Immagini della donna nello pseudo-ovidiano De vetula

This study examines the female stereotypes presented in the pseudo- Ovidian poem De vetula (The old woman). These symbolize thesocial status of the woman, namely the unmarried, the bride and the widow, as well as her relation to age, namely the young, the mature and the old woman. These female figures, to which the figure of the eunuch is added, play a specific role in the process of maturation and conversion narrated by the poet, who passes from the pleasures of the flesh to the pleasures of the intellect, up to his final conversion to the Christian faith. The Ovidian conversion has its theological culmination in the astrological description of the figure/sign of the Virgin Mother as an emblem of resurrection and redemption of humanity.