story of
Aristaeus, and the story of
Lotis and
Priapus. The third
episode (461-636) for the
Carmentalia
discusses the exile of
Evander to Latium,
the prophecy of his mother
Carmentis about
Aeneas,
Augustus, and
Livia, and the myth of
Hercules and
Cacus, ending
with the praise of the family of Augustus.
The end of the book
talks about the festival of Concordia
(637-650), the movable Sementivae with a
prayer for agricultural productivity (655-704), and the feast of
the Ara
Pacis
(709-724).
In popular culture
The
Percy Jackson series
of books alludes to the sacrifice of the
Ophiotaurus, a creature that appears only in the
Fasti.
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
