Fasti (Revised)

Written after he had been banished to the Black Sea city of Tomis by Emperor Augustus the Fasti is Ovid's last major poetic work. Both a calendar of daily rituals and a witty sequence of stories recounted in a variety of styles it weaves together tales of gods and citizens together to explore Rome's history religious beliefs and traditions. It may also be read as a subtle but powerful political manifesto which derides Augustus' attempts to control his subjects by imposing his own mythology upon them: after celebrating the emperor as a Jupiter-on-earth for example Ovid deliberately juxtaposes a story showing the king of the gods as a savage rapist. Endlessly playful this is also a work of integrity and courage and a superb climax to the life of one of Rome's greatest writers.