Portrait of a perfect wife in Ovid’s poetry from exile

Ovid’s poetry from exile conveys numerous images of a perfect wife. The poet constantly reaches for the abundance of myth, only to underline that his own beloved one needs not to be ashamed or intimidated when compared to Penelope, Andromache or Alcestis. While praising traditional feminine virtues, namely pudicitia, virtus, fides and probitas, Ovid fails not to create an original portrait of a complex female personality, depicting his left-behind wife as a grieving widow, longing lover and devoted priestess. The way in which Ovid approaches the topic of love and femininity constitutes a certain novum throughout his poetry: never before had he paid such attention to a historical feminine figure. Once and for all abandoning the issue of amor tener, Ovid, in his dialogue with his wife, focuses around the idea of communicating love and pain in times of grievous separation.The author of the article investigates Ovid’s poetry from exile in order to unveil the portrait of a perfect wife contained in his works. On the basis of Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto, she tries to present a complex model of a woman, who is at the same time in grief, in love and in prayer.XXII/15972