Ovid

Born in Sulmo in 43 BCE, Ovid was educated in Rome and became one of the great poets of the Augustan age. Instead of following a public career, he devoted himself to literature and gained lasting fame for works including Amores, Ars amatoria, Fasti, and above all Metamorphoses.

His poetry is lively, clever, and deeply entertaining, often retelling familiar myths in fresh and surprising ways. Metamorphoses, a sweeping poem built from stories of transformation, became one of the most influential books in European literary history and shaped writers and artists for centuries.

In 8 CE, the emperor Augustus exiled him to Tomis on the Black Sea, where he spent the rest of his life. Ovid himself linked the punishment to "a poem and a mistake," but the exact reason remains uncertain; he died there in 17 CE.