Ovid’s Art of Love (Ars amatoria)
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Transcript Ovid’s Art of Love (Ars amatoria)
Ovid’s Art
of Love (Ars
amatoria)
Marine Venus – Pompeii, 1st cent. CE
Ideology, Poetry,
Empire
Ovid
Agenda
Recap & Update
Ovid’s Ars
Virtus romana, matrimonium, lex
Background, Structure, Theme
Discussion
What Would Ovid Say?
Recap & Update
Virtus romana, matrimonium, lex
Virtus romana, matrimonium, lex
mos maiorum (“way of the
ancestors”)
and virtus romana
matrimonial ideology
The Augustan legislation
lex iulia et papia
lex iulia de adulteriis
coercendis
Augustus
The Augustan Legislation
Lex iulia et papia
18 BCE, 9 CE
Sanctions on marriage
between members of the
ordo senatorius and
lex iulia de adulteriis
coercendis
18 BCE
to Repress adultery
Freedpersons
Infames
Criminals
Adulterers
7/16/2015
5
Ovid’s Ars
Background, Structure, Theme
Bio-Historical Background
reign of Augustus
Death of Caesar
Cato censor
Catullus
184 BCE
ca. 60 BCE
accession
41 BCE
27 BCE
Sulpicia
Ovid (43 BCE–17/18 CE, banished 8 CE)
Art of Love, ca. 2 BCE-2CE
marriage
legislation
18 BCE
9 CE
death
14 CE
Structure
BOOK 1-A
BOOK 2
“First … comes the task
“Thirdly, ensure that
of finding an object for
the affair will last” (p.
167)
your love” (p. 167)
BOOK 3
BOOK 1-B
“Now I must fashion
“Next, you must labor
weapons for
to woo and win your
Penthesilea and her
lady” (p. 167)
girls” (p. 214)
Selected Themes, Issues
Lascivi amores
“wanton passions”
“Safe love, legitimate liaisons”
(p. 167)
venerem tutam concessaque furta
…, / nullum … crimen
Masculinity
“Cybele’s Votaries”
Guilty Menelaus (p. 203)
Mos maiorum
On Cosmetics: “Young girls didn’t
cultivate their persons in the old
days. … Let others worship the
past; I much prefer the present”
(bk3, p. 217)
Feminine treachery
Pasiphae et al.
Erotic asymmetry, violence
Rape of the Sabine Women
“It’s all right to use force…”
Adultery (?)
“to please your lady’s
escort” (viro placuisse
puellae) (p. 184)
“Husbands allow this
latitude to lawful wives…”
(p. 207)
Discussion
What Would Ovid Say?
What Would Ovid Say?