This paper discusses some matching verbal formulae in the poems by Nonnus and Eudocia, which have previously been revealed by the author of the article. These are lexical intersections, the use of the same uncommon words as well as epic formulae and clichés. Some of them can be accounted for by the use of the same resources, Homer in the fi rst hand, as well as by the uniformity of the poetic language of the epoch. However, there are more than a dozen unique coincidences that do not occur elsewhere in ancient poetry. This allows us to talk about a certain creative interaction between the two poets. There arises a question about whose works are original and who was the borrower. From the point of view of the author of the article, it is more likely that it was Eudocia who borrowed the lexis and ready-made epic formulae from Nonnus, and not vice versa. In her texts, one can also identify some allusions to certain topics and images of Nonnus’ poetry. Since the dating of the texts of both authors is rather dubious, it cannot be made more precise by means of these coincidences. However, one can speak of the interest in Nonnus’ poetry in court circles of Constantinople.

Nonnus, Eudocia, epic formulae, epic clichés, lexical matches, late ancient poetry, Byzantine literature

1. Accorinti D., “The Poet from Panopolis. An Obscure Biography and a Controversial figure”, in: Brills Companion to Nonnus of Panopolis, Leiden; Boston, 2016, 11–54.
2. Agosti G., “Alcuni Problemi relativi alla cesura principale nell̕ esametro greco tardoantico”, in: Autour la césure. Actes du colloque Damon des 3 et 4 novembre 2000, Bern, 2004, 61–80.
3. Agosti G., “Greek poetry”, in: The Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity, Oxford, 2012, 361–404.
4. Aleksandrova T. L., “ Feodosij II i Pul’herija v izobrazhenii Sozomena (k probleme datirovki «Cerkovnoj istorii»)”, in: Vestnik Drevnej istorii, 76, 2, 2016, 371–387.
5. Aleksandrova T. L., “O vremeni i prichinah udalenij a imperatricy Evdokii vo Svjatuju Zemlju”, in: Vestnik Drevnej istorii, 77, 1, 2017, 106–125.
6. Aleksandrova T. L., “Poslednie gody imperatricy Evdokii v Palestine”, in: Gumanitarnyj vektor, 12, 4, 2017, 55–64.
7. Aleksandrova T. L., “Sud’ba tvorcheskogo nasledija Kira iz Panopolja v svete ego biografii”, in: Vestnik Novosibirskogo gosudarstvennogo universtiteta, Serija: Istorija, filologija, 16, 1, 2017, 15–28.
8. Aleksandrova T. L., per., prim. Evdokija Avgusta. O sv. Kipriane, in: Vestnik PSTGU, Serija filologija, 47, 2016, 93–133.
9. Aleksandrova T. L. Ob avtorstve predislovij k Gomerovskomu centonu, in: Vostochnye chtenija: religii, kul’tury, literatury. Materialy IV Mezhdunarodnoj nauchnoj konfe rencii 17–18 nojabrja 2017 g. Moskva. Institut mirovoj literatury im. A.M. Gor’kogo RAN, 2017, Moscow, 11–17.
10. Beckby H., Anthologia Graeca, 4 vols, Munich, 1965–1968.
11. Cameron A., The empress and the poet: Paganism and Politics at the Court of Theodosius II, in: Yale Classical Studies, 27, 1982, 217–289.
12. Deun van, P., The poetical writings of the empress Eudocia. An evaluation, in: Early Christian Poetry. A Collection of Essays, Leiden, 1993, 273–282.
13. Keydell R., Nonni Panopolitani Dionysiaca, 2 vols, Berlin, 1959.
14. Livrea E., Ľ imperatrice Eudocia e Roma. Per una datazione del De S. Cypr., in: Byzantinische Zeitshrift, 91, 1, 1998, 70–91.
15. Ludwich А., Eudociae Augustae, Procli Lycii, Claudiani carminum Graecorum reliquiae, Leipzig, 1897.
16. Magnelli E., The Nonnian Hexameter, in: Brills Companion to Nonnus of Panopolis, Leiden; Boston, 2016, 353–372.
17. Schembra R., Homerocentones, Turnhout, 2007.
18. Simelidis Ch., Nonnus and Christian literature, in: Brills Companion to Nonnus of Panopolis, Leiden; Boston, 2016, 290–306.
19. Tissoni F., “The Reception of Nonnus in Late Antiquity, Byzantine and Renaissance literature”, in: Brills Companion to Nonnus of Panopolis, Leiden; Boston, 2016, 691–714.
20. Witby M., “Writing in Greek: classicism and comilation, interaction and transformation”, in: Theodosius II: Rethinking the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity, Cambridge, 195–217.
21. Zaharova A., Torshilov D. Globus zvezdnogo neba. Pojeticheskaja masterskaja Nonna Panopolitanskogo, Moscow, 2003.

