Talk:Ovid

Naming

Shouldn't this just be at Ovid? I mean, no one ever calls him Publius Ovidius Naso, or even just Ovidius. Virgil and Horace are at their common names, rather than their full ones (as are the Roman Emperors). Adam Bishop 06:03, 21 Sep 2003 (UTC)

I agree; I'll do the move (there's some history at the old Ovid page). If there are objections it's easily undone, and at any rate I'd be interested in seeing what any objections might be. - Hephaestos 06:37, 21 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Claims about Ovid seen by Romanian nationalists as Romanian hero and poet are irrelevant to his death (and to the whole article)

In the section titled “Death” I’ve deleted the lines where the ludicrous claims of Romanian nationalists on Ovid as “Romanian poet” were referred, because they’re not only irrelevant to the section treating the historical event of his death but also to the historical person as well. Besides no external link was visible: the content was not only irrelevant but it was not even confirmed by any external link. Even the whole text of an inscription on a contemporary Romanian statue representing Ovid was fully written… What do have this to do with Ovid and his death?

The part on those nationalist claims could be added on the “Legacy” section, If anything: but I find it still irrelevant. These are the main lines: As Ovid spent the last years of his life and literary work in what is now Romania, Romanian nationalists have adopted him as "The First Romanian Poet" and placed him in the pantheon of Romanian national heroes. Ovidiu is a common male first name in Romania. Also, a statue commemorates him in the Romanian city of Tomis (contemporary Constanța).

I think it’s not even a matter of discussion that the fact that Romanians claiming him as a national hero and their own poet (but the lines are not confirmed by any external link) is totally irrelevant to the reality of Ovid as historical individual and to the encyclopedic information about his death.

Age at death

The article states Ovid was born on 20 March 43 BC, and died in 17 or 18 AD at age 59–61. If he died no later than 31 December 18 CE, he could not have been older than 60.

Recent edit

NebY regarding the Sabine source:

The Samnites were not the only people in Italy who were perceived to originate from the Sabines in this manner. A similar narrative tells of how the Picentes also descended from Sabine migrants. In their case the guiding animal was a woodpecker (Latin picus), which may have accounted for their ethnic name (Strabo Geog. 5.4.2; Plin. HN 3.110; Dench 1995, 185). Ovid (Fast. 3.95‒96) notes that the Paeligni also possessed Sabine origins, and in other versions of the sacred spring myth the Samnites are themselves the progenitors of other south Italian ethne, such as the Lucanians and the Mamertines of Messana.

This is on page 121 of my source. I consider this relevant to Ovid as he mentions this in particular. But, I guess, since the Paeligni article now mentions that they were of Sabine origins and this article directly links to the above, I wouldn't mind keeping it out. What do you say? Trabzonluyuz-rumuz-elhamdulillah (talk) 15:06, 4 October 2026 (UTC)

I regret that my search of that source didn't work well until I searched a download. But it's clear that it would be inappropriate WP:SYNTH for us to use this to make a claim in the article about his ethnicity; note, for example, his gens and that it is unsafe to assume that a Roman's place of birth indicates their ethnicity, especially with Romans of property. NebY (talk) 18:39, 6 October 2026 (UTC)