From Catullus to Horace/ the tradition of Latin erotic poetry produced works of literature which are still read throughout the world. Ovid's Amores/ written in the first century BC/ is arguably the best-known and most popular collection in this tradition. Born in 43 BC/ Ovid was educated in Rome in preparation for a career in public services before finding his calling as a poet. He may have begun writing his Amores as early as 25 BC. Although influenced by poets such as Catullus/ Ovid demonstrates a much greater awareness of the funny side of love than any of his predecessors. The Amores is a collection of romantic poems centered on the poet's own complicated love life: he is involved with a woman/ Corinna/ who is sometimes unobtainable/ sometimes compliant/ and often difficult and domineering. Whether as a literary trope/ or perhaps merely as a human response to the problems of love in the real world/ the principal focus of these poems is the poet himself/ and his failures/ foolishness/ and delusions. By the time he was in his forties/ Ovid was Rome's most important living poet; his Metamorphoses/ a kaleidoscopic epic poem about love and hatred among the gods and mortals/ is one of the most admired and influential books of all time. In AD 8/ Ovid was exiled by Augustus to Romania/ for reasons that remain obscure. He died there in AD 17. The Amores were originally published in five books/ but reissued around 1 AD in their current three-book form. This edition of the first book of the collection contains the complete Latin text of Book 1/ along with commentary/ notes and full vocabulary. Both entertaining and thought-provoking/ this book will provide an invaluable aid to students of Latin and general readers alike. This book contains embedded audio files of the original text read aloud by Aleksandra Szypowska.