Alexandrova Tatiana
Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences* in Philology;
Place of work: St. Tikhon’s University for the Humanities; 6/1 Likhov Pereulok, Moscow 127051, Russian Federation;
ORCID: 0000-0002-6963-2263;
Email: tatianaalexandrova@yandex.ru. *According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.

This publication presents the second part of the Homeric Cento. The fi rst part, up to line 851, was published in Issue 50 (2017) of St. Tikhon’s University Review; that publication also contains the introductory paper and bibliography.

Homeric Centos, Homerocentra, Homer, Patricius, Eudocia, Byzantine literature, Christianity

Alexandrova Tatiana
Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences* in Philology;
Place of work: St. Tikhon’s University for the Humanities; 6/1 Likhov Pereulok, Moscow 127051, Russian Federation;
ORCID: 0000-0002-6963-2263;
Email: tatianaalexandrova@yandex.ru. *According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.

This paper presents a translation of the early Christian poem Visio Dorothei preserved in a papyrus copy from the Bodmer Collection (Pap. Bodmer, 29). This poem is written in hexametres and dates back to the middle of the 4th century. Its author is supposedly St. Dorotheus of Tyre, who suff ered torment in the time of Julian the Apostate. The poem narrates from the fi rst person about the vision of the Palace of God, which is arranged in the same way as the Imperial Palace. The protagonist serves as a guard, leaves his post, for which he is punished, and receives the post of the gatekeeper again, together with an order to transmit his vision in songs. The symbolism of the Vision is close to that of the Gnostics. The poem contains numerous lacunae. This work is one of the earliest Christian poetic texts written in hexametres.

Vision of Dorotheus, vision, hexametre, Dorotheus of Tyre, Imperial Palace, Early Christian poetry, late ancient literature

1. Agosti G. (1996–1997) “Contributi critico-testuali all’interpretazione della Visio Dorothei”. Analecta papyrologica, vol. 8‒9, pp. 47–60.
2. Bremmer J. (1988) “An Imperial Palace Guard in Heaven: The Date of the Vision of Dorotheus”. Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, vol. 75, pp. 82–88.
3. Gelzer Th. (1988) “Zur Visio Dorothei. Pap. Bodmer, 29”. Museum Helveticum : schweizerische Zeitschrift für klassische Altertumswissenschaft, vol. 4/4, pp. 248–250.
4. Hurst A., Reverdin O., Rudhardt J. (eds.) (1984) Papyrus Bodmer XXIX, Vision de Dorothéos. Genéve.
5. Hurst A., Rudhardt J. (eds.) (1999) Papyri Bodmer XXX–XXXVII: “Codex des Visions”: poè mes divers (Bibliotheca Bodmeriana). München.
6. Jones A., Martindale J. (1971) The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Vol. 1: A. D. 260–395. Cambridge.
7. Kessels A., Van der Horst P. (eds.) (1987) “The Vision of Dorotheus (Pap. Bodmer 29)”. Vigiliae Christianae, vol. 41/4, pp. 313–359.
8. Livrea E. (1986) “Review: Vision de Dorothéos. Édité avec une introduction, une traduction e des notes par André Hurst, Olivier Reverdin et Jean Rudhardt”. Gnomon, vol. 58/8, pp. 687–711.
9. Livrea E. (1992) “Esichio e la Visione di Dorotheos”. Glotta, vol. 70/1–2, pp. 71–81.
10. Lukhovitskii L., Artiukhova T. (2007) “Dorofei”, in Pravoslavnaia entsiklopediia, vol. 16. Moscow, 2007, pp. 23–24 (in Russian),
11. Moreschini C., Norelli E. (2005) Early Christian Greek and Latin Literature, vol. 2. Peabody.
12. Van Berchem D. (1986) “Des soldats chrétiens dans la garde imperial: observations sur le texte de la Vision de Dorothéos (Papyrus Bodmer XXIX)”. Studii clasice, vol. 24, pp. 155–163.
13. Vian F. (1985) “A propos de la Vision de Dorothéos”. Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, vol. 60, pp. 45–49.

Alexandrova Tatiana
Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences* in Philology;
Place of work: St. Tikhon’s University for the Humanities; 6/1 Likhov Pereulok, Moscow 127051, Russian Federation;
ORCID: 0000-0002-6963-2263;
Email: tatianaalexandrova@yandex.ru. *According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.

