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Dionysiaca, Books 1-15
Nonnos of Panopolis in Egypt, who lived in the fifth century of our era, composed the last great epic poem of antiquity. The "Dionysiaca," in 48 books, has for its chief theme the expedition of Dionysus against the Indians; but the poet contrives to include all the adventures of the god (as well as much other mythological lore) in a narrative which begins with chaos in heaven and ends with the apotheosis of Ariadne's crown. The wild ecstasy inspired by the god is certainly reflected in the poet's style, which is baroque, extravagant, and unrestrained. It seems that Nonnos was in later years converted to Christianity, for in marked contrast to the "Dionysiaca," a poem dealing unreservedly with classical myths and redolent of a pagan outlook, there is extant and ascribed to him a hexameter paraphrase of the Gospel of John.
The Loeb Classical Library edition of the "Dionysiaca" is in three volumes.
The Loeb Classical Library edition of the "Dionysiaca" is in three volumes.
576 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 400
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377 people want to read
About the author
Nonnus of Panopolis
54 books8 followersNonnus of Panopolis (Νόννος) was a Greek epic poet. He was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) 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 (Akhmim) 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 (after 394–397 AD), but before Agathias Scholasticus' reference to him as a "recent author." (before 530–580). He is known chiefly for his 48-book poem the Dionysiaca, the longest surviving poem in Greek from antiquity (it is only 7,000 lines shorter than the Iliad and Odyssey combined). 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 (also on the subject of Dionysus) have been preserved in a commentary by Stephanus of Byzantium, and according to an epigram in the Palatine Anthology (9.198), 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.
There is almost no evidence for the life of Nonnus. It is known that he was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) 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 (after 394–397 AD), but before Agathias Scholasticus' reference to him as a "recent author." (before 530–580). He is known chiefly for his 48-book poem the Dionysiaca, the longest surviving poem in Greek from antiquity (it is only 7,000 lines shorter than the Iliad and Odyssey combined). 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 (also on the subject of Dionysus) have been preserved in a commentary by Stephanus of Byzantium, and according to an epigram in the Palatine Anthology (9.198), 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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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 29, 2014
This review actually applies to the full epic, all 48 books
I did this one through an ancient classics book club which stretched it out over six months. And even at that, we moved quickly. This epic is long. Essentially, it’s the story of Dyonysus and the war he waged in India. That’s the quick sound bite. It you want to know more, it’s the Iliad and the Odyssey with a late-stage Roman flavor. As one would might expect from something like this, it had interesting parts, hysterically funny parts, and parts that put you to sleep or at least induce you to skim.
On the whole, though, unless somebody beats me to the punch, if I come back in my next life as a Classics academician, I’m going to earn tenure and a name for myself by doing a modern well-annotated translation. I’m amazed this hasn’t already been done by somebody. There’s a lot that can be learned from this. Although there is much, here that was copied from Homer, nobody would mistake this for the work of Mr. H. In fact, it could also be said that Virgil did a lot of Homer imitation in The Aeneid. But Nonnos has a lot in here that also clearly distinguishes him from Virgil. And while we know a lot about Greek culture and a lot about the Augustinian period in which Virgil lived, we don’t always have such a good sense of Rome in the latter stages, in the fifth century when the western part of the empire was moving toward life support. Comparing this epic to those of Virgil and Homer provides an intriguing window.
I only wish somebody would just get busy on a translation that is not archaic and which doesn’t suck and not sit around waiting for me to reach my next life to see if I’m able to get to it. Come on classics academicians. The university job market is tight. Wouldn’t a publishing project like this be a big plus for the resume?
I did this one through an ancient classics book club which stretched it out over six months. And even at that, we moved quickly. This epic is long. Essentially, it’s the story of Dyonysus and the war he waged in India. That’s the quick sound bite. It you want to know more, it’s the Iliad and the Odyssey with a late-stage Roman flavor. As one would might expect from something like this, it had interesting parts, hysterically funny parts, and parts that put you to sleep or at least induce you to skim.
On the whole, though, unless somebody beats me to the punch, if I come back in my next life as a Classics academician, I’m going to earn tenure and a name for myself by doing a modern well-annotated translation. I’m amazed this hasn’t already been done by somebody. There’s a lot that can be learned from this. Although there is much, here that was copied from Homer, nobody would mistake this for the work of Mr. H. In fact, it could also be said that Virgil did a lot of Homer imitation in The Aeneid. But Nonnos has a lot in here that also clearly distinguishes him from Virgil. And while we know a lot about Greek culture and a lot about the Augustinian period in which Virgil lived, we don’t always have such a good sense of Rome in the latter stages, in the fifth century when the western part of the empire was moving toward life support. Comparing this epic to those of Virgil and Homer provides an intriguing window.
