The Egyptian Nonnus of Panopolis (5th century AD), author of both the ‘pagan’ Dionysiaca, the longest known poem from Antiquity (21,286 lines in 48 books, the same number of books as the Iliad and Odyssey combined), and a ‘Christian’ hexameter Paraphrase of St John’s Gospel (3,660 lines in 21 books), is no doubt the most representative poet of Greek Late Antiquity. Brill’s Companion to Nonnus of Panopolis provides a collection of 32 essays by a large international group of scholars, experts in the field of archaic, Hellenistic, Imperial, and Christian poetry, as well as scholars of late antique Egypt, Greek mythology and religion, who explore the various aspects of Nonnus’ baroque poetry and its historical, religious and cultural background.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations List of Illustrations List of Contributors Introduction: Becoming A Classic Domenico Accorinti Part 1 - Author, Context, and Religion 1 The Poet from Panopolis: An Obscure Biography and a Controversial Figure Domenico Accorinti 2 Nonnus’ Panopolis Peter van Minnen 3 The Religious Background of Nonnus Jitse H.F. Dijkstra Part 2 – The Dionysiaca 4 Nonnus and Dionysiac-Orphic Religion Alberto Bernabe and Rosa Garcia-Gasco 5 The Poet of Dionysus: Birth of the Last among the Gods Pierre Chuvin 6 Major Themes and Motifs in the Dionysiaca Fotini Hadjittofi 7 Minor Characters in the Dionysiaca Berenice Verhelst 8 Narrative and Digression in the Dionysiaca Camille Geisz 9 The Psychology in the Dionysiaca Ronald F. Newbold Part 3 – The Paraphrase of St John’s Gospel 10 Nonnus and Biblical Epic Mary Whitby 11 Approaching the ‘Spiritual Gospel’: Nonnus as Interpreter of John Roberta Franchi 12 Nonnus’ Paraphrastic Technique: A Case Study of Self-Recognition in John 9 Scott Fitzgerald Johnson 13 Nonnus and Christian Literature Christos Simelidis 14 Nonnus’ Christology Fabian Sieber 15 The Mystery Terminology in Nonnus’ Paraphrase Filip Doroszewski Part 4 - Metre, Style, Poetry, and Visual Arts 16 The Nonnian Hexameter Enrico Magnelli 17 Nonnus’ Conventional Formulaic Style Gennaro D’Ippolito 18 Nonnus and the Play of Genres Anna Maria Lasek 19 Nonnus’ Poetics Daria Gigli Piccardi 20 Nonnus and the Poetry of Ekphrasis in the Dionysiaca Riemer A. Faber 21 Nonnus and the Art of Late Antiquity Troels Myrup Kristensen Part 5 - Nonnus and the Classical Tradition 22 Nonnus and the Homeric Poems Herbert Bannert and Nicole Kroll 23 Composing the Masters: An Essay on Nonnus and Hellenistic Poetry Benjamin Acosta-Hughes 24 Nonnus and Imperial Greek Poetry Calum Alasdair Maciver 25 Nonnus and the Novel Laura Miguelez-Cavero Part 6 - An Interpretation of Nonnus’ Work 26 Christian Themes in the Dionysiaca Robert Shorrock 27 Pagan Themes in the Paraphrase Konstantinos Spanoudakis 28 Nonnus and Prophecy: Between ‘Pagan’ and ‘Christian’ Voices Jane L. Lightfoot 29 Nonnus and Late Antique Society Gianfranco Agosti Part 7 - The Transmission and Reception of Nonnus’ Poems 30 Brief Notes on the Manuscript Tradition of Nonnus’ Works Claudio De Stefani 31 The Reception of Nonnus in Late Antiquity, Byzantine, and Renaissance Literature Francesco Tissoni 32 The Influence of Nonnus on Baroque and Modern Literature David Hernandez de la Fuente Bibliography General Index Index of Principal Nonnian Passages