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The Aeneid was then written in a time of great political and cultural change, as the established political order is replaced by an emperor. Ovid himself states, “...and the exiled Aeneas, the beginnings of lofty Rome: no Latin work is more famous.” (Ovid. Ars Amatoria. 3.337-38. in Solodow 110) He shows that to many, and certainly in his mind, the Aeneid is a fundamental text to the Romans. This is because any text that becomes vastly famous in a culture not only adds to that culture, but shows aspects of the culture through the fact that it is famous. This is because a famous work becomes famous through the citizens’ widespread enjoyment of the work; and this can only happen if it strikes a resonant chord with its audience. So this means that by changing the establishing ideas within the work of the Aeneid Ovid is subtly trying to present a change to the ideas of the common public in Rome. Jupiter in particular, as the king of the gods, would have been seen as to have unchangeable decrees and be one of the only beings to make fundamental statements about the way the world
