Ovid’s full name was Publius Ovidius Naso. His father wanted him to become a lawyer, but Ovid decided to be a poet. He published his first book of poetry about 18 BC. It was called ‘The Amores’, or Love Poems.
‘The Amores’ was followed by the ‘Epistolae Heroidum’. Ovid wrote the ‘Metamorphoses, or the Changes’, which he published probably about 8 BC. This is a long poem, telling lots of short stories about the changes in the world from the time of creation to the death of Julius Caesar. Ovid also wrote another book of poems, the ‘Ars Amatoria’.
However, his poems offended those in power, and he was banished to a village on the shores of the Black Sea, where he died.
