Tales of Dionysus: The Dionysiaca of Nonnus of Panopolis

by Nonnus of Panopolis, William Levitan (Editor), Stanley Lombardo (Editor)

Tales of Dionysus is the first English verse translation of one of the most extraordinary poems of the Greek literary tradition, the Dionysiaca of Nonnus of Panopolis. By any standard, the Dionysiaca is a formidable work. It is by far the longest poem surviving from the classical world, a massive mythological epic stretching to over 20,000 lines, written in the tradition of Homer, using Homer’s verse, Homer’s language, his narrative turns and motifs, and invoking his ancient Muses. But it is also the last ancient epic to follow a Homeric model, composed so late in fact that it stands as close in time to the Renaissance as it does to archaic Greece. Like its titular hero, Dionysus, with his fluidity of forms, names, and divine incarnations, the poem itself is continually shifting shape. Out of its formal epic frame spills a tumult of ancient literary tragedy, elegy, didactic, panegyric, pastoral idyll, and the novel are all parts of this gigantic enterprise, each genre coming to the fore one after the other. Tales of Dionysus brings together forty-two translators from a wide range of backgrounds, with different experiences and different potential relationships to the text of Nonnus’ poem. All work in their own styles and with their own individual approaches to the poem, to translation, and to poetic form. This variety turns Tales of Dionysus into a showcase of the multiple possibilities open to classical translation in the contemporary world.

Genres: Mythology, Classics, Poetry, Ancient, Greek Mythology

816 pages, Paperback

First published July 20, 2015

About the author

Nonnus 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.

Reviews

[kaitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read this translation of the epic for a college course, and it is easily one of my favorite reads of all time. One of the intriguing characteristics of this translation is that each book is translated by a different person. A large majority of these translations have a note from their respective translator on their work and why they translated some things the way that they did. It’s important to remember while reading this that some translators are not translating the text directly from the source material- for example one of the books is more of a poetic paraphrase of one of the most climatic parts of the epic, and in another book, an entire segment is cut out. It is also a hard text to navigate without proper analysis and background knowledge because of its grandiose nature. This epic was written practically as a testament to Nonnus’ paideia, of which he alludes to multiple obscure Greek myths to the modern reader, and the translations of such on top of that oftentimes hold complex language that one would have to search up the meanings of in order to grasp what was just written. Despite those initial cautions, the Dionysiaca was translated beautifully and it proves to be an extremely insightful and memorable read.

The Dionysiaca itself expands on Dionysus’ journey to godliness from his early life, as well as having the first few books dedicated to Zeus’ prior affairs with Europa and some others, then eventually, to the conception of Dionysus; after this, the epic revolves Dionysus himself. It’s especially interesting to see Dionysus change as the epic continues. The most interesting change for me to see was his relationships to the Earth and Olympus as well as mortality and immortality; these relationships within the epic are at constant war with one another throughout the epic, and it’s compelling to see Dionysus abandon most of his connections to the Earth and mortality in favor of becoming an immortal Olympian.

Overall, this epic is NOT for the faint of heart- it deals with mature and troubling material, however the epic is worthwhile to read. It truly changed my perception of Dionysus as a god, and my knowledge of both Dionysus as well as Greek myth has expanded tremendously!

Amazing work!

[Edward Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's wonderful to have a Kindle edition of the Dionysiaca, and even including the Greek. The ebook, however, has many errors. I made a note of every one that I caught, and intend to contact Delphi Ancient Classics in the hope that they will see fit to correct them. They range from typical OCR errors to chunks of the notes having migrated into the body text. Still, I'm grateful that this edition gave me the opportunity to read Nonnus again in so convenient a form.

[kaitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read this translation of the epic for a college course, and it is easily one of my favorite reads of all time. One of the intriguing characteristics of this translation is that each book is translated by a different person. A large majority of these translations have a note from their respective translator on their work and why they translated some things the way that they did. It’s important to remember while reading this that some translators are not translating the text directly from the source material- for example one of the books is more of a poetic paraphrase of one of the most climatic part of the epic and in another book an entire segment is cut out. It is also a hard text to navigate because of its grandiose nature. This epic was written almost as a testament to Nonnus’ paideia, of which he alludes to multiple obscure Greek myths to the modern reader, and the translations of such on top of that oftentimes hold complex language that one would have to search up the vocabulary used in order to grasp what was just written. Despite this, the Dionysiaca was translated beautifully and it proves to be an extremely insightful read.

The Dionysiaca itself expands on Dionysus’ journey to godliness from his early life, as well as having the first few books dedicated to Zeus’ prior affairs with Europa and some others, then eventually, to the conception of Dionysus; after this, the epic revolves Dionysus himself. One of the most interesting parts of this epic was to see the internal struggle of Dionysus, specifically in regards to his relationships with the Earth and Olympus as well as morality and immortality. It was intriguing to see how Dionysus abandoned his connection to the Earth and mortality in favor of Olympus and immortality- a change that is troubling to see, as for Dionysus' behavior and personality changes along with it.

Overall, this epic was one of my favorite reads. However, for those who wish to read, be mindful of its mature and troubling content. It was wonderfully translated and it provided so much information. I learned so much more about who the god Dionysus is as well as Greek mythology itself.

Amazing read!

[Philippe V d’Espagne · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think this was the best greek myth i have read

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time deciding how to rate this because, on the one hand, Nonnus' Dionysus "is an utterly detestable character" (how funny that this comes from the translator himself), but on the other, the translation work by W.H.D. Rouse gave me the gift of truly appreciating language—the inventiveness, the rhythm, just luxuriating in the music of it. So we'll settle on a three and split the difference.

[Carmilla]

I want whatever drugs he was on when he wrote this