25-476: The Heroides ( The Heroines ), or Epistulae Heroidum ( Letters of Heroines ), is a collection of fifteen epistolary poems composed by Ovid in Latin elegiac couplets and presented as though written by a selection of aggrieved heroines of Greek and Roman mythology in address to their heroic lovers who have in some way mistreated, neglected, or abandoned them. A further set of six poems, widely known as
50-486: A poetic catalogue, in which there was no need for Ovid to have enumerated every individual epistle. This assertion has been widely persuasive, and the tendency amongst scholarly readings of the later 1990s and following has been towards careful and insightful literary explication of individual letters, either proceeding under the assumption of, or with an eye towards proving, Ovidian authorship. Other studies, eschewing direct engagement with this issue in favour of highlighting
75-471: A friend and colleague of Saint-Gelais. Later translations and creative responses to the Heroides include Jean Lemaire de Belges 's Premiere Epître de l'Amant vert (1505), Fausto Andrelini 's verse epistles (1509–1511; written in the name of Anne de Bretagne ), Michel d'Amboise's [ fr ] Contrepistres d'Ovide (1546), and Juan Rodríguez de la Cámara 's Bursario , a partial translation of
100-422: A heroic lover from Greek or Roman mythology to his absent beloved, and one from the heroine in return. Ovid's authorship is uncertain. The single Heroides (1–15) are not listed here: see the relevant section of that article for the single epistles. The paired epistles are written as exchanges between the following heroes and heroines: For further references specifically relating to that subject, please see
125-613: A lack of evidence, but by the fact that much of what is known at all comes from Ovid's own poetry. One passage in the second book of Ovid's Amores ( Am. ) has been adduced especially often in this context: quod licet, aut artes teneri profitemur Amoris (ei mihi, praeceptis urgeor ipse meis!) aut quod Penelopes verbis reddatur Ulixi, scribimus et lacrimas, Phylli relicta, tuas, quod Paris et Macareus et quod male gratus Iason Hippolytique parens Hippolytusque legant, quodque tenens strictum Dido miserabilis ensem dicat et †Aoniae Lesbis amata lyrae.† I do what I may—either profess
150-403: A point of scholarly contention: E. J. Kenney, for instance, notes that " novavit is ambiguous: either 'invented' or 'renewed', cunningly obscuring without explicitly disclaiming O[vid]'s debt to Propertius ' Arethusa (4.3) for the original idea." In spite of various interpretations of Propertius 4.3, consensus nevertheless concedes to Ovid much of the credit in the thorough exploration of what
175-447: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Double Heroides#The Collection The Double Heroides are a set of six epistolary poems allegedly composed by Ovid in Latin elegiac couplets , following the fifteen poems of his Heroides , and numbered 16 to 21 in modern scholarly editions. These six poems present three separate exchanges of paired epistles: one each from
200-584: The Bibliography , below. Qui modo Nasonis fueramus quinque libelli, tres sumus; hoc illi praetulit auctor opus. ut iam nulla tibi nos sit legisse uoluptas, at levior demptis poena duobus erit We who were (not so long ago) the five little books of Naso Are now three; their author preferred his work this way over that. Though even now you may take little pleasure in reading us, With two books swept away your pain will be lighter With Ovid's word as
225-602: The Double Heroides and numbered 16 to 21 in modern scholarly editions, follows these individual letters and presents three separate exchanges of paired epistles: one each from a heroic lover to his absent beloved and from the heroine in return. The Heroides were long held in low esteem by literary scholars but, like other works by Ovid, were re-evaluated more positively in the late 20th century. Arguably some of Ovid's most influential works ( see below ), one point that has greatly contributed to their mystique—and to
250-463: The Amores —corroborating, as it does, only the existence of Her. 1–2, 4–7, 10–11, and very possibly of 12, 13, and 15—could be cited fairly as evidence for the in authenticity of at least the letters of Briseis (3), Hermione (8), Deianira (9), and Hypermnestra (14), if not also those of Medea (12), Laodamia (13), and Sappho (15). Stephen Hinds argues, however, that this list constitutes only
275-629: The Heroides with Amores in Ovid I. Penguin Books first published Harold Isbell's translation in 1990. Isbell's translation uses unrhymed couplets that generally alternate between eleven and nine syllables . A translation in rhymed couplets by Daryl Hine appeared in 1991. It was the inspiration for 15 monologues starring 15 separate actors, by 15 playwrights at the Jermyn Street Theatre in 2020. All notes refer to works listed in
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#1732765639400300-510: The Heroides . Classics scholar W. M. Spackman argues the Heroides influenced the development of the European novel: of Helen's reply to Paris, Spackman writes, "its mere 268 lines contain in embryo everything that has, since, developed into the novel of dissected motivations that is one of our glories, from La Princesse de Clèves , Manon Lescaut and Les Liaisons Dangereuses to Stendhal and Proust". The Loeb Classical Library presents
325-464: The Aonian lyre.† Knox notes that "[t]his passage ... provides the only external evidence for the date of composition of the Heroides listed here. The only collection of Heroides attested by O[vid] therefore antedates at least the second edition of the Amores (c. 2 BC), and probably the first (c. 16 BC) ..." On this view, the most probable date of composition for at least the majority of
