Nonnus and Aratus: some proposals
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5944/etfii.30.2017.19089Keywords:
mimetism, astronomy, unity, NeoplatonismAbstract
The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between Nonnus and one of his many models, Aratus, in the Dionysiaca. The study examines four significant passages (1, 163-175; 25, 125-133; 38, 354-371; 47, 448-452) and compares them with related verses of the Phaenomena and the aratean poem as a whole. The dual attitude, i. e. bare imitatio cum variatione/complete inversion, the Panopolitan shows in his competition with the predecessor will thus be highlighted. Describing the fixed aratean constellations as real creatures, the poet finally overcomes his model through an increasingly enphasized mimetism whose main outcome is a novel and authentic "dionysiac" astronomy: appropriate both to his own stylistic devices (e. g. paradox) and to the underpinning themes of his work, namely the relationship between original and copy. This personal astronomy finds expression in Ariadne's Crown, a symbol of unity to which, in a Neoplatonism-inspired perspective, ποικιλία is meant to go back.Downloads
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