Sulle orme di Ercole: modelli epici a confronto tra Ovidio e Petronio

The article aims to explore the connections between the fifteenth book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the Bellum civile sung by Eumolpus in Petronius’ Satyricon. Not only structural and thematic analogies, but also the recurrence of key-figures such as Hercules and Caesar support the thesis of a very close link between the two texts. Eventually, it will be shown that Ovid’s Metamorphoses represent for Petronius both an important model and «anti-model» in the construction of an epic poem which only apparently takes side against Lucan’s Pharsalia.