2 h 42 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if love is a craft—and your teacher never quite means everything he says?
In The Art of Love, Ovid puts on the teacher’s mantle and offers young Romans lessons in desire. This Latin poem in elegiac couplets begins with a bold claim: love can be learned, like steering a ship or driving a chariot. His classroom is Rome, with its crowds, festivals and opportunities to meet.
The first book teaches men how to find and win a lover; the second asks how to keep her. In the third, women receive their own lessons. Myths mingle with practical advice as Ovid jokes about his method. Beneath the mock manual lies a sharp picture of city life under Augustus.
What you’ll discover
- A mischievous teacher Meet a poet who offers lessons in love while making fun of his own authority.
- Rome in the crowd Follow desire into the gathering places and festivals that fill Ovid’s lively Roman world.
- Myths beside everyday life Discover how Chiron, Achilles and Penthesilea enter a playful conversation about learning to love.
- Beyond the first conquest Explore Ovid’s warning that keeping a lover takes more than winning one.
- Lessons change sides Watch the teacher turn to women, giving them their own place in his romantic classroom.
Who will love it
For readers who love wit, myth and a close look at everyday Roman life, and anyone curious about how people have always talked about desire.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Love is a craft you can learn
- Go where the crowds are to meet someone
- Win her with flattery, patience and a friendly maid
- Keeping love takes charm, not force
- Women get their own lessons in the third book
- A playful poem that angered an emperor
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Die Kunst der Liebe
by Ovid · 2
Ovid plays the teacher in a Rome full of crowds and mischief, turning the pursuit of a lover into a playful craft.
Medium level2–5 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Art of Love is a Latin poem by Ovid, written in elegiac couplets in the years around the turn of the first century. Its Latin title is Ars Amatoria.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Love is a craft you can learn
Ovid opens by announcing that love, like steering a ship or driving a chariot, is a skill. He says he will be the teacher of love, as the centaur Chiron once taught the young Achilles. His pupil is Cupid himself, a wild boy who needs guiding. The claim is playful, but it sets the tone for the whole poem.
He also says where his authority comes from. It is not the gods or books of philosophy but his own experience. Ovid presents himself as a priest of Venus who has tried everything and learned what works. That pose lets him be both sage and rogue.
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What is The Art of Love about?
It is a Latin poem in three books that gives mock-serious advice on love. Two books teach men how to find, win and keep a lover, and the third gives women advice on beauty, manners and wit.
Why was Ovid exiled?
Ovid was sent to Tomis by Augustus in AD 8. Ovid said the cause was a poem and a mistake. The poem is usually taken to be The Art of Love, but the mistake has never been identified.
Is The Art of Love a serious guide or a joke?
Most readers find it both. Ovid writes like a teacher, but with irony and exaggeration. The advice reflects Roman habits, and it is playful verse rather than a sincere moral manual.
More by Ovid
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