La fortuna della poesia ellenistica nelle Dionisiache di Nonno di Panopoli

The thesis investigates the imitation of the main Hellenistic poets in the Dionysiaka of Nonnos of Panopolis, the most important late antique poem known to us. The examination of the concerning passages shows clearly that Nonnos wasn't simply looking for stylistic borrowings of limited extension, but imitated extensively Bucolic poetry, Apollonius Rhodius, and Callimachus. As his purpose was to create a new, Dionysiac epos, whose content and inspiration were widely different from those of Homer (whose poems were notwithstanding an obliged model for a piece of greek epic poetry, and exercised a strong influence on the Dionysiaka), Nonnos sought inspiration in the works of Alexandrian poets, who had already faced the challenge of writing on new themes and in a new way, though remaining in the tradition of exametric (or elegiac) poetry. The way the author of the Dionysiaka imitates his Hellenistic models testifies a deep comprehension of the models themselves, and of the peculiarity of Alexandrian poetry in general.