Tomis, 8 – 17 or 18 AD · Constanta today
In 8 AD, Augustus relegated Ovid to Tomis, on the Black Sea shore. He never came back: from 8 until his death, in 17 or 18, he wrote 9 books of verse about cold, longing, and a fault summed up only as a poem and an error. Today his 1887 statue stands over Ovidiu Square in Constanta.
Born 43 BC, Sulmona · Relegated in 8 AD, aged 50 · Died at Tomis in 17 or 18, aged 59 or 60
Book 1 of the Tristia includes poems of departure and travel: storms in the Adriatic, boarding at Cenchreae, the narrows, Samothrace, then the Pontic coast down to Tomis. The chart below shows 8 reconstructed editorial stages after Tristia 1.10–1.11, not 8 stopping places named as such in the poem.
Ovid was still on the road and writing in December; the journey is usually placed in the winter of 8/9, with arrival at Tomis in 9. As the crow flies, Rome and today's Constanta, on the site of Tomis, stand 1,330 km apart; by sea and on foot, his road ran far longer.
The night of departure, Tristia 1.3. Augustus orders him out of Italy.
Editorial waypoint: storms and verses written on the waves, Ovid says he was writing in December, Tristia 1.2, 1.4, 1.11.
Here he says he boards Minerva's ship, Tristia 1.10.
Editorial waypoint: the narrows, past Troy, Tristia 1.10.
Here he says he leaves the ship and walks through Thrace, Tristia 1.10.
The ship, without Ovid, gone on foot, is prayed to pass Byzantium, at the mouth of Pontus, Tristia 1.10.
Editorial waypoint grouping the towns on the ship's wished route: Apollonia, Anchialus, Mesembria, Odesos, Dionysopolis, Callatis, Tristia 1.10.
Arrival, in 9. He dies here in 17 or 18, never recalled.
Each poem shows its date, the Latin text, and the Romanian and English renderings: A. S. Kline's English (2003), the editor's Romanian.
Tristia 1.3.1–2
on the road to exile, winter 8/9
Tristia 1.3 opens the book with the last night in Rome.
Latin
Cum subit illius tristissima noctis imago,
quae mihi supremum tempus in urbe fuit,
English, A. S. Kline
When the saddest memory comes to mind,
of that night, my last hour in the city,
Romanian, the editor's translation
Când îmi răsare în minte imaginea acelei nopți atât de triste,
ceasul meu din urmă în cetate,
Tristia 2.207–208
Tomis, probably 9–10
Tristia 2, a plea of 578 lines addressed to Augustus. Here he sums up his motives as a poem and an error, without disclosing the error.
Latin
Perdiderint cum me duo crimina, carmen et error,
alterius facti culpa silenda mihi:
English, A. S. Kline
Though two charges, carmen et error, a poem and an error,
ruined me, I must be silent about the second fault:
Romanian, the editor's translation
Două învinuiri m-au pierdut, poemul și greșeala,
vina celei de-a doua fapte trebuie s-o trec sub tăcere:
Tristia 3.10.37–38
Tomis, probably 9–10
Tristia 3.10. Ovid claims he saw the frozen Pontus and walked on the ice.
Latin
Vidimus ingentem glacie consistere pontum,
lubricaque inmotas testa premebat aquas.
English, A. S. Kline
I’ve seen the vast waters frozen with ice,
a slippery shell gripping the unmoving deep.
Romanian, the editor's translation
Am văzut Pontul uriaș închegat de gheață,
cum o coajă lunecoasă apăsa apele nemișcate.
Tristia 3.3.73–76
Tomis, probably 9–10
Tristia 3.3. He dictates his own tombstone inscription.
Latin
hic ego qui iaceo tenerorum lusor amorum
ingenio perii Naso poeta meo;
at tibi qui transis ne sit grave quisquis amasti
dicere Nasonis molliter ossa cubent.
English, A. S. Kline
I LIE HERE, WHO TOYED WITH TENDER LOVE,
OVID THE POET BETRAYED BY MY GENIUS:
BE NOT SEVERE, LOVER, AS YOU PASS BY,
SAY ‘EASY MAY THE BONES OF OVID LIE’
Romanian, the editor's translation
Aici zac eu, cel ce m-am jucat cu gingașele iubiri,
Naso, poetul, pierdut de propriul meu talent;
iar ție, trecătorule, oricine ești care ai iubit,
să nu-ți fie greu să spui: lin să se odihnească oasele lui Naso.
Tristia 4.10.3–4
Tomis, probably 11–12
Tristia 4.10, the autobiography. Sulmona, 90 miles from Rome, about 133 km apart.
Latin
Sulmo mihi patria est, gelidis uberrimus undis,
milia qui novies distat ab Vrbe decem.
