P. Ovidii Nasonis Heroidum Epistulae III (Briseis Achilli) et V (Oenone Paridi)

The Heroides are the most poorly transmitted text of Ovid’s Corpus. It has been clearly shown in the academic field that all the manuscripts available to us descend from a single archetype, copied some time between the 8th and the 9th century from an ancient codex. Therefore, there’s no chance of discerning clear relations between the manuscripts, which can only be organized by age: a single codex antiquissimus from the 9th century (closest to the archetype) with a few potiores from the 11th and 12th and a large group of hundreds of recentiores. Moreover, the complete text of all the 21 Epistulae is only attested in the first print editions, while the medieval manuscripts are filled with lacunae. Because of this peculiar situation many efforts and contributions have been made to revise the tradition and examine the text, but a full critical edition with commentary is still wanting in the field of classical philology. This thesis consists in a critical edition of the epistles III (Briseis to Achilles) and V (Oenone to Paris), with a general introduction, original translation and philological-exegetical commentary. Its main objectives are: (i) to review the most ancient manuscripts and a representative group of recentiores to give a rich and thorough account on the state of these two Heroides’ transmission, (ii) to give a clearly readable text, both in latin and Italian, with a reliable apparatus criticus, (iii) to discuss philological and exegetical problems emerged in the fases of recensio and emendatio and to give proper reasons for the choices made in the latter, (iv) to examine and select relevant bibliography concerning the Heroides in general and these particular epistles.