Publius Ovidius Naso ('Ovid') was born in Sulmo, now Sulmona, Italy in 43 BC, into an old gentry family. Educated for public affairs, in Rome he abandoned officialdom for poetry. He became famous for poems of erotic intrigue and betrayal, such as the Amores and the Art of Love, and wrote at least one tragedy, on Medea, now lost. His most famous work is the story-cycle of ancient myths, Metamorphoses. In 8 BC Augustus banished him to the town of Tomis on the Black Sea, citing his immoral poems. Despite many entreaties, he remained exiled until his death in AD 17.