The risks you took – without a thought for your family –

…This is caution, this is thinking of me?”

From Penelope’s letter to Ulysses in reaction to his exploits in the Odyssey

“You lie about everything, and I’m not the first

To be deceived by your fraudulent tongue.”

From Dido’s letter to Aeneas, commenting on his Sack of Troy in Vergil’s Aeneid

Heroides is a collection of 21 epistolary poems by the Roman poet Ovid, featuring letters from mythological heroines to their absent or unfaithful loves. Ovid helps us imagine what Greek and Roman myth would look like if women had written the stories. This work humanizes mythological figures, provides a female perspective (written by a male) and influenced later literature.

Ovid’s Heroides will be read and discussed in class. The group reads orally in round-robin manner. Mispronunciations are considered creative. Required text: students in this class must obtain a copy of Ovid – Heroides, translated by Stanley Lombardo and Melina McClure (Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2024). Other translations are available but because we read aloud, everyone must use the same translation (paperback and Kindle versions are available from Amazon).