There is almost no evidence for the life of Nonnus. It is known that he was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) inUpper Egypt from his naming in manuscripts and the reference in epigram 9.198 of thePalatine Anthology.[a] Scholars have generally dated him from the end of the 4th to the central years of the 5th century AD. He must have lived after the composition ofClaudian's GreekGigantomachy (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 a "recent author".[3][4]
Nonnus's principal work is the 48-bookepicDionysiaca, the longest surviving poem fromclassical antiquity.[6] It has 20,426 lines composed inHomeric Greek anddactylic hexameters, the main subject of which is the life ofDionysus, 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 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.
HisParaphrase ofJohn (Metabolḕ toû katà Iōánnēn Euaggelíou) also survives. Its timing is a debated point: textual analysis seems to suggest that it preceded theDionysiaca while some scholars feel it unlikely that a converted Christian would have gone on to devote so much work to theDionysiaca’s pagan themes.[7][8] The terminus post quem for its composition is the commentary on the Gospel of John written byCyril of Alexandria (i.e. 425–428), since the theological layer of Nonnus'Paraphrase is clearly dependent on it.[9] A more difficult issue is to determine 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.[10]
A complete and updated bibliography of Nonnus scholarship may be found at Hellenistic Bibliography's page at Google Sites.[11]
Editions and translations of theDionysiaca include:
Bilingual Greek-English edition (initial introduction, some explanatory notes): W. H. D. Rouse (1940), Nonnos, Dionysiaca, With an English Translation by W. H. D. Rouse, Mythological Introduction and Notes by H. J. Rose, Notes on Text Criticism by L. R. Lind, 3 vols., Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge (Ma.)
Bilingual Greek-French edition (with introduction to the individual books and notes): F. Vian (general ed.) (1976–2006), Nonnos de Panopolis, Les Dionysiaques, 19 volumes, Paris
Bilingual Greek-Italian edition (with introductions and notes): D. Gigli Piccardi (general ed.) (2003–4), Nonno di Panopoli, Le Dionisiache, BUR, Milano
Nonno di Panopoli, Le Dionisiache, a cura di D. del Corno, traduzione di M. Maletta, note de F. Tissoni, 2 vols, Milano 1997.
F. Tissoni, Nonno di Panopoli, I Canti di Penteo (Dionisiache 44–46). Commento, Firenze 1998
Editions and translations of theParaphrase include:
Translation into English: Sherry, L.F., The Hexameter Paraphrase of St. John Attributed to Nonnus of Panopolis: Prolegomenon and Translation (Ph.D. dissertation; Columbia University, 1991).
Translation in English: Prost, Mark Anthony. Nonnos of Panopolis, The Paraphrase of the Gospel of John. Translated from the Greek by M.A.P. Ventura, CA: The Writing Shop Press, 2006
The last complete edition of the Greek text: Nonni Panopolitani Paraphrasis S. Evangelii Joannei edidit Augustinus Scheindler, accedit S. Evangelii textus et index verborum, Lipsiae in aedibus Teubneri 1881
A team of (mainly Italian) scholars are now re-editing the text, book by book, with ample introductions and notes. Published so far:
C. De Stefani (2002), Nonno di Panopoli: Parafrasi del Vangelo di S. Giovanni, Canto I, Bologna
E. Livrea (2000), Nonno di Panopoli, Parafrasi del Vangelo di S. Giovanni, Canto B, Bologna
M. Caprara (2006), Nonno di Panopoli, Parafrasi del Vangelo di S. Giovanni, Canto IV, Pisa
G. Agosti (2003), Nonno di Panopoli, Parafrasi del Vangelo di S. Giovanni, Canto V, Firenze
R. Franchi (2013), Nonno di Panopoli. Parafrasi del Vangelo di S. Giovanni: canto sesto, Bologna
K. Spanoudakis (2014), Nonnus of Panopolis. Paraphrase of the Gospel of John XI, Oxford
C. Greco (2004), Nonno di Panopoli, Parafrasi del Vangelo di S. Giovanni, canto XIII, Alessandria
E. Livrea (1989), Nonno di Panopoli, Parafrasi del Vangelo di S. Giovanni, Canto XVIII, Napoli
D. Accorinti (1996), Nonno di Panopoli, Parafrasi del Vangelo di S. Giovanni, Canto XX, Pisa
^On the references to Egypt in the poem, see D. Gigli Piccardi (1998), “Nonno e l’Egitto”, Prometheus 24, 61-82 and 161-81. Enrico Livrea has proposed the identification of the poet with the Syrian bishop of Edessa of the same name.[2]
Accorinti, Domenico. ed. 2016.Brill’s Companion to Nonnus of Panopolis. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill.
Doroszewski, Filip. 2022.Orgies of Words. Mystery Terminology in the Paraphrase of St. John’s Gospel. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter.
Geisz, Camille. 2018.A Study of the Narrator in Nonnus of Panopolis’ Dionysiaca. Storytelling in Late Antique Epic. Leiden, The Netherlands, and Boston: Brill.
Hollis, Adrian S. 1994. "Nonnus and Hellenistic Poetry." InStudies in the Dionysiaca of Nonnus. Edited byNeil Hopkinson, 43–62. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Philological Society.
Matzner, Sebastian. 2008. "Christianizing the Epic—Epicizing Christianity. Nonnus. Paraphrasis and the Old-Saxon Heliand in a Comparative Perspective: A study in the Poetics of Acculturation."Millennium 5:111–145.
Miguélez Cavero, Laura. 2008.Poems in Context: Poetry in the Egyptian Thebaid 200–600 AD. Berlin: De Gruyter.
Shorrock, Robert. 2005. "Nonnus." InA Companion to Ancient Epic. Edited by John Miles Fowley, 374–385. Oxford: Blackwell.
Shorrock, Robert. 2001.The Challenge of Epic. Allusive Engagement in the Dionysiaca of Nonnus. Leiden: Brill.
Spanoudakis, Konstantinos. 2007. "Icarius Jesus Christ? Dionysiac Passion and Biblical Narrative in Nonnus’ Icarius Episode (Dion. 47, 1–264)."Wiener Studien 120:35–92.
Spanoudakis, Konstantinos, ed. 2014.Nonnus of Panopolis in Context: Poetry and Cultural Milieu in Late Antiquity with a Section on Nonnus and the Modern World. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter.
Van Opstall, Emilie. 2014. "The Golden Flower of Youth: Baroque Metaphors in Nonnus and Marino."Classical Receptions Journal 6:446–470.
Whitby, Mary. 2007. "The Bible Hellenised: Nonnus’ Paraphrase of St John's Gospel and ‘Eudocia’s’ Homeric Centos." InTexts and Culture in Late Antiquity: Inheritance, Authority, and Change. Edited by J. H. D. Scourfield, 195–231. Swansea, UK: The Classical Press of Wales.
