Icarius Jesus Christ? Dionysiac Passion and Biblical Narrative in Nonnus' Icarius Episode (Dion. 47, 1 -264) * Summary -In the storyline of the Icarius episode Nonnus introduces novelties which, governed by a spirit of "humorous detachment", assimilate Icarius -the tree-planter chosen by Dionysus to spread his drink in Attica, murdered by those whom he was supposed to benefit, resurging post mortem to instruct his daughter -to Christ and, to a considerable extent, his murderers to the Jewish mob killing Christ, and Erigone to Mary Magdalene. A studied mixture of Dionysiac and Christian traits indicates that the episode, already in the prologue of the epic, is conceived as a substitute passion essential for Dionysus' translation to the sky. The widespread tenet that Nonnus is primarily indebted to Eratosthenes' Erigone is thus refuted.Broadly speaking, the story of Icarius and Erigone, originally the foundation myth of an Attic deme, is as follows: when Bacchus visited Athens as part of his
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.