English, A. S. Kline
Sulmo’s my native place, rich in icy streams,
and ninety miles distant from the City.
Romanian, the editor's translation
Sulmona îmi e patria, bogată în unde reci,
la nouăzeci de mile depărtare de Roma.
Ex Ponto 4.13.19–20
Tomis, after the death of Augustus; Ovid calls it the sixth winter
Ex Ponto 4.13. Ovid claims verse written in the local tongue, a lost work, an uncorroborated event.
Latin
A! pudet et Getico scripsi sermone libellum
structaque sunt nostris barbara uerba modis:
English, A. S. Kline
Ah! Shameful: I’ve even written a work in Getic,
where savage words are set to Italian metres.
Romanian, the editor's translation
Ah, rușine: am scris până și o cărticică în grai getic,
iar vorbele barbare le-am clădit în măsura versului nostru:
Tomis was, in Ovid's etiological account in Tristia 3.9, a Milesian colony among the Getae. On the traditional dating, a Milesian colony founded around the 6th century BC, today's Constanta stands on the site of Tomis.
Much of ancient Tomis lies under the modern city, and the visible remains come chiefly from later Roman phases. The ancient pavement of the mosaic edifice is estimated at about 2,000 m² of mosaic, of which about 400 m² survive in situ. The edifice was raised at the end of the 3rd or the start of the 4th century.
Ovid claims he learned the local tongue and reports that his Getic listeners nodded and murmured approval at his verses in their speech, Ex Ponto 4.13.19–38, a lost work, an uncorroborated event. In Tristia 3.10, Ovid claims he saw the frozen Pontus.
In 1887, almost 1,900 years after the poet's death in 17 or 18, Constanta raised his statue in Ovidiu Square. Its author is the Italian Ettore Ferrari; in 1925, an identical replica was placed in his native Sulmona, 38 years later.
Ovid had asked in verse not to be forgotten. The poet's plea to be remembered takes monumental form at Constanta in 1887.
The edict of Augustus does not survive, and no source precisely identifies the error. Ovid mentions it often and never names it. Here is where knowledge parts from guesswork.
That is how Ovid sums up his motives, in Tristia 2.207–208, adding that the guilt must pass over in silence. Scholars usually identify the poem with the Art of Love; the error stays unknown. The name of the fault appears nowhere in the 96 exile poems, in the Kline division.
The edict of Augustus was harsh, but mild in naming the penalty: Tristia 2.135–137. Ovid kept his citizenship and his property, but was compelled to remain far from Rome.
Augustus died in 14, Ovid in 17 or 18, still at Tomis. The years of hope under Tiberius brought no pardon.
Scholars usually identify the poem with the Art of Love, published years before 8, so many think Augustus used it only as a pretext. Ovid himself defends the book at length in Tristia 2.
Links with scandals in the imperial house have been proposed, including the exile of Julia the Younger in 8, but there is no consensus and no direct evidence connects Ovid with them.
The hypothesis, proposed by J. J. Hartman in 1923 and revived by G. D. Fitton Brown in 1985, stays marginal; biographies and specialist studies routinely treat the relegation to Tomis as historical fact.
Test what stayed with you: each answer shows its evidence, verse cited.
1
Ovid lost his Roman citizenship by sentence.
False. The edict calls him relegated, not exiled (Tristia 2.135–137): he kept his citizenship and his property, but was compelled to remain far from Rome.
2
Ovid names his fault in verse.
False. He says only this: a poem and a fault (Tristia 2.207–208), and the guilt must pass over in silence.
3
The exile produced 9 books: 5 of Tristia and 4 of Letters from Pontus.
True. 5 books holding 50 elegies and 4 books holding 46 letters, 96 poems in all in the Kline division.
4
Ovid says he wrote a poem in the Getic tongue.
True. Ex Ponto 4.13.19–20: a booklet in Getic speech, in the winter Ovid calls his sixth at Tomis.
5
Augustus pardoned him before dying.
False. Augustus died in 14, Ovid in 17 or 18, still at Tomis, after 9 or 10 years of exile.
6
The Constanta statue dates from 1887.
True. Ettore Ferrari, Ovidiu Square; the Sulmona replica was placed in 1925, 38 years later.
No answers yet
The Latin verses come from the Latin Library text, an uncritical text; the verse numbers were counted from the book, not copied. The English is A. S. Kline's translation, quoted with attribution; the Romanian is the editor's translation.
The poem count, 50 plus 46, follows the Kline tables of contents; Hall's critical edition divides six units differently, so any total depends on segmentation. The exile years follow Jerome's Chronicle, which gives 17, with 18 as the alternative; the ages allow for no year zero.
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