Ovid, Heroïdes

Andreas Michalopoulos (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)

Ed. by William John Dominik, University of Otago
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.2: Ancient Roman Writing and Culture (Republic and Empire), -750-476.
Vol. editors: William John Dominik (University of Otago), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Thomas Habinek (University of Southern California), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Sophia Papaioannou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Jula Wildberger (The American University of Paris)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. -15 - c. 8

Places

Ancient Rome (Republic & Empire) (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Essay Collection

Resources

The Heroides are the third work in chronological order by Publius Ovidius Naso, coming after the Amores and the lost tragedy Medea. The grammarian Priscian (Gramm. Lat. 2.544 Keil) mentions the work as Heroides, which is perhaps the title given by the poet (or Heroidum liber). However, at Ars 3.345 Ovid refers to this work using the term “Epistula: vel tibi composita cantetur Epistola voce” [“Or an Epistle tunefully recite”, trans. A.D. Melville]. Perhaps the full title used by Ovid was Epistulae Heroidum, a title which fully corresponds to the first part of the collection, …

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2387 words

Citation: Michalopoulos, Andreas. "Heroïdes". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 May 2009 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4766, accessed 20 April 2024.]

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