Nonnus of Panopolis (5th c. AD), the most important Greek poet of Late Antiquity, is best known for his Dionysiaca, a grand epic that gathers together all myths associated with Dionysus, god of wine and mysteries. The poet also authored the Paraphrase of St. John’s Gospel which renders the Fourth Gospel into sophisticated hexameter verse. This volume, edited by Filip Doroszewski and Katarzyna Jażdżewska, brings together twenty-six essays by eminent scholars that discuss Nonnus’ cultural and literary background, the literary techniques and motifs used by the poet, as well as the composition of the Dionysiaca and the exegetical principles applied in the Paraphrase. As such, the book will significantly deepen our understanding of literary culture and religion in Late Antiquity.

Table of Contents:
Preface List of Figures Notes on Contributors Introduction: Solved and Still Unsolved Issues about Nonnus and His Works  Gennaro D’Ippolito Part 1 Nonnus and the Literary Tradition 1 “Breaking the Fourth Wall”: On Literariness and Metalepsis in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca  Berenice Verhelst 2 Junctures of Epic and Encomium in the Dionysiaca: The Episode of Staphylos  Laura Miguélez-Cavero 3 Aura’s Metamorphosis in the Dionysiaca of Nonnus: A Tale of Classical Resonances and Christian Imagery  Anna Lefteratou 4 I Had Only an Untimely Love: The Ephebic ‘Epyllia’ of Dionysiaka 10–11  Benjamin Acosta-Hughes 5 Nonnus’ Dionysiaca and the Latin Tradition: The Episode of Ampelus  Katerina Carvounis and Sophia Papaioannou 6 Nonnus and Coptic Literature: Further Explorations  Gianfranco Agosti Part 2 Literary Structure and Motifs in the Dionysiaca 7 Visualizing Actaeon: The Motif of Recognition in Nonnus’ Treatment of the Metamorphosis  A. Sophie Schoess 8 Structure and Meaning through Analogy: Remarks on the Use of Spatial Form in the Dionysiaca  Camille Geisz 9 Some Aspects of Nonnus’ Poetics: Antitypical Poetry in the Dionysiaca  Nestan Egetashvili 10 Ἁρμονίη κόσμου and ἁρμονίη ἀνδρῶν: On the Different Concepts of Harmony in the Dionysiaca of Nonnus  Marta Otlewska-Jung 11 The Awakening of Ariadne in Nonnus: A Deliberate Metaphor  David Hernández de la Fuente 12 Female Characterization and Gender Reversal in Nonnus and Colluthus  Cosetta Cadau 13 Empowered Effeminacy? The Inversion of Gender Norms in the Episodes of Europa and Cadmus  Fotini Hadjittofi Part 3 Exegesis through Paraphrase 14 Ἀληθείῃ καὶ πνεύματι (Par. 4.114): Some Doctrinal Issues in Nonnus’ Paraphrase and Their Theological Implications  Roberta Franchi 15 Nonnus and the Book  Jane Lucy Lightfoot 16 Shepherding the Past: Nonnus’ Parable of the Good Shepherd between Pagan Models and Christian Exegesis  Margherita Maria di Nino and Maria Ypsilanti 17 Amplification in Juvencus’ Evangeliorum Libri iv and in Nonnus’ Μεταβολὴ τοῦ κατὰ Ιωάννην ἁγίου εὐαγγελίου  Michael Paschalis 18 Presentation of Biblical Figures in Poetic Paraphrase: John the Baptist and Pontius Pilate in Nonnus’ Paraphrase of St. John’s Gospel  Laura Franco and Maria Ypsilanti Part 4 Nonnus and Late Antique Culture 19 Sacrificing a Serpent: Nonnus’ Dionysiaca 2.671–679 and the Orphic Lithica 736–744  Ewa Osek 20 The Mystic Reception of Theocritus in Late Antiquity  Konstantinos Spanoudakis 21 Sites and Cities in Late Antique Literature: Athens, Berytus, and Cultural Self-Identification in the Dionysiaca of Nonnus of Panopolis  Nicole Kröll Part 5 Reception of Nonnus 22 An Unknown “Nonnian” Poet: John of Memphis  Enrico Magnelli 23 Nonnus, Christodorus, and the Epigrams of George of Pisidia  Mary Whitby 24 Photius, the Suda, and Eustathius: Eloquent Silences and Omissions in the Reception of Nonnus’ Work in Byzantine Literature  Domenico Accorinti 25 Boom Years of Nonnian Studies? On the Reception of Nonnus in Germany (1880–1976)  Fabian Sieber Index