Ovid's Fasti

Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, 43 BCE-17 CE), born at Sulmo, studied rhetoric and law at Rome. Later he did considerable public service there, and otherwise devoted himself to poetry and to society. Famous at first, he offended the emperor Augustus and was banished to the cold and primitive town of Tomis on the Black Sea. He continued writing poetry, a kindly man, leading a temperate life. He died in exile. One of his few surviving works, the Fasti is a poetic treatment of the Roman year of which Ovid finished only half. It is believed that Ovid left the Fasti incomplete when he was exiled to Tomis.