Nonnius of Panopolis in Egypt, who lived in the fifth century of our era, composed the last great epic poetic work of antiquity. The Dionysiaca, in its forty-eight books, has as its main theme the campaign of Dionysus against the Indians. The poet manages to include all the adventures of the god (as well as many other mythological elements) in a narrative that begins with chaos in the heavens and ends with the apotheosis of the crown of Ariadne. The wild ecstatic enthusiasm inspired by the god is certainly reflected in the poet's style, which is baroque, excessive, and unrestrained. It seems that Nonnius, in the later years of his life, embraced Christianity, as in stark contrast to the Dionysiaca, a poem that unabashedly deals with classical myths and exudes a pagan perspective, there is a hexametric paraphrase of the Gospel of John attributed to him. The edition of the Dionysiaca from the Loeb Classical Library is in three volumes.