Ovid and Plato
Disturbing Realities

Explores how Ovid challenges the divisions between poetry and philosophy by alluding to the dialogues of Plato.

Peter Kelly (Author)

9781009601511, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 July 2025

208 pages
23.4 x 16 x 1.7 cm, 0.45 kg

'Kelly makes an important contribution by focusing on Ovid's engagement with Plato's works, which have garnered less scholarly attention than their impact on Greek and Roman intellectual discourse would warrant. Such an extended study of Platonic presences in Ovid's works fills a gap in Ovidian studies, a field where much intertextual study has been done … The book's strength lies in chasing down many varied strands of philosophical thought, and for this reason it will provide a resource to scholars interested in the reception of Platonic ideas and the influence of philosophical traditions on Greek and Latin poets.' Rachel Philbrick, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

The Roman poet Ovid, while sailing across the Black Sea to Tomis, considered his exile to have cosmic proportions; in the surging waves he sees his world seemingly veering back towards primordial chaos. Throughout his work Ovid seeks to depict the vast heterogeneity of the world, its creation and destruction, and the interconnection between humans and their unstable environment. This book explores how Ovid turns to philosophy, and especially the dialogues of Plato, to find meaning in a world that is fluid, uncertain, and dangerous. Rather than seeking recourse in an exact science of knowledge or a world of Forms beyond the here and now, Ovid sets himself apart from the philosophers. Instead, he highlights the limits of philosophy to capture the changing nature of reality and realigns the boundaries between poetry and science so as to create a more suitable medium for representing our entanglement with this complex world.

List of illustrations
Preface and acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Chaos and creation
3. Turbulent worlds: Phaethon and the flood
4. Janus and the many worlds
5. Archimedes and the model universe
6. Pythagoras, the early lives
7. The philosophy of desire
8. The exile of philosophy
9. The afterlife of ovid and plato
General index
Index of passages discussed
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1]