How and why did Greek speaking Christians write epic poetry? After a initial foray into the debates and anxieties about Homer in early Christian teaching, this talk dives into some of the earliest surviving examples of hexameters composed on Biblical themes. In these little-known poems, the language and values, substance and style of heroic epos and Christian scripture collide and combine in specific and surprising ways, showing the first steps towards a new form of an ancient genre, and a different approach to the inherited literary tradition.