WEDNESDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2026
History Museum of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
5 Tholou Street, Plaka
9.00 Registration
9.30 Welcome remarks / Introduction
10.00 Session 1: Greek & Latin Paraphrases
MICHAEL PASCHALIS (University of Crete)
‘Christ in bonds: Juvencus to Sedulius, to Nonnus’ Paraphrase’
QIBEI CHEN (University of Cambridge)
‘Paraphrasing the Gospel: Nonnus and Juvencus in comparison’
CLARE PRYOR (University of Cambridge)
‘The sublime in biblical paraphrase: Sedulius and Nonnus’
11.30–12.00 COFFEE BREAK
12.00 Session 2: Deception and the Dionysiaca
PETER BING (University of Munich)
‘The kestos of Aphrodite: The fortunes of a moveable object from Homer in Nonnus’
CLAIRE RACHEL JACKSON (University of Ghent)
‘Novel receptions in Nonnus’ Dionysiaka: Morrheus, Chalcomede, and Callirhoe’
13.00 Keynote 1
TIM WHITMARSH (University of Cambridge)
‘A world of signs: Nonnus, Musaeus and the archaeology of pagan thought’
13.45–15.30 LUNCH BREAK
15.30 Session 3: Nonnian Contexts
ALEXANDRA MADEŁA (University College Dublin / University College Cork) ‘Nonnus the Homeric scholar in context’
XAVIER LAFONTAINE (Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne)
‘Nonnus and images: On a christological formula reused from the Sibylline Oracles’
GUY WALKER (Trinity College, Dublin)
‘Neoplatonic reading strategies and Nonnus’ Dionysiaca’
17.00–17.30 COFFEE BREAK
17.30 Digital Posters (I): Further Nonnian Contexts
ANASTASIA MEINTANI (Independent Scholar)
‘Amid Virgin Athena and Virgin Mary. Reinventing Erichthonius’ myth’
YORGHOS PIKRAKIS (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
‘Aphrodite Virgin Mary? Contextualizing divine body-making in Dionysiaca 24.230–329’
18.00 Session 4: Dionysiaca – Performance & Reception
BELÉN ALEJANDRA MAIDANA (Universidad Nacional del Nordeste, Argentina & Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET))
‘Performativity and context in the combat speeches of the Dionysiaca by Nonnus of Panopolis’
LAURA MIGUÉLEZ-CAVERO (Complutense University of Madrid)
‘The Dionysiaca in the context of late antique Dionysiac performances’
GEORGIOS TSOMIS (Democritus University of Thrace)
‘From late antique ekphrasis to baroque spectacle: Giambattista Marino’s Europa (1607) as a creative reading of Nonnus’ poetics’
TOUR OF THE MUSEUM OF THE OLD UNIVERSITY
CONFERENCE RECEPTION
THURSDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 2026
History Museum of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
5 Tholou Street, Plaka
9.00 Session 5: Paraphrasis and Exegesis
JOSHUA WERRETT (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
‘Νοῦς reconfigured: A case study of Hermetic influence on Nonnus’ theology’
ANNA LEFTERATOU (University of Cambridge)
‘From Nonnus to Erasmus: Paraphrasis between Gospel and exegesis’
10.00 Session 6: Nonnian Narratives
STEVEN D. SMITH (Boston University)
‘The man in the bath: Masculine vulnerability and immersive pleasure in Nonnos and John of Gaza’
JAKE SAWYER (University of Toronto)
‘Double vision: Intervisuality and the Resurrection of Lazarus in the Paraphrase’
11.00 Digital Posters (II): Narrative and the Dionysiaca
JULIA HOMBRE IGLESIAS (University of Santiago de Compostela)
‘All this, Old Time was to accomplish much later. The omens and oracles’ fulfilment in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca.’
