The Heroides, written by Ovid some 2000 years ago, consists of a series of imaginary letters by legendary females of antiquity to their hapless lovers or husbands. The verse letters - purportedly penned by such heroines as Helen, Medea, Penelope, Dido, and Sappho - are the outpourings of women who have been cruelly victimized, yet they are written in the witty and ironic tone for which Ovid is famous. As a source of inspiration for other poets, as a model for the episotolary novel and the dramatic monologue, and as feminine footnotes to Greek prehistory, the letters have fascinated readers from Ovid's time to the present.