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Nonnus of Panopolis

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Nonnus of Panopolis was a Greek epic poet. He was a native of Panopolis in the Egyptian Thebaid, and probably lived at the end of the 4th or early 5th century. He is known as the composer of the Dionysiaca, an epic tale of the god Dionysus, and the Metabole, a paraphrase of the Gospel of John.

There is almost no evidence for the life of Nonnus. It is known that he was a native of Panopolis in Upper Egypt, by his naming in manuscripts. Scholars have generally dated him from the end of the 4th to the early part of the 5th century AD. He must have lived after a poem of Claudian's which he appears to be familiar with , but before Agathias Scholasticus' reference to him as a "recent author." . He is known chiefly for his 48-book poem the Dionysiaca, the longest surviving poem in Greek from antiquity . A poetic paraphrase of the Gospel of John, the Metabole is attributed to him as well, which is thought by certain verbal echoes to have been composed after the Dionysiaca. At least two other works by Nonnus are lost. Only four lines of the Bassarica have been preserved in a commentary by Stephanus of Byzantium, and according to an epigram in the Palatine Anthology , Nonnus was the author of a work titled the Battle of the Giants.

Also surviving is his paraphrase of the Gospel of John, which is chiefly interesting as an indication of Nonnus' apparent conversion to Christianity in his later years. The style is not inferior to that of his epic. A team of Italian scholars is currently producing a full commentary of the poem, book by book, of which several parts have already been published. They have shown that Nonnus was as learned in Christian theology as in pagan myth. That a learned Christian poem and a synthesis of Greek myths could come from the same pen continues to intrigue.

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Nonnus of Panopolis

Nonnus of Panopolis

Books from Nonnus of Panopolis

Dionysiaca, Books 1-15 (Loeb Classical Library, #344)

Dionysiaca, Books 36-48 (Loeb Classical Library, #356)

Le Dionisiache Vol. I: Canti 1-12

Le Dionisiache Vol. II: Canti 13-24

Le Dionisiache Vol. III: Canti 25-36

Le Dionisiache Vol. IV (Canti XL-XLVIII)

Dionisiacas Vol. 4 (XXXVII-XLVIII)

Nonnos Dionysiaca, Vol. 2 of 3: With an English Translation; Books XVI-XXXV (Classic Reprint)

Dionysiaca, Books 16-35 (Loeb Classical Library, #354)

Complete Dionysiaca of Nonnus

Les Dionysiaques: Tome II: Chants III-V.

Complete Works of Nonnus

Le Dionisiache Vol. IV: Canti 37-48

Complete Dionysiaca of Nonnus

Nonnos of Panopolis: The Paraphrase of the Gospel of John

Les Dionysiaques: Tome I: Chants I Et II.

Les Dionysiaques: Chant Xlvii: 17 (Collection Des Universites de France,) (French Edition)