Ovid 
~ nee Publius Ovidius Naso ~
(43 BC - 17 AD)


     Roman narrative poet whose "Metamorphoses" has been called "the major treasury of classical mythology."  His "Heroides" is a series of twenty-one imaginary letters of mythological characters to their lovers (major arcana of the Tarot?);  the "Fasti" is a mythological poem that describes the ceremonies of Roman festivals.

    Ovid's works have exerted tremendous influence on both Roman and English literature. He seems to have been read more than any other ancient poet, even Vergil.  This great story-teller, who predicted in Book XV of the "Metamorphoses:"

    "I shall be read, and through all centuries . . . I shall be living, always," particularly influenced the greatest English poets:  Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare and Milton.

~ quoted from "Dictionary of Classical Mythology" by J.E. Zimmerman

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