Nostos

Abstract The next several stories narrate Andrew’s return, or nostos, to Achaea. Unfortunately, these chapters survive almost exclusively in Gregory’s epitome (GE), which in tum was based not on The Acts of Andrew directly but on a Latin translation. Gregory’s surgery was brutal. He omitted nearly every speech and often tortured the story line in order to “summarize only the wonders.” For example, he devoted only thirty-eight lines to the content treated thus far. Almost nothing remains of the speeches, including Andrew’s long conversation with Captain Jesus. The residents of Myrmidonia are no longer cannibals, there is no reference to the old man and the fourteen executioners, Andrew never goes to the city of the barbarians, and he does not return to rescue people from the abyss. Apart from the retention of the word “Myrmidonia,” Gregory’s account contains nothing to suggest the slightest interest in Homer.