Ovid\u27s “Fasti” and the tradition of Callimachus\u27 “Aetia” in Rome

Previous scholarship has laid out some important groundwork on Ovid\u27s use of Callimachus\u27 Aetia as a model for the Fasti , yet some significant resemblances between the two poems have not been adequately recognized. The poems share notable structural features, and Ovid imitates Callimachus\u27 model in his approach to dealing with genre. Thematically, Ovid follows Callimachus\u27 treatment of panegryic themes, including Hercules and the celebration of royal women. This dissertation argues that Ovid\u27s use of the Aetia in composing the Fasti was more direct and specific than has been previously acknowledged, a finding that contributes to our understanding not only of the Fasti but also of the influence of Callimachus and the Aetia on Roman poetry more generally. The first section of my dissertation considers Ovid\u27s use of the Aetia as a model in terms of both structure and generic identity. The structure of the Fasti looks to that of the Aetia, and Ovid also incorporates references to the Aetia into key structural locations in his own poem. Ovid\u27s project of Callimachean imitation in the sub-genre of aetiological elegy allows Ovid to elevate his career and to redefine himself as an elegist. Ovid\u27s incorporation of various other generic traditions into his aetiological elegy follows the lead of Callimachus\u27 generic variation in the Aetia . The final chapters consider two panegyric themes explored in both the Aetia and the Fasti. Although Callimachus and Ovid were each composing poetry in radically different environments, the emerging dynastic character of Ovid\u27s Rome looked to the tradition of the Ptolemies in Egypt in constructing an ideology of divine kingship. Ovid\u27s Fasti adopts some of the characteristics of a court poem, and so shares another defining feature of the Aetia. In addition, Ovid alludes to earlier Roman predecessors who had incorporated elements of the Aetia into their own poetry. Ovid not only acknowledges the prevalence of Callimachean influence in preceding Roman poetry, he also reclaims key elements of the Aetia and adapts them into his own Roman version of aetiological elegy