Fasti (poem)

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Ovid's Fasti is a long, unfinished Latin poem by the Roman poet Ovid. It is believed that Ovid wrote the poem during his exile in Tomis towards the end of his life.

The poem is an extensive treatment on the Roman calendar or Fasti, loosely imitated from the Works and Days by Hesiod. Each of its separate books discusses one month of the Roman calendar, beginning with January. It contains some brief astronomical notes, but its more significant portions discuss the religious festivals of the Roman religion, the rites performed upon them, and their mythological explanations. These explanations preserve much mythological and religious lore that would have otherwise been lost. The poem was written to illustrate the Fasti, or almanac and official calendar, published by Julius Caesar after he remodelled the Roman year.

Unfortunately, only the first six books of the poem are extant. It may be that Ovid never finished it, or that the remaining half is simply lost. Ovid apparently wrote, or at least revised, the poem while he was in exile at Tomis. In other poems, such as the Tristia, he complained of the conditions of his exile there. The Tristia mentions the poem, and that its completion had been interrupted by his exile. In that poem he mentions that he had indeed written the whole thing, and finished revising six books. However, no ancient source quotes even a fragment from the six missing books. The poem is dedicated to Germanicus, a high ranking member of the emperor Augustus's family. These circumstances have led some to speculate that the poem was written on religious, patriotic, and antiquarian themes in order to improve Ovid's reputation and standing with the rulers of Rome, and secure his release from exile.

However, Ovid slips some subtle insults and Augustus, such as an episode in which he acknowledges the emperor's status as "Jupiter-on-Earth" and then retells a myth depicting Jupiter as a savage rapist.