Ovid, Aratus and Augustus: Astronomy in Ovid's Fasti

by Emma Gee

Overview

This book explores how astronomy and power were linked in the early Roman Empire. This is achieved by careful study of the Fasti by the Roman poet Ovid—a poem about the Roman calendar that contains many references to and stories about the stars. The author does not study Ovid's stars by using the techniques of mathematical astronomy but aims to combine the methodology of recent genre-based readings with a broad cultural perspective.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521101776
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/18/2008
Series:	Cambridge Classical Studies
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Calendrical astronomy?; 2. Astronomy and genre; 3. Verse and universe in Aratus' Phaenomena; 4. Vesta and the architecture of the Fasti; 5. Roman Aratus; 6. The metamorphosis of time; Epilogue; Appendices; Bibliography; Indexes.

Editorial Reviews

"The book's editorirla work is generally excellent....The principal merit of G.'s study is that it provides a detailed and thoughtful analysis of Aratus' astropoetic and Augustus' propagandistic influence on Ovid's Fasti....(The book) deserves a place especially on the shelves of those interested in the Fasti and in the Nachleben of Aratus." Classical Bulletin

From the Publisher