“Earthborn” Indians in the Dionysiaca

Talarman, Stev (2025) “Earthborn” Indians in the Dionysiaca. ACTA ANTIQUA ACADEMIAE SCIENTIARUM HUNGARICAE, 65 (3-4). pp. 467-482. ISSN 0044-5975

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Abstract

This paper traces aspects of Nonnus’ intertextual apparatus relating to his portrayal of the Indians in the Dionysiaca as “earthborn”, “black”, and “serpentine”. I then link these considerations to a reading of Homeric Hymns 3 and 7. My analysis aims to demonstrate that the conception of the Dionysiaca as a Grand Hymn (μέγας ὕμνoς) is a necessary and valuable addition to the multiplicity of approaches that is required in order to do justice to Nonnus’ hybrid poetics and polyvalent theology, which refract the ideological and literary eclecticism of late Antiquity.

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