Ovid employs what may be called « poetic syncretism » to make an ideologically powerful statement about both the Roman calendar and the divinities it embraces.
In incorporating into his « Fasti » narratives concerning the coming of various gods to Rome (e.g., Cybele, 4, 181-186 and 249-260 ; Venus Erycina, 4, 871-876) and the origins of a number of rituals (e.g., that of the foxtail at 4, 683-690), Ovid takes advantage of patterns of thought already embedded in ancient systems of mythical and religious discourse to create a distinctively Roman religious narrative tradition.
