Selected Poems of Gregory of Nazianzus

Simelidis, Christos

doi:10.13109/9783666252877

Cited by 94 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…In articulating this concept with 'continuous hymns', Gregory recalls Callimachus' famous disavowal of an ἄεισμα διηνεκές, 'continuous song', in the Reply to the Telchines 3. 110 By referring to such a programmatic passage of Callimachean poetics at the end of 'On his own affairs', Gregory calls special attention to it. Embracing what Callimachus claimed to shun, he signals that the brevity and episodic nature of the Callimachean aesthetic cease to matter in the context of eternal praise.…”

Section: Rewriting the Bible In Homericmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…112 As Simelidis has shown, ἵλαθί μοι, 'Be merciful to me', in 'On human nature' (1.2.14) 119 is an imitation of the last line of Callimachus' Hymn to Demeter. 113 'On his own affairs', therefore, ends with a programmatic demonstration of Gregory's poetic artistry. Describing the eternal praise of God in heaven with language that comes from Callimachus, he shows that the 'continuous song' that Callimachus disdains for poetry has now, after the resurrection of Christ, become fitting for the praise of God.…”

Section: Rewriting the Bible In Homericmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Homer and his Legacy in Gregory of Nazianzus’ ‘On his own Affairs’

O’Connell¹

2019

J. Hell. Stud.

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This paper investigates how Gregory of Nazianzus imitates and responds to the Greek literary tradition in the autobiographical poem ‘On his own affairs’ (2.1.1). Through six case studies, it contributes to the ongoing re-evaluation of Gregory’s literary merit. With learning, wit, subtle humour and faith, Gregory adapts and reinvents earlier poetry to express Christian themes. Imitation is at the heart of his poetic technique, but his imitations are never straight-forward. They include imitating both Homer and other poets’ imitations of Homer, learned word-play and combining references to non-Christian literature and the Septuagint. Gregory’s references add nuance to ‘On his own affairs’ and give pleasure to readers trained to judge poetry by comparing it to earlier poetry, especially the Homeric epics. They also demonstrate the breadth of his scholarship, which extends to Homeric variants, Platonic epigrams and the entirety of the New Testament and Septuagint. Above all, Gregory insists that he is a rightful participant in a living poetic tradition. He writes Greek poetry for the fourth century AD, just as Oppian did in the second century and Apollonius and Callimachus did in the Hellenistic period.

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Section: Rewriting the Bible In Homericmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rewriting the Bible In Homericmentioning

confidence: 99%

Homer and his Legacy in Gregory of Nazianzus’ ‘On his own Affairs’

O’Connell¹

2019

J. Hell. Stud.

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“…Gregory's final wish is that Olympias may be an Odyssean 'fruitful vineyard' (7toX\)Kapjto<; dtaori, 109) 42 of children and grandchildren, so that more people may celebrate God. These lines, lavishly adorned with grand and unusual compound epithets, 43 conclude a carefully crafted sixteen-line peroration (95)(96)(97)(98)(99)(100)(101)(102)(103)(104)(105)(106)(107)(108)(109)(110)(111), in which Gregory includes an elaborate compliment to Olympias' governess Theodosia, sister to Gregory's cousin Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium (96)(97)(98)(99)(100)(101)(102)(103), thus defining the personal network that links Gregory to Olympias. 44 Earlier Greek prose treatments of the topic of correct wifely behaviour give perspective to Gregory's advice.…”

Section: The Poem To Olympiasmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Sugaring the Pill’: Gregory of Nazianzus' Advice to Olympias (Carm. 2.2.6)

Whitby¹

2008

Ramus

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Advice on marriage and the proper deportment for wives begins with the earliest Greek literature. While Homer's Andromache and Penelope provide practical role models, Hesiod (Works and Days 695-705, Theogony 568-612), followed (in iambics) by Semonides (frr. 6, 7), forcefully articulates male concerns about evil wives and women's wicked wiles. Hesiod's imperatival infinitives as well as his viewpoint reverberate more than a millennium later in a poem of advice composed, probably in the early 380s, by the Christian Gregory of Nazianzus for the marriage (νῦν μὲν σοὶ τόδ' ἔδωκα γαμήλιον, ‘now I have given you this wedding gift’, 2.2.6.108) of Olympias, elder daughter of Vitalian, a local Nazianzene worthy. This paper seeks to contribute to recent revaluations of Gregory's poetry—and hence of his place in the larger development of later Greek hexameter poetry—by illustrating how reading of the Olympias poem is enriched by exploration of its literary allusions and intertexts and its poetic craftsmanship. My title adopts Gregory's own image of ‘sugaring the pill’ of instruction for the young by writing in verse, but I extend the expression to include the pleasure that any reader may obtain in recognising Gregory's literary artistry, even when unpalatable prescriptions for female married life are the theme. Since the corpus is not well known, I begin by locating the poem within the context of Gregory's verse.

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“…The fifthcentury Church historian Socrates (3.16) dismisses the biblical paraphrases of the two Apollinarii as useless: he thinks that readers are better off reading the original classics. On Nilus' letter in relation to Gregory's poetry see Simelidis (2009) 27-9. Demoen (1993) 252 concludes that some in Gregory's immediate environment would not have been convinced of the value of classical poetic forms, forcing him to 'engage in a sort of continual give-and-take'.…”

Section: Introduction: the Voice Of The Christian Poetmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…II.1.16.65-6 (PG 37.1261) and II.1.92.11-12 (PG 37.1447; name in the final lines) and II.1.19.25-6 (PG 37.1273; name and birthplace). For commentary on these sphragides see Simelidis (2009) 150-2. 24 For acrostics which spell Gregory's name see I.2.31 (PG 37.910), I.2.33 (PG 37.928) and II.1.14 (PG 37.1244).…”

Section: Introduction: the Voice Of The Christian Poetmentioning

confidence: 99%

THE POET AND THE EVANGELIST IN NONNUS’PARAPHRASE OF THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN

Hadjittofi

2020

Camb. class. j.

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Christian poetry, and biblical epic in particular, is intensely self-conscious. Both Greek and Latin Christian poets begin or end their compositions, paraphrases and centos with poetological reflections on the value and objectives of their works. The fifth-century Paraphrase of the Gospel according to John is an anomaly in this tradition. While Nonnus’ mythological epic, the Dionysiaca, is heavily self-conscious in that it includes a strong authorial voice as well as an extensive prooemium and an interlude, the Christian Paraphrase has no prooemium, epilogue or interlude, and its narrator never identifies himself. This article examines two passages in the Paraphrase where subtle, implicit poetological reflections may be detected, and then explores the reasons why Nonnus may have chosen to deny the Paraphrase a clear (meta)literary identity. It argues that Nonnus’ poem presents itself as the Gospel of John, and that its narrator ‘becomes’ John the Evangelist in a spiritual exercise which is indebted to Origen's views on that Gospel.

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Selected Poems of Gregory of Nazianzus

Cited by 94 publications

References 0 publications

Homer and his Legacy in Gregory of Nazianzus’ ‘On his own Affairs’

Homer and his Legacy in Gregory of Nazianzus’ ‘On his own Affairs’

‘Sugaring the Pill’: Gregory of Nazianzus' Advice to Olympias (Carm. 2.2.6)

THE POET AND THE EVANGELIST IN NONNUS’PARAPHRASE OF THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN

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