Entrare a Troia, fuggire dalla spelonca. Odisseo al passaggio di soglia nel simulacro animale

When it comes to Odysseus’ exploits, the most famous are entering Troy and escaping from Polyphemus’ cave, both showing many possible similarities. One of these, insufficiently addressed by the scholars, concerns the crossing of a forbidden threshold, an action made possible by the presence of an animal or its simulacrum. This paper focuses therefore on the key function played by the animal disguise in the two mirror episodes of Odysseus entering Troy on a wooden horse and escaping from the Cyclops’ cave by hiding under a ram’s belly. Along with the examination of the ancient sources, the comparison with folkloric texts offers a privileged viewpoint to investigate the links between Odysseus, the forbidden threshold, and the animal. By re-examining the two tales in the light of their ancient and folkloric parallels, re-evaluated in an updated framework, a new perspective on the exploits of Ulysses and their actualisation in the Homeric poems emerges, with a lot of heuristic potential.