350-435: The arts of tender love (Alas! I'm beset by my own teachings!) Or write what's rendered in the words of Penelope to her Ulysses, And your tearful tale too, forsaken Phyllis— That which Paris and Macareus, and that also which oh-so-ungrateful Jason, And Hippolytus's sire, and Hippolytus himself may read— And what pitiable Dido, holding now the blade unsheathed, Might say, and so too †that woman of Lesbos, beloved of
375-561: The collection in this regard: (1) individual interpolations within single poems, (2) the authorship of entire poems by a possible Ovidian impersonator, and (3) the relation of the Double Heroides to the singles, coupled with the authenticity of that secondary collection. Discussion of these issues has been a focus, even if tangentially, of many treatments of the Heroides in recent memory. As an example following these lines, for some time scholars debated over whether this passage from
400-494: The collection of single Heroides ranges between c. 25 and 16 BC, if indeed their eventual publication predated that of the assumed first edition of the Amores in that latter year. Regardless of absolute dating, the evidence nonetheless suggests that the single Heroides represent some of Ovid's earliest poetic efforts. Questions of authenticity, however, have often inhibited the literary appreciation of these poems. Joseph Farrell identifies three distinct issues of importance to
425-555: The free dictionary. Epistolary means "relating to an epistle or letter ". It may refer to: Epistolary (Latin: epistolarium ), a Christian liturgical book containing set readings for church services from the New Testament Epistles Epistolary novel , a novel written as a series of letters Epistolary poem , a poem in the form of an epistle or letter See also [ edit ] Epistulae (disambiguation) Topics referred to by
450-426: The more ingenious elements—and thereby demonstrating the high value—of individual poems in the collection, have essentially subsumed the authenticity debate, implicating it through a tacit equation of high literary quality with Ovidian authorship. This trend is visible especially in the most recent monographs on the Heroides . On the other hand, some scholars have taken a completely different route, ascribing
475-480: The only viable evidence on the matter, the existence of a second edition of the Amores is widely regarded as potentially questionable (cf. the arguments of, e.g. Holzberg [1997]). For references specifically relating to that subject, please see the relevant bibliography of the Double Heroides . epistolary [REDACTED] Look up epistolary in Wiktionary,
500-807: The reverberations they have produced within the writings of later generations—is directly attributable to Ovid himself. In the third book of his Ars Amatoria , Ovid argues that in writing these fictional epistolary poems in the personae of famous heroines, rather than from a first-person perspective , he created an entirely new literary genre . Recommending parts of his poetic output as suitable reading material to his assumed audience of Roman women, Ovid wrote of his Heroides : "vel tibi composita cantetur Epistola voce: | ignotum hoc aliis ille novavit opus" ( Ars Amatoria 3.345–6 : "Or let an Epistle be sung out by you in practiced voice: unknown to others, he [ sc. Ovid] originated this sort of composition"). The full extent of Ovid's originality in this matter has been
525-462: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Epistolary . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Epistolary&oldid=1254747558 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Articles containing Latin-language text Short description
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#1732765639400550-497: The viewpoints of the following heroines (and heroes). The quotations highlighted are the opening couplets of each poem, by which each would have been identified in medieval manuscripts of the collection: The Heroides were popularized by the Loire valley poet Baudri of Bourgueil in the late eleventh century, and Héloïse used them as models in her famous letters to Peter Abelard . A translation, Les Vingt et Une Epistres d'Ovide ,
575-467: The whole collection to one or two Ovidian imitators (the catalogue in Am. 2.18, as well as Ars am. 3.345–6 and Epistulae ex Ponto 4.16.13–14, would then be interpolations introduced to establish the imitations as authentic Ovid). The paired letters of the Double Heroides are not outlined here: see the relevant section of that article for the double epistles (16–21). The single Heroides are written from
600-596: Was made of this work at the end of the 15th century by the French poet Octavien de Saint-Gelais , who later became Bishop of Angoulême . While Saint-Gelais' translation does not do full justice to the original, it introduced many non-Latin readers to Ovid's fictional letters and inspired many of them to compose their own Heroidean-style epistles. Perhaps the most successful of these were the Quatre Epistres d'Ovide (c. 1500) by André de La Vigne [ fr ] ,
625-460: Was then a highly innovative poetic form. The exact dating of the Heroides , as with the overall chronology of the Ovidian corpus , remains a matter of debate. As Peter E. Knox notes, "[t]here is no consensus about the relative chronology of this [ sc. early] phase of O[vid]'s career," a position which has not advanced significantly since that comment was made. Exact dating is hindered not only by
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