P. Ovidius Naso, Heroides 1 to 8

The Heroides, or Letters of Heroines, is a collection of twenty-one fictional letters composed by the famous Augustan poet Ovid (43 BC-AD 17/18). It is a widely read work of elegiac poetry which is of special interest to students of gender literature. The poems, which take the form of fifteen letters from heroines to their absent lovers and three pairs of letters to a lover with a reply, have frequently been edited and translated into English in both prose and verse. This volume offers a comprehensive collection of medieval and renaissance readings and modern conjectures for the first eight poems. Such a databank has never even been attempted, let alone accomplished, before now. It is intended to supply the reader with all the information necessary for understanding how the text of the poems has been established.