Description: This book investigates the various paraphrastic techniques employed by Nonnus of Panopolis (5th century AD) for his poetic version of the Gospel of John. The authors look at Nonnus' Paraphrase, the only extant poetic Greek paraphrase of the New Testament, in the light of ancient rhetorical theory while also exploring its multi-faceted relationship with poetic tradition and the theological debates of its era. The study shows how interpretation, cardinal both in ancient literary criticism and in theology, is exploited in a poem that is exegetical both from a philological and a Christian point of view and adheres, at the same time, to the literary principles of Hellenistic times and late antiquity.
Brief description: Maria Ypsilanti holds a PhD from University College London and is Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Literature at the University of Cyprus. Her publications include the monographs The Epigrams of Crinagoras of Mytilene (Oxford University Press 2018) and Τριφιοδώρου Ἰλίου Ἅλωσις (Ἀθήνα, Στιγμή 2019) and many articles. Laura Franco holds a PhD from Royal Holloway, University of London and is Research Assistant at the Hellenic Institute of the same college. She has published several articles on Symeon Metaphrastes and on female Byzantine saints and stylite saints. Her publications include Vita di Costantino (Italian translation, Milan 2009) and Cinque sante bizantine. Storie di travestite, cortigiane, imperatrici (Milan 2017).