This publication presents a translation of seven poems from the so-called Codex visionum, kept in Bodmer’s collection of the papyri (Pap. Bodmer 30–36). The Codex originates from a library of a Pachomian monastery in Egypt. These are small poems on Christian topics written in hexametres (only one poem — To the Righteous — is written in elegiac distichs). Some of them contain an alphabetic acrostic. All these poems apparently date from the 4th century, but could also be written by diff erent authors in different times. All the authors seem to have obtained a thorough school education, all of them are familiar with common rhetorical techniques, e.g. with the ethopoeia. As regards the content, all these poems are united by strict asceticism reaching as far as dualism, and by the idea of necessity of suff ering for Christ, perhaps non martyric, but monastic. This collection sheds light on the mentality of the educated people of the 4th century who devoted themselves to monasticism.

Codex visionum, papyri, Bodmer’s collection of papyri, poem, hexametre, ethopoeia, monastic literature, Early Christian poetry, Late Ancient literature

1. Alexandrova T. (transl., comment.) (2019) “Videnie Dorofeia (Pap. Bodmer, 29)” [Visio Dorothei (Pap. Bodmer, 29]. Vestnik PSTGU. Seriia III: Filologiia, 2019, no. 59, pp. 57–72 (in Russian).
2. Hurst A., Reverdin O., Rudhardt J. (1984) Papyrus Bodmer XXIX, Vision de Dorothéos. Cologny; Genéve.
3. Hurst A., Rudhardt J. (eds.) (1999) Papyri Bodmer XXX–XXXVII: «Codex des Visions»: poè mes divers (Bibliotheca Bodmeriana). München.
4. Kessels A., Van der Horst P. (eds.) (1987) “The Vision of Dorotheus (Pap. Bodmer 29)”. Vigiliae Christianae, 1987, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 313–359.
5. Livrea E. (ed.) (2004) “Dorothei Laudes Domini Jesu (P. Bodmer XXII)”. Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, 147, 2004, pp. 39–43.
6. Miguélez-Cavero L. (2013) “Rhetoric for a Christian Community: the poems of the Codex visionum”, in The Purpose of Rhetoric in Late Antiquity. Tübingen, 2013, pp. 91–122.
7. Robinson J. (2013) The Story of the Bodmer Papyri. From the First Monastery’s Library in Upper Egypt to Geneva and Dublin. Cambridge.

Alexandrova Tatiana
Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences* in Philology;
Place of work: St. Tikhon’s University for the Humanities; 6/1 Likhov Pereulok, Moscow 127051, Russian Federation;
ORCID: 0000-0002-6963-2263;
Email: tatianaalexandrova@yandex.ru. *According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.

This publication represents a poetic translation into Russian of the poem by John of Gaza (1st half of the 6th century AD) Ekphrasis of the Picture of the Universe. The poem consists of 732 verses and contains a picturesque description of more than 50 allegorical fi gures depicting personalised natural phenomena. It is supposed to be a description of a real mosaic or fresco, which was placed, as the scholiast’s note informs us, in the winter baths. The location of these baths is unknown. Some fi gures find mosaic or fresco analogues, but it has not been established yet what kind of work of art served as a prototype for the Ekphrasis. It could be that there was no original picture and John simply embodied his own view of the Universe, based on late-ancient scientific findings. John is not an opponent of Christianity; he begins his description with a prayer to God, and the Cross is described fi rst among the figures. However, compared with the biblical picture of the world, John’s ideas are signifi cantly diff erent. As a poet, John of Gaza belongs to the school of Nonnus, the dependence on whom is doubtless. In turn, he himself infl uenced Paul the Silentiary and his Ekphrasis of the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople, which, if we take into account the poem of John, begins to be perceived as a description of a man-made image of the Universe, imprinted in the Hagia Sophia.

John of Gaza, ekphrasis, ancient cosmology, spherical earth, personifi cation, Paul the Silentiary, Cosmas Indicopleustes, Late Ancient literature, Byzantine literature

