Ovid unter den Skythen

Ovid among the Scythians

The poet Ovid was banished from Rome by the Emperor Augustus in AD8. He went into exile along the Black Sea among the Scythian people. Here, some of them examine the poet with curiosity; others offer wild fruit and the milk of a mare. As Delacroix knew, the Romans believed that the Scythians fed on mares' milk.