Nonnus

views updated

Nonnus (nŏn´əs), fl. 5th cent.?, Greek poet, b. Panopolis, Egypt. His extant epic, Dionysiaca (in 48 books), a collection of legends about Dionysus, has innovations in meter that predict the later accentual versification. He is probably also the author of a hexameter version of the Gospel of St. John.