Fasti
Ovid's poetic calendar explaining the religious festivals and mythological origins of the Roman year
The Meaning of Fasti
The Fasti, composed by Ovid in the early first century CE, is a verse commentary on the Roman calendar that explains the origins of religious festivals, astronomical phenomena, and sacred days through mythological narrative. Originally planned to cover all twelve months, only the first six books (January through June) survive, possibly because Ovid's exile to the Black Sea interrupted its completion. Each entry weaves together Greek and Roman myth, astronomical observation, and antiquarian lore. The poem recounts how Janus guards the doorway of the year, why February is the month of purification, the mythological origins of the Lupercalia and Parilia, and the stories behind constellations as they rise and set. Ovid employs conversations with gods and Muses as narrative devices, lending the scholarly content a dramatic immediacy. The Fasti preserves religious traditions and myth variants that would otherwise be lost and provides an essential bridge between Greek mythology and Roman religious practice.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
January
💭 conceptLanguage and timekeeping
The first month of the year in the Western calendar, named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, gates, and transitions who looked simultaneously forward and backward
Homeric Hymns
💭 conceptLiterature
A collection of thirty-three ancient Greek hymns celebrating individual Olympian and chthonic deities
March
💭 conceptLanguage and timekeeping
The third month of the Western calendar, named after Mars, the Roman god of war identified with the Greek god Ares, reflecting its original position as the first month of the Roman calendar
Theogony
💭 conceptLiterature
Hesiod's epic poem describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods
Hesiod
💭 conceptDidactic poetry, cosmogony
Boeotian poet who composed the Theogony and Works and Days in the archaic period
Aion
💭 conceptTime and Eternity
The Greek personification of unbounded, cyclical time, distinct from the linear time of Chronos.
Bibliotheca
💭 conceptLiterature
An alternative title for the mythological handbook attributed to Apollodorus, cataloguing the full scope of Greek myth
Abduction of Persephone
💭 conceptNarrative
The seizing of Persephone by Hades and its consequences, which explain the origin of the seasons
Dionysiaca
💭 conceptLiterature
Nonnus's sprawling epic poem narrating the life and conquests of the god Dionysus in forty-eight books
Ovid
💭 conceptPoetry, transformation, love
Roman poet whose Metamorphoses became the most influential retelling of Greek myth in Western culture
Saturn
💭 conceptAstronomy and mythology
The sixth planet from the Sun, named after Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture and time identified with the Greek Titan Kronos, father of Zeus
Catasterism
💭 conceptTransformation into a constellation
Catasterism was the process by which a mortal or creature was placed among the stars.