Ovid Fasti 4 questions

1 Compare the treatments of the Rape of Persephone in Fasti 4.393-629,

Metamorphoses 5.250-678, and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. Look also at Callimachus
Aetia book 2, fr. 42 on the foundation of Sicilian Cities and Virgil Aeneid 3.548-718.
2 In what ways does Ovid exploit the aetiological dimension of his subject matter in the
Fasti?
3 The Fasti is a genuinely religious poem. Discuss.
4 The formal tension between narrative continuity and discontinuity is the central
inspiration behind the Fasti. Discuss.
5 How is the vates role exploited in the Fasti?
6 In what ways could the Fasti be described as a didactic poem?
7 Does the Fasti successfully negotiate a path between the Scylla of epic and the
Charybdis of Love Elegy?
8 To what extent Ovids Fasti does conform to our expectations of an Augustan poem on
the Roman calendar?
Supplementary Bibliography
Denis Feeney Caesars Calendar (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 2007), ch. 6.
Alessandro Barchiesi The Poet and the Prince, chapters on Syntagmatic Tensions and
Paradeigmatic Effects.