I only wish somebody would just get busy on a translation that is not archaic and which doesn’t suck and not sit around waiting for me to reach my next life to see if I’m able to get to it. Come on classics academicians. The university job market is tight. Wouldn’t a publishing project like this be a big plus for the resume?
March 18, 2019
(3/18/2019) EDIT: Updating review to reflect new views.
"Many scholars believe... the military campaigns in the East and the barbaric invasions and movements of legions to the frontiers... brought great changes in the societies of the border territories. The second and third century A.D. were a period of transition... the Eastern part of the empire is closely associated with the great military campaigns and triumphs of the [pagan] Roman emperors... " -- Georgia Aristodemou, Mars Victor, Victoria, and Nemesis Invicta
I don't renounced reviews often, but there's no better way of saying it: I wrote a bad review here.
When I first encountered the DIONYSIACA, I didn't know much about the late Roman Empire, the political and religious conflicts embodied in the text, or even the background of the author himself. I saw what the epic is on its surface: a mean-spirited work with too many names, tangents, and no problems with undercutting itself at every opportunity. To an extent, I still agree with those three-year-old criticisms; it's a frustrating read. However, reading the DIONYSIACA solely on its face does a great disservice to both the work and reader in tandem.
The above quote is necessary to understanding DIONYSIACA: it's a character assassination of the heart of pagan Rome. Nonnus' version of the Eastern Imperial invasions look like the ugly and brutal actions of a blue-blooded, perpetually drunk, and allegedly divine elite cuts to the heart of the lies the Empire told about itself. The Western Roman Empire would fall within a century of the DIONYSIACA's writing, and Nonnus recorded its philosophical demise practically in real time with a parody of some of the ancient world's greatest works.
I've left the review intact under the spoiler warning. Feel free to read it at your convenience, but keep in mind that it was written by a less talented, less worldly, and less introspective reader.
"Many scholars believe... the military campaigns in the East and the barbaric invasions and movements of legions to the frontiers... brought great changes in the societies of the border territories. The second and third century A.D. were a period of transition... the Eastern part of the empire is closely associated with the great military campaigns and triumphs of the [pagan] Roman emperors... " -- Georgia Aristodemou, Mars Victor, Victoria, and Nemesis Invicta
I don't renounced reviews often, but there's no better way of saying it: I wrote a bad review here.
When I first encountered the DIONYSIACA, I didn't know much about the late Roman Empire, the political and religious conflicts embodied in the text, or even the background of the author himself. I saw what the epic is on its surface: a mean-spirited work with too many names, tangents, and no problems with undercutting itself at every opportunity. To an extent, I still agree with those three-year-old criticisms; it's a frustrating read. However, reading the DIONYSIACA solely on its face does a great disservice to both the work and reader in tandem.
The above quote is necessary to understanding DIONYSIACA: it's a character assassination of the heart of pagan Rome. Nonnus' version of the Eastern Imperial invasions look like the ugly and brutal actions of a blue-blooded, perpetually drunk, and allegedly divine elite cuts to the heart of the lies the Empire told about itself. The Western Roman Empire would fall within a century of the DIONYSIACA's writing, and Nonnus recorded its philosophical demise practically in real time with a parody of some of the ancient world's greatest works.
I've left the review intact under the spoiler warning. Feel free to read it at your convenience, but keep in mind that it was written by a less talented, less worldly, and less introspective reader.
September 17, 2023
I have read a lot of classical Greco-Roman myth. I can take a lot of dryness or spaciness.
None have rambled quite as much as this one can. It takes eight books to get to the titular protagonist. This makes me long for the dry, straight-to-the-point glorified summaries of Hyginus or Antonius Liberalis. In these fifteen books:
-Zeus is 'busy' with a nymph, Typhon stealing his weapons
-Then he decides that it's time to kidnap Europa.
-Cadmus, who is trying to find her, ends up being caught up in Zeus's scheme to get everything back.
-Cadmus distracts Typhon long enough for Zeus's plan to work.
-Now that Cadmus has serviced his purpose, Zeus hides him and defeats Typhon easily.
-Cadmus's prize is a chick (of course!) named Harmonia, a goddess.
-For two books he convinces Harmonia to marry him, then they found Thebes (the seven-gated one) and have kids. The kids have kids. Semele is unmarried because Zeus wants her for his own plans.
