The Heroides are the third work in chronological order by Publius Ovidius Naso, coming after the Amores and the lost tragedy Medea. The grammarian Priscian (Gramm. Lat. 2.544 Keil) mentions the work as Heroides, which is perhaps the title given by the poet (or Heroidum liber). However, at Ars 3.345 Ovid refers to this work using the term “Epistula: vel tibi composita cantetur Epistola voce” [“Or an Epistle tunefully recite”, trans. A.D. Melville]. Perhaps the full title used by Ovid was Epistulae Heroidum, a title which fully corresponds to the first part of the collection, comprising letters by women (see below), but not to the second, which comprises letters by men as well (see below).
The work is written in elegiac couplets and consists of two parts: the first part contains fourteen verse letters supposedly...
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Citation: Michalopoulos, Andreas. "Heroïdes". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 May 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4766, accessed 09 June 2026.]
