Orione in Euforione: a proposito di Euph. frg. 101 Powell

In a mythographic scholion to Homer’s Iliad is reported the story of the birth, death and catasterism of the mythical hero Orion, with the attribution to the hellenistic poet Euphorion of Chalcis (frg. 101 Powell). However, a closer consideration of the narrative found in the scholion shows that this is in reality derived, perhaps via an ancient commentary to Aratus’ Phaenomena (where the same story of Orion’s death and catasterism is narrated for the first time), from Eratosthenes’ Catasterismi, a mythographical handbook, now lost in its original form, probably conceived as a parallel text to Aratus’ poem. The evidence provided by the homeric scholion cannot therefore be considered totally reliable, and does not allow to establish with absolute certainty whether and how Euphorion treated the myth of Orion.