-Flashback: Persephone is the most marriagable bachelorette, and Zeus is in on it. She becomes pregnant with Zagreus after a mess that involves the god of astrology's horoscope of her. Zagreus is killed by the titans on Hera's command.
-A flood happens because Zeus is sad. No one likes it. Therefore, wine...
-Semele. Weird dream, sacrifices a bull because Cadmus is nervous, Zeus watches her wash off and is entranced.
-Zeus is creepy.
-Zeus gets impatient about his plan to revive Zagreus through Semele. He accuses Helios of being jealous and orders night to come faster. This works. He is at this point so... whatever you'd call creeping on a girl whose parents you matchmade and who is actively scared of you being angry (see two above) walking on euphoria and oxytocin (?) that he prefers Cadmus's palace to Olympus specifically because of the lust.
-Zeus makes a scene. He unlocks every door he needs to to enter, then shapeshifts a whole bunch and creates grapevines before 'doing it' very creepily.
-Semele is tricked by Hera. Due to making an obscenely stupid decision, Zeus can't refuse to show his true form, but she dies just enough that Zeus needs to finish it from here by using his leg.
-Dionysus is born, cycles around a few parents, before ending up with Rhea. This takes a few books.
-He falls for a satyr boy who he lets win everything, both by hiding his own strength and artificially boosting the satyr's abilities.
-Satyr boy dies due to his arrogance. He is turned into a vine. More death.
-Zeus orders Dionysus to fight the Indians who won't acknowledge the gods. There's a boatlist in there.
-Nicaea.
None have rambled quite as much as this one can. It takes eight books to get to the titular protagonist. This makes me long for the dry, straight-to-the-point glorified summaries of Hyginus or Antonius Liberalis. In these fifteen books:
-Zeus is 'busy' with a nymph, Typhon stealing his weapons
-Then he decides that it's time to kidnap Europa.
-Cadmus, who is trying to find her, ends up being caught up in Zeus's scheme to get everything back.
-Cadmus distracts Typhon long enough for Zeus's plan to work.
-Now that Cadmus has serviced his purpose, Zeus hides him and defeats Typhon easily.
-Cadmus's prize is a chick (of course!) named Harmonia, a goddess.
-For two books he convinces Harmonia to marry him, then they found Thebes (the seven-gated one) and have kids. The kids have kids. Semele is unmarried because Zeus wants her for his own plans.
-Flashback: Persephone is the most marriagable bachelorette, and Zeus is in on it. She becomes pregnant with Zagreus after a mess that involves the god of astrology's horoscope of her. Zagreus is killed by the titans on Hera's command.
-A flood happens because Zeus is sad. No one likes it. Therefore, wine...
-Semele. Weird dream, sacrifices a bull because Cadmus is nervous, Zeus watches her wash off and is entranced.
-Zeus is creepy.
-Zeus gets impatient about his plan to revive Zagreus through Semele. He accuses Helios of being jealous and orders night to come faster. This works. He is at this point so... whatever you'd call creeping on a girl whose parents you matchmade and who is actively scared of you being angry (see two above) walking on euphoria and oxytocin (?) that he prefers Cadmus's palace to Olympus specifically because of the lust.
-Zeus makes a scene. He unlocks every door he needs to to enter, then shapeshifts a whole bunch and creates grapevines before 'doing it' very creepily.
-Semele is tricked by Hera. Due to making an obscenely stupid decision, Zeus can't refuse to show his true form, but she dies just enough that Zeus needs to finish it from here by using his leg.
-Dionysus is born, cycles around a few parents, before ending up with Rhea. This takes a few books.
-He falls for a satyr boy who he lets win everything, both by hiding his own strength and artificially boosting the satyr's abilities.
-Satyr boy dies due to his arrogance. He is turned into a vine. More death.
-Zeus orders Dionysus to fight the Indians who won't acknowledge the gods. There's a boatlist in there.
-Nicaea.
April 4, 2025
NOTE: Review is for the complete poem (all 3 volumes / 48 books)
Incredible scope and detail. This has a lot of legends, foundation myths and scenes that I’ve never seen depicted before, and the characters’ speeches are especially beautiful. The biggest glaring issue is that everything in this poem is about 3x longer than it needs to be, and there are such extended and tenuously related tangents that it often becomes hard to follow what’s going on. But for my money this is a gorgeous and very valuable piece of Greek mythological writing. Looking forward to reading it again!
Rouse’s translation is generally very solid, though he uses some strange invented compound word concepts to communicate the Greek wordplay.
