10 h 59 minAudiobook14 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 every date on the calendar opened a door to a god, a ritual, or Rome’s tangled past?
In Fasti, Ovid follows the Roman calendar from January to June, asking where its festivals, temples, and customs come from. His long poem unfolds in elegiac couplets, with a book for each month. Janus opens the year; February brings purification; March turns to Mars and the founding twins.
April brings Venus and Ceres, while May and June gather gods and stars. Along the way, Ovid meets speaking gods, recalls Lucretia, and tells of Ceres searching for her daughter. He is a curious presence in his own poem, guiding you through Roman religion and memory with wit, questions, and a sometimes mischievous edge.
What you’ll discover
- A doorway into January Meet two-faced Janus, the keeper of gates and beginnings, at the threshold of Rome’s year.
- The stories behind rituals Explore the myths and customs behind festivals such as the Lupercalia, Parilia, and Lemuria.
- Gods with speaking parts Hear Venus remind the poet of love that he remains her servant.
- Praise with a quiet edge Discover why readers find more than simple praise beneath Ovid’s celebration of Augustus.
- Learning worn lightly Follow a witty guide from sacred rites to rivers, constellations, and old kings.
Who will love it
For readers who love myth, Roman history and poems that wear their learning lightly, and for anyone curious about how Romans lived their days.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A poet turns the calendar into verse
- Janus opens the year at the doorway
- February cleanses the city and its guilt
- March begins with Mars and a founding
- April brings Venus and the grain goddess
- May and June gather gods and stars
- The gods speak and the poet asks questions
- Beneath the praise runs a quiet edge
- Rome's year lives on in later readers
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- Large print hardcover
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Fastes
by Ovide · 8
Janus opens the year as Ovid asks gods and priests what Rome's festivals reveal about its sacred past.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Fasti is a long poem by the Roman poet Ovid, written in elegiac couplets, the pairs of lines he used for love poetry. It walks through the Roman year day by day, from January to June, and asks of each festival, each temple and each star: where did this come from?
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A poet turns the calendar into verse
Ovid opens by stating his subject: the times of the Latin year, their causes, and the stars that rise and set. He first addresses Caesar, meaning Augustus, and later versions of the poem add a dedication to Germanicus, the emperor's grandson. That change shows how the poem lived on after its author was sent away. It is a poem shaped by power, even when it plays with it.
The idea is simple and strange. Rome already had a calendar, called the fasti, which listed days when public business could or could not be done. It also marked festivals and holidays. Ovid turns this dry list into stories. For each date he asks what the ritual means, and he gets answers from priests, from gods, from old books and from his own imagination.
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What is Ovid's Fasti about?
It is a Latin poem that follows the Roman calendar month by month, explaining festivals, rites, temples and stars through myths and history. It covers January to June in six books, with gods and priests answering the poet's questions.
Why does Fasti only cover six months?
The poem has six books, January to June. Some scholars think Ovid planned twelve and never finished, perhaps because of his exile in AD 8. Others think the later books were lost. Nobody knows for certain.
What does the word Fasti mean?
Fasti was the name of the Roman calendar that listed days for public business, holidays and festivals. Ovid borrows the name for a poem that adds stories and causes to each date, turning a list into literature.
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