43 BCE, the year after the assassination of Julius Caesar. While the Roman republic had seen many conflicts, it was this civil war, headed by the vengeful triumvirate of Mark Anthony, Marcus Lepidus, and Octavian, that irrevocably transformed Rome with its upheaval. What followed was years of fighting and the eventual ascendancy of Octavian, who from 27 BCE onwards would be best known as Caesar Augustus, founder of the Roman Principate. It was in this era of turmoil and transformation that Ovid, the Roman poet best known for Metamorphoses, was born. The Heroides, one of his earliest and most elusive works, is not written from the first-person perspective that so often characterizes the elegiac poetry of that time but from the personae of tragic heroines of classical mythology. Megan O. Drinkwater illustrates how Ovid used innovations of literary form to articulate an expression of the crisis of civic identity in Rome at a time of extreme and permanent political change. The letters are not divorced from the context of their composition but instead elucidate that context for their readers and expose how Ovid engaged in politics throughout his entire career. Their importance is as much historical as literary. Drinkwater makes a compelling case for understanding the Heroides as a testament from one of Rome's most eloquent writers to the impact that the dramatic shift from republic to empire had on its intellectual elites.

The writings of Herodotus, historian, observer, and delightful storyteller, have long been favorites among teachers and students of the Greek language. The selections in this book will provide reading in the second year for the student who has begun his or her Greek with Homer and who presumably has had no acquaintance with Attic Greek. The book is equally well fitted for the use of the student who has begun in the orthodox fashion with Attic Greek and followed it by Homer.

This second Oklahoma edition is enhanced by Megan O. Drinkwater's addition of chapter and section references to the complete works of Herodotus.