Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Dionysiaca: Volume 1

Dionysiaca: Volume 1

Whitmarsh, Tim
Nonnus

Paperback

Series: Collected Imperial Greek Epics

Fiction AnthologiesGeneral Poetry

ISBN10: 0520281314
ISBN13: 9780520281318
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: Jun 2 2026
Pages: 726
Weight: 2.10
Height: 1.70 Width: 5.90 Depth: 8.90
Language: English
Nonnus of Panopolis's Dionysiaca is the longest and most ambitious epic poem to survive from Greco-Roman antiquity. Written by an Egyptian Christian in the fifth century CE, this stunning mythological adventure explores the birth, upbringing, exploits, and ultimate apotheosis of the god Dionysus, including his establishment of mystery cults, discovery of the vine, conquest of India, and troubling relationships with mortal women. Its 48 books offer a portrait, viewed through a Dionysiac lens, of pagan polytheism in its entirety, a multifaceted mythical system that, despite the Christianization of the Roman Empire, retained its grip on the imagination in Nonnus's day.

This new translation renders Nonnus's extraordinary poetic achievement into elegant but accessible English. It includes a substantial introduction and an extensive glossary of names and places. The last great pagan epic of classical antiquity, the Dionysiaca contains unparalleled insights into late antique attitudes to religion, the Greek literary tradition, sexuality, race, and the body. It tells the richest story possible of the transition between the pagan epic tradition and late antique Christianity.

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