Héroïdes

The Heroides, or Heroines, is a collection of Latin verse letters written in the voices of women from myth and legend, mostly addressed to lovers or husbands who have left them or are far away. Penelope, Dido, Medea, Ariadne and others speak in their own words about longing, anger and abandonment. Ovid gives familiar stories a new angle by letting the women tell their side. The letters are rhetorical and psychologically sharp, and the book influenced later writing on female voices and heroic tales.