Numa in Augustan Poetry

Abstract

In light of important recent work on reflections of the regal period in Augustan poetry, this chapter looks in the main at the handling of Numa by Augustan poets and in particular at the role he plays in Ovid’s Fasti, while also adding a few remarks about Romulus, who, in general, has been the subject of much more intense study. The Ovidian Numa is shown to reveal important aspects of Roman thinking about the nature of Augustus.