Elementi comico-parodici nella tradizione del mito di Europa e il toro: dall’epigramma ellenistico all’epica tardo-antica

In the tradition of the myth of Europa and the bull it is possible to find several comic elements, aiming to ridicule the degradation of Zeus turned into a bull for love of a mortal and the possible humiliating consequences of the metamorphosis suffered by the father of the Gods, subordinated to the devastating power of Eros and possibly exposed to the danger of being subjected to the yoke of the plow. These parodic elements are fully developed in the versions of the myth proposed in the Hellenistic, Imperial and Late Antique Greek Literature, in different genres such as the epigram (AP 5, 109, 125, 257; 9, 48, 453; APl. 200), the novel (Ach. Tat. 1, 2-13; 2, 1), the dialogue (Luc., Dial. deor. 6, Jup. trag. 2, 6-9), the epic poem (Nonn., Dion. 1, 48, 80, 326-336)