Nonnus of Panopolis ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Νόννος ὁ Πανοπολίτης , Nónnos ho Panopolítēs , fl. 5th century CE) was the most notable Greek epic poet of the Imperial Roman era . He was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian Thebaid and probably lived in the 5th century CE. He is known as the composer of the Dionysiaca , an epic tale of the god Dionysus , and of the Metabole , a paraphrase of the Gospel of John . The epic Dionysiaca describes the life of Dionysus, his expedition to India, and his triumphant return. It was written in Homeric Greek and in dactylic hexameter , and it consists of 48 books at 20,426 lines.
7-517: Nonnus ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Νόννος , Nónnos ) usually refers to Nonnus of Panopolis, a Hellenized Egyptian who wrote the longest-surviving epic poem from antiquity, the Dionysiaca . Nonnus may also refer to: Nonnus There is almost no evidence for the life of Nonnus. It is known that he was a native of Panopolis ( Akhmim ) in Upper Egypt from his naming in manuscripts and
14-601: A "recent author". He is sometimes conflated with St Nonnus from the hagiographies of St Pelagia and with Nonnus , the bishop of Edessa who attended the Council of Chalcedon , both of whom seem to have been roughly contemporary, but these associations are probably mistaken. Nonnus's principal work is the 48-book epic Dionysiaca , the longest surviving poem from classical antiquity . It has 20,426 lines composed in Homeric Greek and dactylic hexameters ,
21-438: Is an acquired taste for a modern reader. His versification invites attention: writing in hexameters he uses a higher proportion of dactyls and less elision than earlier poets; this plus his subtle use of alliteration and assonance gives his verse a unique musicality. His Paraphrase of John ( Metabolḕ toû katà Iōánnēn Euaggelíou ) also survives. Its timing is a debated point: textual analysis seems to suggest that it preceded
28-465: The Dionysiaca while some scholars feel it unlikely that a converted Christian would have gone on to devote so much work to the Dionysiaca ’s pagan themes. The terminus post quem for its composition is the commentary on the Gospel of John written by Cyril of Alexandria (i.e. 425–428), since the theological layer of Nonnus' Paraphrase is clearly dependent on it. A more difficult issue is to determine
35-455: The main subject of which is the life of Dionysus , his expedition to India, and his triumphant return. The poem is to be dated to the 5th century. It used to be considered of poor literary quality, but a mass of recent writing (most notably in the Budé edition and commentary on the poem in 18 volumes) has demonstrated that it shows consummate literary skill, even if its distinctly baroque extravagance
42-471: The reference in epigram 9.198 of the Palatine Anthology . Scholars have generally dated him from the end of the 4th to the central years of the 5th century CE. He must have lived after the composition of Claudian 's Greek Gigantomachy (i.e., after 394–397) as he appears to be familiar with that work. Agathias Scholasticus seems to have followed him, with a mid-6th-century reference to him as
49-574: The terminus ante quem. Perhaps it is the time of the composition of Pseudo-Apollinaris' Metaphrase of the Psalms (c. 460), which seems to refer to Nonnus' poem. A complete and updated bibliography of Nonnus scholarship may be found at Hellenistic Bibliography's page at Google Sites. Editions and translations of the Dionysiaca include: Editions and translations of the Paraphrase include: A team of (mainly Italian) scholars are now re-editing
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