Costellazioni sfuggenti. Ad Ov. Fasti V, 493-598

Book V of the Ovidian Fasti includes also a reference cameo (493-598), in which an allusion to the constellation of Orion is placed (493-494): the atypical way in which the poet refers to it, a unicum within the work, allows and requires a comprehensive reflection on the reasons for this apparent anomaly. This article aims to place the passage in question in a broader context (in particular by relating Book V to Book III) and to propose some analytical perspectives and an original reading of the reasons why the poet chose to introduce the constellation of Orion and to provide, at least in part, an explanation for his catasterism.