Epistulae ex Ponto
Epistulae ex Ponto is a work of Ovid, in four books. It is especially important for our knowledge of Scythia Minor in his time.
Like the poems of books 3–5 of the Tristia, these describe the rigors of his exile and plead for leniency; they differ only by being addressed to individuals by name. The individuals named include Paullus Fabius Maximus, Sextus Pompeius, and the brothers Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus and Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus. Ovid's hopes rested largely on the genial character of Germanicus, nephew and adopted son of the emperor Tiberius, who is addressed or mentioned in several places.
He acknowledges the Empress Livia as a potential ally to return home, describing her like a Vestal Virgin “pudicarum Vesta matrum”, “Vesta of chaste matrons”
