As práticas amorosas das mulheres romanas na corte de Augusto em Ars Amatoria, de Ovídio (séc. I d.C.)

Abstract

In this dissertation, we analyze the different patterns of female intimacy described by the Latin poet Publius Ovidius Naso. Our study investigates how these women managed their romantic relationships within the context of everyday Roman life, using the work Ars Amatoria, written between the years 1 and 2 A.D., as the main document. The research focuses on the second half of the 1st century B.C. and the early part of the following century, a period during which Augustus established the Principate and implemented an ethical reform program in Roman society. The objective was to understand the seduction tactics that Ovid presents for the different female types (puella, femina, mulier, amicae, and dominae) and how these might have influenced the romantic lives of Roman matrons. The theoretical approach is based on Cultural History, emphasizing the concepts of tactics, strategies, space, and place developed by Michel de Certeau. The methodology adopted was Content Analysis. We conclude that Ovid employed narrative tactics to describe female love practices of women in Rome, revealing how these women found meaning and navigation in a world dominated by masculine power structures. By recording the patterns of intimacy of Roman women on a practical level, his poem demonstrates that they were able to subvert established norms that placed them in a position of inferiority, gaining the right to choose, conquer, and maintain their clandestine loves, which made them strategic targets of the ethical legislation enacted by Augustus during his reign.