''Ibis'' is a curse poem by the Roman poet

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

, written during his years in

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

across the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

for an offense against

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pri ...

. It is "a stream of violent but extremely learned abuse," modeled on a lost poem of the same title by the Greek Alexandrian poet

Callimachus Callimachus (; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works in a wide variety ...

Identity of Ibis

The object of the poet's curses is left unnamed except for the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

"Ibis", and no scholarly consensus has been reached concerning the figure to whom this pseudonym might refer.

Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammatic ...

, Cassius Severus,

Titus Labienus Titus Labienus (c. 10017 March 45 BC) was a high-ranking military officer in the late Roman Republic. He served as tribune of the Plebs in 63 BC. Although mostly remembered as one of Julius Caesar's best lieutenants in Gaul, mentioned freq ...

Thrasyllus of Mendes Thrasyllus of Mendes (; grc-gre, Θράσυλλος ), also known as Thrasyllus of AlexandriaLevick, ''Tiberius: The Politician'', p. 7 and by his Roman name Tiberius Claudius ThrasyllusLevick, ''Tiberius: The Goat '', p. 137 (fl. second ha ...

,''The Athenaeum'', No. 2840, April 1, 188

/ref> Caninius Rebilus, Ovid's erstwhile friend Sabinus, and the emperor

A. Schiesaro, "''Ibis Redibis''," ''Materiali e Discussioni'' 67 (2011): 79–150. have all been proposed, as well as the possibility that "Ibis" might refer to more than one person,Martin Helzle, "Ibis," in ''A Companion to Ovid'', edited by Peter E. Knox (Blackwell, 2009
online.
/ref> to nobody at all,A. E. Housman, "The Ibis of Ovid," ''Journal of Philology'' 35 (1920): 287–318G. D. Williams, ''The Curse of Exile: A Study of Ovid's ''Ibis (1996). or even to Ovid's own poetry.

Structure and themes

The 644-line poem, like all Ovid's extant work except the ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...

'', is written in

elegiac couplet The elegiac couplet is a poetic form used by Greek lyric poets for a variety of themes usually of smaller scale than the epic. Roman poets, particularly Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid, adopted the same form in Latin many years late ...

s. It is thus an unusual, though not unique, example of

invective Invective (from Middle English ''invectif'', or Old French and Late Latin ''invectus'') is abusive, reproachful, or venomous language used to express blame or censure; or, a form of rude expression or discourse intended to offend or hurt; vituperat ...

poetry in antiquity written in elegiac form rather than the more common iambics or

hendecasyllabic In poetry, a hendecasyllable (sometimes hendecasyllabic) is a line of eleven syllables. The term may refer to several different poetic meters, the older of which are quantitative and used chiefly in classical (Ancient Greek and Latin) poetry, and ...

s. The incantatory nature of the curses in the ''Ibis'' has sometimes led to comparisons with

curse tablets A curse tablet ( la, tabella defixionis, defixio; el, κατάδεσμος, katadesmos) is a small tablet with a curse written on it from the Greco-Roman world. Its name originated from the Greek and Latin words for "pierce" and "bind". The table ...

(''defixiones''), though Ovid's are elaborately literary in expression; the poem has also been seen as a type of ''

devotio In ancient Roman religion, the ''devotio'' was an extreme form of '' votum'' in which a Roman general vowed to sacrifice his own life in battle along with the enemy to chthonic gods in exchange for a victory. The most extended description of th ...

''. Drawing on the encyclopedic store of knowledge he demonstrated in the ''Metamorphoses'' and his other work — presumably from memory, as he purportedly had few books with him in exile — Ovid threatens his enemy in the second section of the poem (lines 251–638) with a veritable catalogue of "gruesome and mutually incompatible fates" that befell various figures from myth and history, ranging from laming and blinding to

cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...

to death by

pine cone A conifer cone (in formal botanical usage: strobilus, plural strobili) is a seed-bearing organ on gymnosperm plants. It is usually woody, ovoid to globular, including scales and bracts arranged around a central axis, especially in conifers an ...

. Ovid also declares in the poem's opening salvo that even if he dies in exile, his ghost will rise and rend Ibis's flesh. The basic structure of the poem is as follows: :I. Introduction ::1–66:

Proem __NOTOC__ A preface () or proem () is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a ''foreword'' and precedes an author's preface. The preface often closes ...

which lays out Ibis' crime and declares war ::67–126: Prayers to the gods to inflict on Ibis

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...

, hunger, and exile ::127–208: The eternity of Ibis' torment, which will outlast both Ovid's death and Ibis' own ::209–250: A biography of Ibis' infancy and a divine mandate given to Ovid to curse him :II. Catalogue ::251–638: Catalogue of mythological and historical torments which Ibis should suffer :III. Coda ::639–644: Promise of an iambic followup should Ibis not cease and desist

Afterlife

The ''Ibis'' attracted a large number of

scholia Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of th ...

and was widely disseminated and referenced in

Renaissance literature Renaissance literature refers to European literature which was influenced by the intellectual and cultural tendencies associated with the Renaissance. The literature of the Renaissance was written within the general movement of the Renaissance, ...

. In his annotated translation (1577), Thomas Underdowne found in ''Ibis'' a reference guide to "all manner of vices punished, all offenses corrected, and all misdeeds revenged." An English translator noted that "a full reference to each of the

allusion Allusion is a figure of speech, in which an object or circumstance from unrelated context is referred to covertly or indirectly. It is left to the audience to make the direct connection. Where the connection is directly and explicitly stated (as ...

s to be found in this poem would suffice to fill a small volume."

Henry T. Riley Henry Thomas Riley (June 1816 – 14 April 1878) was an English translator, lexicographer, and antiquary. Life Born in June 1816, he was only son of Henry Riley of Southwark, an ironmonger. He was educated at Chatham House, Ramsgate, and at C ...

, "The Invective Against the Ibis," in ''The Fasti, Tristia, Pontic Epistles, Ibis, and Halieuticon of Ovid, Literally Translated into English Prose'' (London 1885), pp. 475ff.

Online texts and translations

The ''

editio princeps In classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts, which could be circulated only after being copied by hand. For ...

'' of Ovid's complete works, including the ''Ibis'', was published in Italy in 1471. Full-text versions of the following Latin editions and English translations of the ''Ibis'' are available online.

Latin

* R. Ellis, ''P. Ovidii Nasonis Ibis'', Oxford Classical Text
1881.
* A. Riese, ''P. Ovidii Nasonis Carmina'', vol. 3
1899.

English translations

Henry Thomas Riley Henry Thomas Riley (June 1816 – 14 April 1878) was an English translator, lexicographer, and antiquary. Life Born in June 1816, he was only son of Henry Riley of Southwark, an ironmonger. He was educated at Chatham House, Ramsgate, and at Cha ...

, "The Invective Against the Ibis," prose
1885.
* A. S. Kline, "Ovid - Ibis," ''Poetry in Translation''

References

{{Authority control Poetry by Ovid Curses