An Ovidian reading list

If you have read my Publius Ovidius mysteries, you may want to find out more about the real Ovid. If you start with the poetry, I’d say your best bet is The Metamorphoses and I was particularly impressed with Stephanie McCarter’s recent translation published by Penguin.

I also like the love poetry and Penguin have the Amores and the naughty Ars Amatoria in one volume, called Ovid: The Erotic Poems. Translated by the great Peter Green, these poems are not politically correct: but I’ve always believed that you can see all the problems with something and still want to study it. Every time I get too comfortable in the world of Rome I create in my books, I read these poems to remind myself that the Romans were slave-owners who often saw violence as a solution to a problem.

If I’m honest, I found the poems of exile, the Tristia and the Epistulae ex Ponto hard going. They are a campaign. Ovid is lobbying hard to get recalled and he has a plethora of poetic devices in his armoury. He will pester and wail and is unrelenting. Don’t feel you have to, read them but if you do I recommend Peter Green’s excellent translation and commentary.

If you are curious about the real Ovid but don’t necessarily want to read a dissertation on him, I recommend Ovid: a very short introduction by Llewelyn Morgan. A professor at Oxford, Morgan wears his learning lightly, but conveys a great deal in this book which is accessible and short - as one would guess from the title! The Oxford Very Short Introduction series is my go-to when I need to know something about a subject quickly.

And for some fictional adventures surrounding the great man, you can do no better than David Wishart’s Ovid. David Wishart was the first author to cheer me on and I am always grateful for his support. And I love his Marcus Corvinus series!

Note on the pictures: recently my family did a huge sort-out of our photos and I now have access to hundreds of old images. I’m going to scatter them like confetti through my Substack posts, just for fun.