Reconsidering Ovid's Ides of March: a commentary on Fasti 3.697-710

Abstract

Anti-Augustan readings dominate the scholarship on Fasti 3.697–710. This thesis challenges these anti-Augustan readings with arguments for a pro-Augustan reading as a viable alternative in Ovid's mythopoetic conception of Caesar's assassination and deification. Chapter 1 contains a translation of Fasti 3.697–710 and a line-by-line commentary. This commentary addresses elements vital to understanding the passage, such as vocabulary, themes, literary conventions, and even punctuation. Chapter 2 reviews the scholarship on this passage and weighs the pro- and anti-Augustan elements, then concludes with a discussion of some ideological parallels between Ovid and Valerius Maximus regarding Julius Caesar's assassination and deification. Appendix I examines the parallel passage Metamorphoses 15.749–840 in relation to Fasti 3.697–710, discussing both similarities and differences. Appendix II reviews the references to Julius Caesar in Augustan poetry, including the Fasti.