Available From UC Press

Dionysiaca

Nonnus

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.

Tim Whitmarsh, FBA, is Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Trinity College. A specialist in the literature, culture, and religion of ancient Greece, he is author of 10 books and 120 academic articles.

“Nonnus's Dionysiaca is one of the great translation challenges of ancient Greek literature, for its vast scale and its extraordinary linguistic extravagance. This new version brilliantly combines clarity with flamboyance. It has the potential to open up Nonnus's astonishing poem to a whole new generation of readers."—Jason König, author of The Folds of Olympus: Mountains in Ancient Greek and Roman Culture

"Finally, Nonnus's Dionysiaca is now fully accessible to a modern audience! The translators, leading scholars of ancient Greek, have brilliantly rendered this sweeping mythological saga of everything related to Dionysus into elegant, exceptionally clear poetic English. A wonderfully rewarding read!”—Jackie Murray, Associate Professor of Classics, SUNY University at Buffalo

“A sensational publication: a clear and very readable translation of Nonnus's extraordinary biography of the Greek god Dionysus and his war with India.”—Helen Morales, author of Antigone Rising: The Subversive Power of the Ancient Myths

“Nonnus has often eluded even the keenest classicists, but no longer: this mighty collaboration of translators has brought the huge and sometimes unwieldy Dionysiaca into its most readable form to date. Tim Whitmarsh’s introduction is the epitome of scholarly precision, and he continues to make an unarguable case for Greek writing in the late Roman Empire, an area that has been overlooked for much too long.”—Natalie Haynes, author of Divine Might: Goddesses in Greek Myth

726 pp.6 x 9

9780520281318$45.00|£38.00Paper

Jun 2026