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Dionysiaca
epic by Nonnus
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discussed in biography
- In Nonnus
His chief work is the Dionysiaca, a hexameter poem in 48 books; its main subject, submerged in a chaos of by-episodes, is the expedition of the god Dionysus to India. Nonnus’ fertile inventiveness and felicitous descriptive fantasy, which are well served by a unique command of the language and his…
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Greek literature
- In Greek literature: Nonliturgical poetry
His long poem Dionysiaca was composed in Homeric language and metre, but it reads as an extended panegyric on Dionysus rather than as an epic. Nonnus is plausibly credited with a paraphrase, in similar metre and style, of the Gospel According to St. John, thereby fusing classical and…
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