Ovid, Ars Amatoria Book Three

The commentaries in the Oxford Greek and Latin College Commentaries series are designed for students in intermediate or advanced Greek or Latin at colleges and universities. Each volume includes, on facing pages, the ancient text, a running vocabulary, and succinct notes focusing on grammar and syntax, distinctive features of style, and essential context. The Greek and Latin texts are based on the most recent Oxford Classical Text (OCT) editions whenever available; otherwise, other authoritative editions are used. Each volume features a comprehensive introduction intended to enhance utility in the classroom and student appreciation of the work at hand. The series focuses on texts and authors frequently taught at the intermediate or advanced undergraduate levels, but also makes available some central works currently lacking an appropriate commentary. The primary purpose of this series is to offer streamlined commentaries that are up-to-date, user-friendly, and affordable. Each volume presents entire works or substantial selections which can form the basis for an entire semester's coursework. Each commentary's close attention to grammar and syntax is intended to address the needs of readers encountering a work or author for the first time. In Ars amatoria, Book Three, the last and longest book of his guide to seduction, Ovid claims to teach women how to find, catch, and keep a male lover. The Ars itself is one of the brightest gems of Roman literature, and Book 3 is the most eye-catching of all. The text offers generous helpings of Ovidian wit and absurdity as well as a smorgasbord of references to Roman culture and society: architecture, theatres, gladiatorial spectacles, temples, baths, men's and women's clothing, hairstyles, cosmetics, music, poetry-reading, letter-writing, games, slavery, parties, sexuality, and sex. In short, there is nothing quite like it in ancient literature, and no other work opens the same sort of window onto Augustan culture. Ars amatoria, Book Three helps us see ancient Rome in a new light.