NONNUS, a Greek poet, was a native of Panopolis in
Nonheeva Egypt, and flourished in the fifth century A.D. It is likely that he was still a pagan when he wrote the former of his two extant works, the epic poem Dionysiaea. Then having been converted to Christianity, and probably resolving to consecrate his talents to the support of the new faith, he composed his hexameter paraphrase of the Gospel of St John. The epic is chiefly characterized by a cumbrous and disjointed plot, which runs lumbering on through forty-eight books amid much inflated verbiage and numerous inappropriate episodes. The paraphrase is valuable only on account of some of the various readings which it furnishes. The latest edition of the former of these works is that of F. Graefe, in 2 vols. 8vo, Leipzig, 1819-26. The latest edition of the latter is that of Passow, Leipzig, 1834.