Transmediality and the Goddess Vesta in Ovid’s Fasti

This essay argues that in the Fasti Ovid expands Vesta’s transmedial world while alluding to the influence of different prosumers in shaping her character. Rather than prioritizing an Augustan version of Vesta that would suit a “transmedia” program, Ovid alludes to how multiple prosumers have contributed to varying representations of her across media through more broadly participatory “transmedial” storytelling. Ovid acknowledges varying interpretations of the goddess by different prosumers and does not imply a hierarchy that would give precedence to a dominant model for Vesta. Instead, he preserves differing popular conceptions of her while growing her transmedial world.