Search results for " Callimaco"

Volucres loquentes, volucres doctae. A proposito di Ovidio, Met. 2, 531-632

2017

The raven’s black plumage has a story behind it, which Ovid, following the Callimachean Hecale, retells in met. 2, 531-632 weaving it with the crow’s vicissitudes, initially Athena’s/Minerva’s loyal servant. The combination of the respective ornithological denominations and the names of the mythical characters recalled by the two volucres loquentes reveals all the erudition showed off by the poet in writing this literary piece. Following the pattern of the talking birds, Ovid endows both the raven and the crow with human language. The latter tries to exhort the former not to tell Apollo the truth about Coronis’ infidelity. By doing so, the raven would avoid paying the penalty for being loya…