There’s also an interesting story of how I got my hands on this. I had been checking out the 3-volume Loeb set on Amazon, but it was a bit pricey ($90 total for the set, even when used), so I waited. Then a few months later, I was at a used book fair in Kyoto, Japan, and stumbled on the English edition of this 3-volume Loeb set! And it was only ¥6000 (around $45) for the whole thing! Funny how that stuff works out.
素晴らしい範囲や細かい説明。色んな見たことない伝説がここに入ってる、後色んなキャラクターのセリフが美しい言葉遣いある。1番明らかの問題は、全ての話の一部が長いすぎる、後よくめっちゃ長い関係ない話があるのでたまに話追いかけるのが難しい。けどこれは僕にとってすごく貴重な遅いギリシャ神話の話。また読みたい！
後，この本の面白い関係話がある。Amazonでよくこの「ローブ」のコレクション見てたけどちょっと高かった(3本完全のが90ドル)だから待ってた。その数ヶ月あと京都の中古本の祭りでこの英語型の「ローブ」の3本セット見つけた、6000円(45ドルぐらい？)の値段。すごい偶然！
Incredible scope and detail. This has a lot of legends, foundation myths and scenes that I’ve never seen depicted before, and the characters’ speeches are especially beautiful. The biggest glaring issue is that everything in this poem is about 3x longer than it needs to be, and there are such extended and tenuously related tangents that it often becomes hard to follow what’s going on. But for my money this is a gorgeous and very valuable piece of Greek mythological writing. Looking forward to reading it again!
Rouse’s translation is generally very solid, though he uses some strange invented compound word concepts to communicate the Greek wordplay.
There’s also an interesting story of how I got my hands on this. I had been checking out the 3-volume Loeb set on Amazon, but it was a bit pricey ($90 total for the set, even when used), so I waited. Then a few months later, I was at a used book fair in Kyoto, Japan, and stumbled on the English edition of this 3-volume Loeb set! And it was only ¥6000 (around $45) for the whole thing! Funny how that stuff works out.
素晴らしい範囲や細かい説明。色んな見たことない伝説がここに入ってる、後色んなキャラクターのセリフが美しい言葉遣いある。1番明らかの問題は、全ての話の一部が長いすぎる、後よくめっちゃ長い関係ない話があるのでたまに話追いかけるのが難しい。けどこれは僕にとってすごく貴重な遅いギリシャ神話の話。また読みたい！
後，この本の面白い関係話がある。Amazonでよくこの「ローブ」のコレクション見てたけどちょっと高かった(3本完全のが90ドル)だから待ってた。その数ヶ月あと京都の中古本の祭りでこの英語型の「ローブ」の3本セット見つけた、6000円(45ドルぐらい？)の値段。すごい偶然！
April 15, 2025
The critics were right
October 27, 2019
Shame on me! A non specialist giving a 1 star rating to the last great epic of antiquity. But let's face it, I'm sure the ancients did not have their favorites either, and a book is not great just because it happened to survive.
I found Nonnos' work to be long, as well as long winded. It was also flowery, over wrought, baroque and plodding. The poet throws so many names of people and places at the reader that it becomes exhausting to read.
The main emphasis is a war between Dionysus and his followers with the Indians. It's not clear why he declares war on them; apparently if they would have worshipped him and the gift of wine he would have left them alone. But they are imagined as being savages.
The rest of the narrative deals with many stories from classical mythology that Nonnos weaves into his epic, all of them better told in other sources. He tries too hard to paint a nostalgic picture of the Ancient Greek mythological scene filled with satyrs, gods, maenads and nymphs that recalls that saccharine scene in Disney's Fantasia set to Beethoven's pastoral symphony. Times 10!
Much of the poem stresses Dionysus' wonderful gift of alcohol, so wonderful in fact that it easily breaks down men's inhibitions to the point that they go chasing after poor unsuspecting women and commit other crimes. But it's all in good fun for Nonnos, because according to him, alcohol is the greatest thing ever; it takes away people's problems.
I read all three volumes for a book club on classical literature I co-host(although I really skimmed a good part of it). In a way it was good to read something that was off the beaten track. But I could not wait to finish this tiresome silly train wreck of a story.
Despite all this, I have a tiny glimmer of hope for this work. It is possible that part of the reason I had such a hard time with it is because of the translation. I was surprised to find that the only English version was the one published by Loeb. You know them; where old outdated translations of classics go to die. Either many scholars don't think it is worth it to update the translation (they agree with me that it is not so great a work), or they want to give us an upteenth version of the Iliad!