AGORITSA-IOANNA PELEKANOU (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens)
‘Zeus’ deception and the making of Dionysus: Divine strategy in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca’
11.30–12.00 COFFEE BREAK
12.00 Session 7: From a specialist’s perspective:
Building on landmarks in Nonnian scholarship
DOMENICO ACCORINTI (IIS Galilei-Pacinotti, Pisa)
‘Is there still room for research on Nonnus? An overview of the last fifteen years, together with some proposals and desiderata for the next years’
KONSTANTINOS SPANOUDAKIS (University of Crete)
‘Christian Nonnus in retrospection’
LAURA MIGUÉLEZ-CAVERO (Complutense University of Madrid)
‘From progymnasmata to visual culture towards cultural history’
MARY WHITBY (University of Oxford)
‘Dancing around the Dionysiaca: From Nonnus to George of Pisidia’
GIANFRANCO AGOSTI (University of Pisa)
‘Rethinking Nonnus and late antique cultural production’
BERENICE VERHELST (University of Amsterdam)
‘Narratology and the Digital Humanities. Quantifying stylistic properties of narrative and speech in the Dionysiaca’
14.30–16.00 LUNCH BREAK
16.00 Session 8: Desire and the Female in the Dionysiaca
ISOBEL HIGGINS (University of Cambridge)
‘Dynamic fluids: Milk and breastfeeding in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca’
JACOB BERNITZKI (Universität Bonn)
‘The language of desire – Nonnus’ metaleptic gods’
MARÍA AGUSTINA ALDAVEZ (Universidad Nacional del Nordeste, Argentina) ‘Virginity and erotic conflict in the episode of Pallene (D. 48.90–237)’
17.30 Digital Posters (III): Beroe, Dionysus, Poseidon
DANTE MINUTILLO (Princeton University)
‘Beroe, Justice, and the decline of Dionysus: Dionysiaca 41 in context’
RUTH MITCHELL-FOX (University of Oxford)
‘Bloody brine: Saltwater and ambiguous theology in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca’
18.00–18.30 COFFEE BREAK
18.30 Session 9: Dionysiaca and Wine
SASKIA SCHOMBER (University of Munich), ‘Living together in the thiasos. Elective families and the myth of filiation in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca’
REGINA HÖSCHELE (University of Munich)
‘Mixing it up – The poetics of the krater in Dionysiaka 19’
19.30 Keynote 2
DAVID HERNÁNDEZ DE LA FUENTE (Complutense University of Madrid)
‘Nonnus’ style between rhetoric and philosophy’
FRIDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2026
History Museum of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
5 Tholou Street, Plaka
9.00 Session 10: Nonnian Style & Aesthetics (I)
TADEU DA COSTA ANDRADE (Instituto de Letras – Universidade Federal da Bahia)
‘Moschus’ and Nonnus’ Europa: A stylistic contrast’
HALIMA BENCHIKH-LEHOCINE (Université Grenoble Alpes)
‘The poikilian army of Dionysus against the Indians: A metaphor in the Dionysiaca of Nonnus’ aesthetics?’
10.00 Keynote 3
FOTINI HADJITTOFI (University of Lisbon)
‘Nonnus’ weaving Aphrodite: Legend, metapoetry, and real-life weavers’
10.45–11.15 COFFEE BREAK
11.15 Session 11: Nonnian Style & Aesthetics (II)
JANE LIGHTFOOT (University of Oxford)
‘Gesture and expression in Nonnus’ Paraphrasis’
CALUM MACIVER (University of Edinburgh)
‘Crafting anew: Advertisement of innovation in Nonnus’ Paraphrase’
MARIA YPSILANTI (University of Cyprus) & LAURA FRANCO (Università di Tor Vergata, Rome)
‘Some metaphors illustrating emotions in the Paraphrase’
FILIP DOROSZEWSKI (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń)
‘Encircling the King: Nonnus on Jesus’ scourging and the dethronement of Zagreus (Sinai Palimpsest Ar NF 66)’
13.20 Digital Posters (IV): Diction & Style
LOTTE KNIJN (University of Amsterdam)
‘Golden lines in late antique Greek epic: A computational, diachronic approach’
EDWYN MAUCHERAT (Université de Lille)
‘Reddening, darkening, whitening: A case of intervisuality between Nonnus and Apollonius Rhodius’
MARINA LOZANO SAIZ (Complutense University of Madrid)
‘Poikilia and oikonomia: Sensory alternation as a structural principle in late antique epic’
14.00–15.30 LUNCH BREAK
15.30 Session 12: Nonnian Comparativisms
EMMA GREENSMITH (University of Oxford)
'‘Two things can be true at once’: Nonnus’ comparative aetiology’
SOPHIE SCHOESS (University of St Andrews)
‘‘The dead have the final word’: Re-framing narrative through encounters with the dead in Nonnus, Lucian, and Philostratus’
EMILY KNEEBONE (University of Nottingham)
‘Mapping humans onto plants’
TIM WHITMARSH (University of Cambridge)
‘Nonnus’ parallel lives’
17.30–18.00 COFFEE BREAK
18.00 Session 13: Narrative and Characters in the Dionysiaca
CAMILLE GEISZ (Haberdashers’ Monmouth School in Wales)
‘Interjections in Nonnus of Panopolis’ Dionysiaca’
ARIANNA MAGNOLO (Università degli Studi di Genova)
‘Digression and time in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca: A comparative reading with Proust’
KELLY A. MACFARLANE (University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada)
‘“There are Erinyes for lovers too” (Dion. 16.294): Erinyes and the rise of the Underworld in the Dionysiaca’
19.30 Concluding remarks