7
Abstracts of Papers following the order of Presentation
E. Livrea, Nonnus and the Orphic Argonautica
The dispute on Nonnus’ chronology involves a much debated question, his relationship with the Orphic Argonautica. The latest editor, Francis Vian, maintains that AO have been composed after Nonnus, by the middle of the 5th century. This view seems untenable, because a number of passages, if correctly interpreted, point to the latter half of the 4th century. It is not true that AO lack a historical background, which can be detected if this extremely corrupt text is established in a correct way, by avoiding both conservatism and libido coniectandi. Did Nonnus know and imitate AO? We were not able to find a single case where allusion or imitation are ascertained: the extant similarities can be explained either as normal features of an epic code, or – in a number of passages which will be scrutinized in detail – a tribute paid to the multifarious current Orphic poetry, read and deeply assimilated by both poets. Even if they are of unequal value, these similarities may be precious in order to establish AO’s text.
G. Agosti, Nonnus’ Visual World
This paper deals with the presence of figurative art in Nonnus’ poems. The visual display was ubiquitous in late antique society, having a deep influence on literary production of IV-VI centuries CE. A study of Nonnus’ attitude towards figurative arts shows how much his poetry was embedded in contemporary society, even from this point of view. Three main aspects of Nonnus’ relationship with visual arts will be examined, by samples. The most obvious is represented by the direct influence of works of art: in many passages Nonnus seems to describe a figurative model or to refer to iconographic evidence well known to his audience. Late antique art exerted its influence on the poet’s style and narrative: fragmentation, miniaturization, abstraction, the taste for spolia, are aesthetic principles that Nonnus shares with visual arts. The contemporary way of viewing images played a role also in elaborating the ‘deconstruction’ of epic poetry in the Dionysiaca, especially on the level of creating a superior association of meanings (phantasia). The final part of the paper will discuss the possible influence of Christian visual exegesis on Nonnus’ composition principles.
L. Miguélez-Cavero, Personifications and their Impact in the Dionysiaca
The first-time reader of the Dionysiaca does not need much time to realise that the Bacchic universe created by Nonnus is densely populated by personifications. Some are of cosmic nature (Night, Day, Dawn, Aion, the Seasons, the Moira, but also other elements which have power of decision over the events on earth, such as Victory and Sleep), others are inextricably linked to the topography (rivers, cities, regions) and a third type group around the main divinities (Dionysus, Zeus, Aphrodite) as symbols of their characters and capacities. Personifications are religious, philosophical, rhetorical, literary and artistic constructs and have different functions in the Dionysiaca, which will be analysed in this paper. They also afford an attractive field to work on the external connections of Nonnus’ poem.
J. Lightfoot, Nonnus and the Oracles
This paper hopes to consider various aspects of Nonnus’ treatment of oracles. Nonnus’ view of Fate goes beyond that of the Homeric poems; his narrator is prepared to vouch for notions that the Homeric narrator does not. Signs of the future, especially of stages of Dionysius' career and significant events therein, are rife throughout the poem; they tend to be easily interpretable, with a straightforward, perspicuous, and unambiguous, connection between sign and referent. Oracles are attributed to a number of agencies; many traditional ones are downgraded and new sources of oracular authority introduced, though the perspicuity of the message remains. On the other hand, Nonnus creates patterns, series, and sequences of oracles which invite our appreciation for his art of variatioand poikilia.This is a rhetor’s poem, that of a literary artist, notthat of a theologian. The next stage will be to consider whether the language and mechanisms of prophecy work in the same way in the Paraphrasis, with its apparently fundamentally different theological complexion, or not.
H. Frangoulis, Nonnus and Homeric Similes: the Image of Lions in the Dionysiaca
In the Dionysiaca, Nonnus represents lions in a way which differs from their portrayal in the Homeric similes of the Iliad and of the Odyssey. This paper analyses these differences, in the similes and in the rest of the Nonnian poem, showing particularly how they throw new light on the final episode of the epic, the episode of Aura in book 48.
