[DAUGHTERS OF SUN. MANIA, MELANCHOLY AND LOVE SICKNESS IN ANCIENT MYTH AND SCIENTIFIC SOURCES]

Ancient medical and philosophical sources do not discuss the etiology of lovesickness, simply cataloguing its symptoms. The 'informal' connection between black bile and lovesickness turns, in later texts, into a disease in whick black bile overheats, changing its nature (in CH it is a cold and dry element), burning and producing smoke. The article analyze this 'ontological' changement; the Pseudoaristotelian Problema XXX can help in reconstructing the sense of the mythological stories of Pasiphae, Medea, Ariadne and Phaedra, women bound by a close family relationship.