Deifications and Catasterisms in Ovid’s Fasti

The paper examines the passages about deification and catasterism in Ovid’s Fasti. Three groups of figures that acquire divine nature are identified: Greek mythological characters, Roman or romanized mythological characters, and historical figures. It is shown that only figures not related to the Roman world become constellations; that the deification process is normally barely described; and that, on the whole, the Roman or romanized figures are presented in a more varied and complex way than the Greek ones. Special stress is laid on Caesar and Romulus, key figures in Augustan ideology. In fact, it is argued that Ovid follows substantially Augustan ideology, although ambiguities exist, all the more so because deification in the Fasti is part of a literary system, that is to say part of a fictional world.