M. Otlewska, The Dionysiaca and the Orphic Hymns
There are significant points of similarity between the Dionysiaca and the Orphic Hymns. This is not only due to the central role Dionysus plays in both works. The Orphic Hymns belong to a broader genre of religious literature which was an important source of inspiration for the epic of Nonnus and familiar to his contemporary audience. The influence of such literature is most visible in the hymnic parts of the Dionysiaca, but throughout the epic as well, for instance in the epithets of the gods or in the particular regard shown to Nature. This contribution would like to propose a new interpretation of the role the hymnic parts play in the Dionysiaca. Unlike the case of the preserved collection of Orphic Hymns, which by definition and explicitly are ascribed to the mythical poet Orpheus, the Dionysiaca contain hymns sung by the gods themselves. Orpheus is mentioned in the epic only very briefly and as a small child. In this context the epic of Nonnus may be read as both a commentary and a challenge to Orphic poetry.
M. Ypsilanti, The Paraphrasis and the Poetic Past: an Intertextual Reading of Selected Passages
The present paper investigates the imagery of night in the Paraphrasis, looking into the models that Nonnus employed for his descriptions. The instances of the poetic past that are echoed and merged in these descriptions cover a wide variety of genres, ranging from Attic tragedy to Orphic poetry. Furthermore, Nonnus’ verses on night in the Paraphrasis convey scientific knowledge and reveal the author’s astrological/astronomical interests, markedly evident also in the Dionysiaca; they are also occasionally built on the antithesis between light and darkness, sometimes endowed with theological significance, sometimes just manifesting the poet’s indulgence in the depiction of visual contrasts inherited from Hellenistic aesthetics.
K. Karvounis, Persuasion in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca
Modern scholarship has drawn attention to the limited amount of dialogue in the Dionysiaca and the overtly rhetorical character of speeches in the epic. This paper focuses in particular on speeches of persuasion (peitho), which punctuate the narrative at critical moments, and examines some of the rhetorical techniques deployed in these speeches, as well as the representation of the goddess Peitho herself. As a case study for this discussion, I take Cadmus’ stay in Samothrace in Dionysiaca 3-4, which forms the prelude to his marriage to Harmonia. I examine within the wider literary and rhetorical traditions Peitho’s silent interaction with Cadmus and the extended speech of Aphrodite (in Peitho’s garb) as Peisinoe to persuade Harmonia to marry Cadmus. This study thus aims to explore different modes of persuasion in the Dionysiaca.
E. Magnelli, Appositives in Nonnus’ Hexameter
This paper investigates the metrical status of appositives (such as articles, prepositions, enclitic pronouns, particles, and the like) in Nonnus’ hexameter. Its aim is to ascertain whether Nonnus’ perception of word boundaries and metrical units is the same as his Hellenistic and Imperial forebears. What can we infer from the fact that Nonnus apparently imposes on a clause like αἰθερίῳ μέν (D. 7.352) the same restrictions as on, e.g., ὑγροπόρος βοῦς (D. 1.50)? And what are we to do with the fact that metrical units like ἔδυνε δέ —clearly not offending against Hermann’s Bridge— seldom end before the fifth princeps? A tentative answer will be offered. The behaviour of appositives, with regard to both the well-known ‘Alexandrian’ rhythmical niceties —Hermann’s Bridge, Naeke’s Law, etc.— and Nonnus’ metrical reform, may shed new light on how the appreciation of Greek hexameter was evolving in the 5th cent. AD.
D. Lauritzen, Nonnus in Gaza
This paper studies the impact Nonnus of Panopolis’ poetry had on the culture of the period, as well as the development and extent of its influence. In this perspective, John of Gaza’s Description of the Cosmical Image can be seen as a key for the interpretation of Nonnus’ literary afterlife. The geographical and chronological proximity of the two poets cannot be denied. Moreover, the dynamic mimesis which binds them together can be traced throughout the metrical, lexical, stylistic, thematic, structural and philosophical (dis)similarities. Our paper addresses various open questions, such as the notion of a ‘Nonnian School’, by exploring the relation between model and imitator, or by considering the relative and absolute value of the fontes and testimonia in the establishment of critical editions, regarding Nonnus himself as well as the Nonnian Poets.
