The volume provides a full literary and textual commentary on three of the verse epistles (Heroides) by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC. – AD. 17): the letter of Canace to her brother-lover Macareus; of Laodamia to the war-hero Protesilaus; and of Hypermestra to Lynceus, the cousin whose life she recently spared. These three poems, together with the letters of Medea (recently the subject of a commentary in the same series) and Sappho, formed the last of Ovid’s three books of heroine letters. The introduction discusses Ovid’s innovative use both of his sources and of the epistolary form. A text with selective apparatus is provided for each of the three poems, and the detailed commentary is fully indexed.

Heroidum Epistulae XIII is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1896. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

The text of Ovid's Metamorphoses is not as indisputably established as one might think. Many passages are still obscure or plainly corrupt. 550 manuscripts, 500 editions and reprints, as well as countless critical notes and works must be taken into account when trying to establish the most reliable text for new generations of readers. This volume provides a detailed line-by-line analysis of Book XIII and offers thereby an indispensable starting point for a new critical edition not only of this but also of other parts of the poem.