• PugJesus@piefed.socialOPM
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    2 months ago

    Explanation: The ancient Roman poet Ovid, after pissing off his patron, the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, earned himself an exile to the provinces. Specifically, to a small town in what-is-now Romania. Ovid found the punishment to be overwhelming, and would write constantly of his suffering in such a place, his yearning for Rome, and how the provinces had ruined his creative genius by their oppressive, crushing atmosphere of inescapable barbarism!

    In Ovid’s defense, he was a legitimately talented writer, and his exile would last until his death about a decade later. I’m sure being put under effective house arrest in a rural backwater where almost no one even speaks his language was trying.

    • msfroh@lemmy.ca
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      2 months ago

      He was exiled to Constanța, so he at least had the beach. Sure, it’s a bit of a kitschy tourist trap, but there are plenty of parties.