#nonnos

[deathlessathanasia]

Omg, how could I forget that scene in Book 8 of the Dionysiaca where Hera complains about Zeus to his thunder and lightning and asks them to avenge her? Lmao

"With these words Hera left the house, and the girl still in her grief, jealous of the inimitable state of Hera’s marriage and unsatisfied with Cronion. Hera returned to heaven and went indoors. There beside the heavenly throne she saw the weapons of Zeus lying without their owner; and as if they could hear, she addressed them in friendly cajoling words: “Dear Thunder, has Zeus my cloudgatherer deserted you too then? Who has stolen you again and left your owner naked? Thunder, you have been plundered! But Typhoeus has nothing to do with it. The same has happened to Hera, my comforter: Rainy Zeus has a bride to look after and neglects us both. The earth is no more sprinkled with showers: the downfall of rain has ceased, drought feeds on the plowland furrows and makes the crops worthless, the countryman speaks not more of Cloudy Zeus but Zeus Cloudless. My dear Lightnings, utter your fiery appeal to Cronion, call upon womanmad Zeus, my thunderbolts! Avenge the jealous pain of Hera, attend upon Semele’s wedding! Let her pray for a wedding-gift and receive her own fiery destroyers!”"

[h0bg0blin-meat]

It's a punishable crime that Nonnos has both Dionysus x Ampelos AND Dionysus x Hymenaios in the Dionysiaca but did not make even one Indian character queer.

[zeherili-ankhein]

Historians: Indians never really tried to conquer foreign lands.

Nonnos: Bet

MORRHEUS WHAT THE FUCK

NONNOS WHEN I FIND YOU NONNOS 💀

NAHHH THIS IS JUST EVIL GO AWAY WTF

We need to keep up a reputation man... Don't do that Mory 💀

Also I want whatever drugs Nonnos was on

[brimo5]

For a time, I thought it was just my headcanon that the Erinyes and other Chthonic deities were seeking revenge for Dionysus and punishing Pentheus. Then I discovered that Nonnus actually wrote about it:

But while Bacchos yet conversed with circling Mene, even then Persephone was arming her Furies for the pleasure of Dionysos Zagreus, and in wrath helping Dionysos his later born brother. Then at the grim nod of Underworld Zeus, the Furies assailed the palace of Pentheus. One leapt out of the gloomy pit swinging her Tartarean whip of vipers; she drew a stream from Cocytos and water from Styx, and drenched Agaue's rooms with the infernal drops as if with a prophecy of tears and groanings for Thebes; and the deity brought that Attic knife from Attica, which long before murdered Itylos, when his mother Procne with heart like a lioness, helped by murderous Philomele, cut with steel the throat of the beloved child of her womb, and served up his own son for cannibal Tereus to eat. This knife, the channel of bloodshed, the Fury held, and scratching up the dust with her pernicious fingernails she buried the Attic blade among the hillgrown roots of a tall fir, among the Mainads, where Pentheus was to die headless. She brought the blood of Gorgon Medusa, scraped off into a shell fresh when she was newly slain, and smeared the tree with the crimson Libyan drops. This is what the mad Fury did in the mountains. (44.255ff)

Even though in Book 31, Persephone sends Megaira to help Hera against Dionysus and Megaira is more jealous of Dionysus than Hera (a dumb pun). Considering that Nonnus doesn’t explicitly describe Persephone's Zagreus being reborn as Semele’s Dionysus, it's still odd to against her possible reborn son. Dionysus is a "bullshaped copy" and have "the whole shape of Zagreus", even come from the heart of Zagreus as Hydaspes claimed before book 31.

Is it because Persephone and the other Chthonic deities haven’t figured out the truth? Or did they consciously deny it from the beginning, perhaps out of anger or resentment? However, everything shifts when Dionysus prays to the moon. Persephone, who is also a figure associated with the moon, realizes that she should help Dionysus for Zagreus's sake. At this moment, the Erinyes are like, "Oh shit, we attacked the wrong target! But don’t worry, we're going to fix this now!"

Sorry, Nonnus, I still hate you. You are awful and capricious, but I want more plot twists and detils now!

[deathlessathanasia]

„She [Rhea] is a silent character, speaking only through messengers or deceptive dreams, but regarding her function in the plot, which is not limited to one episode or plotline, she can be called a major character. She is Dionysus’ adoptive mother and the only one able to protect him against Hera during his childhood (9.145–246, also one of the passages announced in the programmatic prologue). She takes the lead in assembling Dionysus’ army for the Indian campaign (13–14). She is of invaluable help to him during the campaign by sending her foster son a new god-made shield and announcing him his nearing victory by the mouth of Attis (25.310–379, giving a flying start to the second half of the poem), and by eliminating Ares as helper of the Indian battle force (29.325–362). She, however, also intervenes in Dionysus’ favour in other episodes (e.g. giving speech to the metamorphosed Ambrosia in the Lycurgus episode, 21.33). Finally, after the war, her home is the destination of Dionysus’ νόστος (43.440–449); the spoils of war have been collected in her honour (35.369–370).”

- Berenice Verhelst, „Minor Characters in the Dionysiaca”. In Accorinti (Ed.) Brill’s Companion to Nonnus of Panopolis

[deathlessathanasia]

„Because Perseus is slightly older, and thus slightly ahead of Dionysus in performing heroic deeds during his own heroic quest, Perseus is repeatedly staged as Dionysus’ role model and rival, while Semele also challenges Danae. The two heroes finally meet in Argos (Book 47), at which occasion Perseus petrifies Ariadne and Zeus has to stop Dionysus from destroying Perseus and Argos in his anger. Up to this point, Perseus, just like Polyphemus, is only mentioned as an absent character, leaving behind traces of his actions in the admiration of his former host Staphylus (hosting Perseus before hosting Dionysus) and in the frustrations of his stepmother Hera (who is just as irritated about Perseus’ successes as about Dionysus’ progress in the Indian War).”

- Berenice Verhelst, „Minor Characters in the Dionysiaca”. In Accorinti (Ed.) Brill’s Companion to Nonnus of Panopolis

[deathlessathanasia]

Ok so the fact that in the Typhonomachy episode from the Dionysiaca Nike decides to take the appearance of Leto of all people when she goes to arm and encourage Zeus to fight is… quite interesting actually! Nonnos, what did you know?

[deathlessathanasia]

Hesiod used two different origins for the Fates in the Theogony, but I have yet to see anyone assume that this must mean Zeus and Themis had a threesome with Nyx the way some assume that Nonnos' using two different origins for Pasithea/the Graces in the Dionysiaca must mean that Hera and Dionysos slept together.

And mind you, we're talking about the Dionysiaca here, where Ariadne is killed once by spear and once by Medusa's head, where Aphrodite is sometimes the daughter of Zeus and sometimes of Ouranos, where Aphrodite gives birth to Eros immediately after she is born from the sea and also gives birth to him during her marriage to Hephaistos.

An ancient Greek text need not be 100% internally consistent. The Theogony is not, the Iliad is not, the Dionysiaca is most certainly not.