The translator is Rouse, who gave us the prose versions of Homer that your grandfather read in High School. I read his Iliad and did not have a problem with it so I can't really blame him too much for turning this work into a Victorian sounding purple prose mess. But he must share some of the blame. Reading a book that uses terms as gadabout and hoboy has some serious issues. Apparently a hoboy is some sort of instrument you blow into, but to me it sounds more like an underage male prostitute!
Perhaps a fresh new translation, with modern idioms and, dare I say it, a little abridging, this work can be given a second chance. I still will probably not care for it, but at least it will be a bit more readable for the next victim. I might even bump it up a star.
I found Nonnos' work to be long, as well as long winded. It was also flowery, over wrought, baroque and plodding. The poet throws so many names of people and places at the reader that it becomes exhausting to read.
The main emphasis is a war between Dionysus and his followers with the Indians. It's not clear why he declares war on them; apparently if they would have worshipped him and the gift of wine he would have left them alone. But they are imagined as being savages.
The rest of the narrative deals with many stories from classical mythology that Nonnos weaves into his epic, all of them better told in other sources. He tries too hard to paint a nostalgic picture of the Ancient Greek mythological scene filled with satyrs, gods, maenads and nymphs that recalls that saccharine scene in Disney's Fantasia set to Beethoven's pastoral symphony. Times 10!
Much of the poem stresses Dionysus' wonderful gift of alcohol, so wonderful in fact that it easily breaks down men's inhibitions to the point that they go chasing after poor unsuspecting women and commit other crimes. But it's all in good fun for Nonnos, because according to him, alcohol is the greatest thing ever; it takes away people's problems.
I read all three volumes for a book club on classical literature I co-host(although I really skimmed a good part of it). In a way it was good to read something that was off the beaten track. But I could not wait to finish this tiresome silly train wreck of a story.
Despite all this, I have a tiny glimmer of hope for this work. It is possible that part of the reason I had such a hard time with it is because of the translation. I was surprised to find that the only English version was the one published by Loeb. You know them; where old outdated translations of classics go to die. Either many scholars don't think it is worth it to update the translation (they agree with me that it is not so great a work), or they want to give us an upteenth version of the Iliad!
The translator is Rouse, who gave us the prose versions of Homer that your grandfather read in High School. I read his Iliad and did not have a problem with it so I can't really blame him too much for turning this work into a Victorian sounding purple prose mess. But he must share some of the blame. Reading a book that uses terms as gadabout and hoboy has some serious issues. Apparently a hoboy is some sort of instrument you blow into, but to me it sounds more like an underage male prostitute!
Perhaps a fresh new translation, with modern idioms and, dare I say it, a little abridging, this work can be given a second chance. I still will probably not care for it, but at least it will be a bit more readable for the next victim. I might even bump it up a star.
March 23, 2014
I didn't know where I was to begin with or the relevance of Zeus losing his sinews to Typhon and Cadmus' getting them back. Anyway, as a reward Cadmus founds Thebes, only the seven-gated compared to the Egyptian hundred. This is all leading up to the birth of Semele, C's daughter Zeus... maybe it was another daughter who is impregnated but a jealous Hera as an old crone suggests she. like Hera, see Zeus in all his divinity whereupon she's burned to a crisp but the embryo's saved: Dionysios! This volume ends with his conquering the Indians, largely by getting them drunk and delusional though the gods also prefer wine to nectar. I enjoyed it. The scholarly translator is nicely sceptical, pointing out the deadening nature of the Greek hexameters, that this voluminous poem has survived virgo intacta when its much betters have not and oh the irony Ivy of that! It's precious, affected, not interested in the creation of any reality but in, as the scholar points out, the rhetorical cleverness of saying in as many different ways as possible the same thing. As to its unreality, a young herdsman fancies a young huntress and says you might as well shoot me but do this that and the next with my corpse. I'd've shot him myself or said don't be ridiculous you self-centred, self-important twat, I'm not going to shoot you; you have no power over me whatsoever, and grow up. Only thirty-three books to go. What!
January 26, 2020
One of those cases where it's clear that you need a really good translator (an actual poet, Merwin or someone like that) to draw out the greatness. Loeb and Penguin have quite a track record of choosing the worst translators on earth; one more reason to go back to learning Greek, I guess ...
June 2, 2012
Interesting stories. Sadly, I was hoping to find stories about Aura, but I guess they'll be in volume 2 or 3.
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April 17, 2022c. 430 - Longest surviving epic from Greco-Roman antiquity
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