20 Mar. 43 B.C.E.-18 C.E.
Poet

Banishment. Ovid was born on 20 March 43 B.C.E. in Sulmo in the mountains southeast of Rome. His family belonged to the local aristocracy, which meant they held the status of knights (equites) at Rome, and he was sent to Rome itself for his education. He also toured Greece and Asia Minor. After holding a minor post as a public official, he turned to writing poetry fulltime. Although financially independent enough to enter the senate, he joined the circle of poets around Messalla Corvinus and wrote elegies. This step was obviously not welcomed by his father, who, according to an anecdote, had given young Ovid a beating when he wrote poetry as a boy. Ovid's promise never to write verse again, however, could be scanned as a verse of dactylic hexameter! His first work was five...