Who is Ovid & his Persona from The Erotic Poems and what is their importance?

Ovid is the poet. There is a great deal of discussion during the introductory material about Ovid and the theory of the persona. The persona is a peculiar reality. It would be false to say that an individual's persona is not their real self, except that there can be times when this is the case. In general the persona is like an artifice but of one's true self. To use costumes as an example, one might make a mask or a caricature of someone. When the persona is used, one dresses up in a costume and mask or expresses through caricature oneself instead of someone else.