La trottola cosmica : da Manilio (Astronomica 3, 356-361) a Roger Caillois

A brief simile with a spinning top (turbo) occurs in a passage of Manilius’ Astronomica third book (I a. D.) to describe the cosmic rotation of the celestial sphere as it appears to a viewer staying at the North Pole. This article investigates some cultural anteced-ents of such an odd but meaningful image. Furthermore, a ludic role for this simile may be imagined, using the main categories which Roger Caillois adopted in classify-ing ludic activities of humankind.