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Born Publius Ovidius Naso on March 20, 43 B.C., at Sulmo (modern Sulmona), about 90 miles from Rome. Member of the equestrian order. Intended to become a lawyer and an official and was given an excellent education, including study under the great rhetoricians Arellius Fuscus and Porcius Latro. He was suddenly relegated (a form of banishment without the loss of property or civil rights) in A.D. 9 or 8 to Tomi on the Black Sea (the modern Constantsa in Romania). The reasons behind Ovid's exile have been the subject of much speculation. He himself tells us that the reason was "a poem and a mistake." Ovid's masterpiece is generally considered to be his Metamorphoses. It is an epic in form, 15 books in length, and devoted to the theme of changes in shape, although some stories not strictly limited to this theme are included. It is arranged in chronological order from the creation of the world to the apotheosis of Julius Caesar, the first 12 books being derived from Greek mythology, and books 13-15 devoted to Roman legends and history, beginning with the story of Aeneas.
