L’ispirazione ovidiana della preghiera a Giano di Settimio Sereno (fr. 23 Bl.).

Septimius Serenus’ invocation to Ianus (fr. 23 Bl.) draws inspiration from the episode of Ianus at the beginning of Ovid’s Fasti, but is written in a rare meter of Callimachean origin. In this way Serenus ‘miniaturizes’ both the antiquarian and the hellenistic component of the episode, showing a learned reading of his model. On the other hand, after Martial’s ‘updating’ celebration of four-faced Ianus’ new temple, Serenus’ verses, which render due importance to the original sacellum of the two-faced god by recovering the Ovidian etiological subject, are in full accord with the archaizing tendency of the so-called poetae novelli, a movement he belongs to. This paper concludes with some hypotheses on the function of the prayer to Ianus in Serenus’ Opuscula.