Greek Gods in Italy in Ovid's Fasti a Greater Greece

This monograph deals with Ovid's treatments of the gods in the poem, and in particular with gods who emigrate from Greece to Italy and become part of Roman religion as the poem progresses. It offers a new reading of the Fasti which focuses on four figures from Greek mythology (Saturn, Ino, Faunus, and Hercules). In the course of the poem each of them comes to Italy, and Ovid shows how each one sheds his or her Greek past to become a figure of genuine religious significance to the Roman people. These transformations suggest that the Fasti is meant to be read as an encomium of Roman religion.