1. Dionisii (Shlenov), hieromonk (2003) “Varsonofi i Velikii” [Barsanuphius the Great], in Pravoslavnaia entsiklopediia [Orthodox Encyclopaedia], vol. 6, pp. 684–696 (in Russian).
2. Oretskaia I., Popov I. (2015) “Kosma Indikoplov” [Cosmas Indicopleustes], in Pravoslavnaia entsiklopediia [Orthodox Encyclopaedia], vol. 38, pp. 250–252 (in Russian).
3. Agosti G. (2012) “Greek Poetry”, in S. Johnson (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity. Oxford. Pp. 361–405.
4. Cameron A. (1993) “On the Date of John de Gaza”. Classical Quarterly, 43, pp. 348–351.
5. Downey G. (1938) “John of Gaza and the Mosaic of Ge and Karpoi”, in R. Stillwell (ed.) Antioch-in-the-Orontes. II. The excavations of 1934–1936. Princeton; London; La Hague. Pp. 205–212.
6. Gigli-Piccardi D. (2014) “Poetic Inspiration in John of Gaza: Emotional Upheaval and Ecstasy in a Neoplatonic Poet”, in K. Spanoudakis (ed.) Nonnus of Panopolis in Context: Poetry and Cultural Milieu in Late Antiquity with a Section on Nonnus and the Modern World. Paris. Pp. 403–420.
7. Lauritzen D. (2013) “Paule le Silentiaire lectuer de Jean de Gaza”, in D. Lauritzen, M. Tardieu (eds) Le voyage des légendes. Hommages à Pierre Chuvin. Paris. Pp. 309–323.
8. Lauritzen D. (ed.) (2018) Jean de Gaza. Description de tableau cosmique. Paris.

Alexandrova Tatiana
Academic Degree: Candidate of Sciences* in Philology;
Place of work: St. Tikhon’s University for the Humanities; 6/1 Likhov Pereulok, Moscow 127051, Russian Federation;
ORCID: 0000-0002-6963-2263;
Email: tatianaalexandrova@yandex.ru. *According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.

This article contains a poetical translation of the epic poem by the late-ancient poet Triphiodorus, The Sack of Ilion. For a long time, Triphiodorus had been considered as a poet of “the school of Nonnus” and as his epigone, and his lifetime had been dated to the end of the 5th — beginning of the 6th century. But after the publication in 1972 of the Oxyrhynchus Papyrus of the 3th century containing a few lines by Triphiodorus, it became clear that his lifetime should be shifted to the 3th century and it was not Nonnus who influenced Triphiodorus, but vice versa. Triphiodorus anticipated some stylistic and metrical innovations of Nonnus. “Suda” conveys some data about Triphiodorus stating that he lived in Egypt, and attributing to him several epic poems, among which only The Sack of Ilion has survived. It is a poem containing 691 verses and based on the plot of the Song of Demodocus summarised in Odyssey. The poem by Triphiodorus can be called “a reconstruction” of Demodocusʼ Song. It is also close in content to the last books of the epic Posthomerica by Quintus of Smyrna, though it is not a paraphrase but an independent development of the theme. Such Christian authors as Gregory the Nazianzenus and Gregory of Nyssa could be familiar with the poem. This is the first full translation of the poem into Russian.

Triphiodorus, The Sack of Ilion, Homerus, Nonnus, epic, Late Ancient Poetry

1. Miguélez-Cavero L. (2013) Triphiodorus, “The Sack of Troy”: A General Study and Commentary. Berlin; Boston.
2. Mair A. W. (ed.) (1928) Oppian, Colluthus, Tryphiodorus. Cambridge, Massachusets, 1928, pp. 580–632.
3. Pamiatniki pozdnej antichnoj poezii i prozy II–V veka (1964). Moscow, pp. 56–61 (in Russian).
4. Adler A. (ed.) (1928–1935) Suidae lexicon. Leipzig, vol. 1–4 (repr.: Stuttgart, 1967–1971).
5. Gerlaud B. (ed.) (1982). Triphiodore, La Prise d’Ilion. Paris.
6. Vian F. (1986) “L’épopée grecque de Quintus de Smyrne à Nonnos de Panopolis”. Bulletin de l’Association Guillaume Budé, 1986, no. 45, pp. 333–343.
7. Zhukovsky V. (transl.), Neihardt A., Osherov S. (eds) (1984) Gomer. Odisseia [Homer. Odyssey]. Moscow (in Russian).

Alexandrova Tatiana
Academic Degree: Doctor of sciences* in Philology;
Place of work: A. M. Gorky Institute of World literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences; 25a Povarskaya, Moscow 121069, Russian Federation; St. Tikhon’s University for the Humanities; 6/1 Likhov Pereulok, Moscow 127051, Russian Federation;
ORCID: 0000-0002-6963-2263;
Email: tatianaalexandrova@yandex.ru. *According to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 2011, the degree of Candidate of Sciences (Cand.Sc.) belongs to ISCED level 8 — "doctoral or equivalent", together with PhD, DPhil, D.Lit, D.Sc, LL.D, Doctorate or similar.