D. Gigli, Poetic Inspiration in John of Gaza: Emotional Upheaval and Ecstasy in a Neoplatonic Poet
This contribution studies the idea of poetic inspiration in Greek late-antique poets, and particularly in the work of John of Gaza. Starting from the Platonic tradition up to the important reflections on this subject on the part of the Neoplatonic philosophers, we may follow the progressive development of an idea of art in a mystical sense. Consequently poetic inspiration is felt as inner anxiety and at the same time anagogic impulse. The author analyzes the introduction to the corpus of John’s Anacreontica, the two proems –the iambic and the hexametrical ones- to the Tabula mundi and finally the description of Sophia and Aretê, in order to study the language and the strong images used by the poet to express the assault of inspiration.
M. Whitby, The last Nonnian hexameters? George of Pisidia’s poem On human life
George of Pisidia is best known for his iambic poems in praise of the Emperor Heraclius’ successful campaigns against the Persians in the 620s. But he also wrote a number of reflective religious poems in iambics, including a long Hexaemeron (1864 lines) which, rather than directly engaging with the opening verses of Genesis, dilates on the wonders of God’s universe and the creation of mankind. A shorter iambic poem On the Vanity of Life (261 lines) addresses in richly metaphorical language problems of human delusion and man’s helplessness amidst the vicissitudes of Fortune. This paper will address the one substantial surviving poem that George composed in Nonnian hexameters, On Human Life (90 lines) which, typically of George, overlaps in theme, imagery and expression with the Hexaemeron and On the Vanity. Its highly metaphorical language draws on the rich and varied poetic tradition from Homer and Hesiod to Manetho, Nonnus and Paul the Silentiary. I shall argue that George uses his extensive knowledge of earlier hexameter poetry to explore issues of personal ascesis that preoccupied contemporary Christian intellectuals at the court of Heraclius.
Cl. De Stefani, The End of the Nonnian ‘School’. Some Final Remarks
This paper examines the (possible) causes of the disappearing of the ‘Nonnian’ style after the end of the reign of Heraclius – both Pisides and Sophronius are dealt with as the last late antique poets. Echoes and imitations of Nonnus (and of his ‘school’) in the subsequent Byzantine poetry are also scrutinized: an acrostichon celebrating Theodorus and Anatolius Studitae (falsely attributed to Theodorus Studites), a famous epigraphical poem from Galakrenai, the proem of the Chronicon of Constantinus Manasses and a few other texts.
N. Arringer, The Heros’ Journey of Dionysus as an Individuation of an Age. Approaching the Dionysiaca under the perspective of Jungian Archetypes and the Monomythos of Joseph Campbell
The mythological pattern of a ‘Quest’ is found in many narratives around the globe. The narrations of such stories become relevant at biographical breakpoints, when there is a lack of identification and assistance for decision. In a ‘Quest’, the hero starts in the ordinary world, and then receives a divine call to enter a world of unknown powers. The hero, who accepts the call to enter this strange world, has to face tasks and trials, either alone or being assisted by whosoever. In the most intense versions of the narrative, the hero must survive a severe challenge, often with (supernatural) help. If he survives, his efforts may be rewarded with a great gift or ‘boon’. All these stations can also be found in the Dionysiaca. Nonnus, who shows a noticeably high understanding of mental developments and processes, tries to advance Dionysus and his seeking for authority as a possible means of identification and help for the dawning changes. Readers could easily identify themselves with his character, and in doing so, they could get help to master insecurities they have to cope with. With its happy end, the epic suggests that everything will get all right in the end.
M. Paschalis, Ovid and Nonnus: Metamorphosis and poikilon eidos
The issue of Nonnus’ familiarity with and use of Ovid’s Metamorphoses as a source has attracted and continues to attract scholarly attention. In recent years the argument in favor of Ovidian influence has weakened considerably, at least among Latinists. Nonnus had at his disposal an enormous amount of Greek literature now lost to us and hence, as Peter Knox has pointed out, “it is a priori improbable that a Panopolitan would use a Latin poem as his source for Greek mythology, when there were so many works available in his native tongue.” The comparison of Ovid and Nonnus independently of Quellenforschung would in my view yield much more interesting results. For instance, the Metamorphoses and the Dionysiaca place transformation at the heart of their poetic program: Ovid announces a poem on “bodies changed into new forms” (in nova … mutatas … formas corpora); Nonnus adopts the persona of shape-shifting (polutropos) Proteus and promises a composition that will be poikilon in imitation of the god’s poikilon eidos. The paper compares the nature and function of transformation in the two epics in an attempt to identify essential differences.