Ovidio, Arato e i Catasterismi. Mitologia astrale nei Fasti

Astral mythology is one of the basic themes which concur to shape the poetical programme of Ovid’s Fasti, since such mythological tales are often introduced by the poet to provide an aition for the catasterism (transformation into a star) of various constellations mentioned in his calendrical poem. In this paper I examine some of the catasterism myths included in the Fasti, in order to illustrate their intertextual relationship with the two main Greek literary models used by Ovid: Aratus’ Phaenomena and Eratosthenes’ Catasterismi. In particular, I aim at highlighting the allusive plays set up by Ovid with Aratus’ astronomical poem, but also the importance of Eratosthenes’ mythographical handbook not just as a source of mythological information, but also as a true intertext.