Dante Alighieri

The Complete Guide

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Contents
Articles
Main article
Dante Alighieri 1 1 12 12 14 15 16 16 19 19 20 20 31 43 57 69 69 72 73 73 74 75 76 77 79 80 81 81 83

Works in Latin
De vulgari eloquentia De Monarchia Eclogues

Works in Italian
La Vita Nuova Le Rime Convivio

Divine Comedy
Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia) Inferno Purgatorio Paradiso

Verses from the Divine Commedy

Pap Satn, pap Satn aleppe Raphl ma amche zab almi

Characters in the Divine Commedy

Alichino Barbariccia Ciampolo Cocytus Corso Donati Dis Eunoe Forese Donati Malacoda Malebranche

Malebolge Piccarda Satan Scarmiglione

84 86 87 91 92 92 93 131 131 143 145 146 147 149 151 153 155 165 170 174 180 182 184 184

Insights the Divine Commedy

Contrapasso List of cultural references in Divine Comedy

In popular culture
Dante and his Divine Comedy in popular culture Aprs une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata Dante crater Dante Park The Divine Comedy (symphony) Dante's Inferno (1924 film) Dante's Inferno (1935 film) Dante's Inferno (2007 film) Dante's Inferno (video game) Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic Dante Symphony Demon Lord Dante L'Inferno (film) Italian battleship Dante Alighieri

Further reading
Allegory in the Middle Ages

References
Article Sources and Contributors Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors 188 191

Article Licenses
License 194

Main article
Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri, attributed to Giotto, in the chapel of the Bargello palace in Florence. This oldest picture of Dante was painted just prior to his exile and has since been heavily restored. Born Mid-May to mid-June 1265 Florence September 14, 1321 (aged about 56) Ravenna Statesman, poet, language theorist Italian Dolce Stil Novo

Died

Occupation Nationality Literary movement

Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante (IT: /'dante/; UK:/dnti/; US:/dnte/; 12651321), was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia (The Divine Comedy). His Divine Comedy, originally called Commedia and later called Divina by Boccaccio, is considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature.[1] In Italy he is known as il Sommo Poeta ("the Supreme Poet") or just il Poeta. Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio are also known as "the three fountains" or "the three crowns". Dante is also called the "Father of the Italian language".

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Life
Dante was born in Florence, Italy. The exact date of Dante's birth is not known, although it is generally believed to be around 1265. This can be deduced from autobiographic allusions in La Divina Commedia, "the Inferno" (Halfway through the journey we are living, implying that Dante was around 35 years old, as the average lifespan according to the Bible (Psalms 89:10, Vulgate) is 70 years; and as the imaginary travel took place in 1300, Dante must have been born around 1265). Some verses of the Paradiso section of the Divine Comedy also provide a possible clue that he was born under the sign of Gemini: "As I revolved with the eternal twins, I saw revealed from hills to river outlets, the threshing-floor that makes us so ferocious" (XXII 151-154). In 1265 the Sun was in Gemini approximately during the period 11 May to 11 June.[2] Dante claimed that his family descended from the ancient Romans (Inferno, XV, 76), but the earliest relative he could mention by name was Cacciaguida degli Elisei (Paradiso, XV, 135), of no earlier than about 1100. Dante's father, Alaghiero[3] or Alighiero di Bellincione, was a White Guelph who suffered no reprisals after the Ghibellines won the Battle of Montaperti in the middle of the 13th century. This suggests that Alighiero or his family enjoyed some protective prestige and status, although some suggest that the politically inactive Alighiero was of such low standing that he was not considered worth exiling. Dante's family had loyalties to the Guelphs, a political alliance that supported the Papacy and which was involved in complex opposition to the Ghibellines, who Portrait of Dante, from a fresco in the were backed by the Holy Roman Emperor. The poet's mother was Bella, likely a Palazzo dei Giudici, Florence. member of the Abati family[3] . She died when Dante was not yet ten years old, and Alighiero soon married again, to Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. It is uncertain whether he really married her, as widowers had social limitations in these matters, but this woman definitely bore two children, Dante's half-brother Francesco and half-sister Tana (Gaetana). When Dante was 12, he was promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati, daughter of Manetto Donati, member of the powerful Donati family[3] . Contracting marriages at this early age was quite common and involved a formal ceremony, including contracts signed before a notary. Dante had by this time fallen in love with another, Beatrice Portinari (known also as Bice), whom he first met when he was nine years old. Years after his marriage to Gemma, he claims to have met Beatrice again; although he wrote several sonnets to Beatrice, he never mentioned his wife Gemma in any of his poems. The exact date of his marriage is not known: the only certain information is that, before his exile in 1301 Dante had already three sons (Pietro, Iacopo and Antonia)[3] . Dante fought with the Guelph cavalry at the Battle of Campaldino (June 11, 1289). This victory brought forth a reformation of the Florentine constitution. To take any part in public life, one had to be enrolled in one of the city's many commercial or artisan guilds, so Dante entered the guild of physicians and apothecaries. In the following years, his name is occasionally found recorded as speaking or voting in the various councils of the republic. A substantial portion of minutes from such meetings from 1298-1300 were lost during World War II, however, and consequently the true extent of Dante's participation in the city's councils is somewhat uncertain. Dante had several children with Gemma. As often happens with significant figures, many people subsequently claimed to be Dante's offspring; however, it is likely that Jacopo, Pietro, Giovanni and Antonia were truly his children. Antonia later became a nun with the name of Sister Beatrice.

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Education and poetry

Not much is known about Dante's education, and it is presumed he studied at home or in a chapter school attached to a church or monastery in Florence. It is known that he studied Tuscan poetry, at a time when the Sicilian School (Scuola poetica Siciliana), a cultural group from Sicily, was becoming known in Tuscany. His interests brought him to discover the Provenal poetry of the troubadours and the Latin poetry of classical antiquity, including Cicero, Ovid, and especially Virgil. Dante claims to have first met Beatrice Portinari, daughter of Folco Portinari, at age nine, and claims to have fallen in love "at first sight", apparently without even speaking to her. He saw her frequently after age 18, often exchanging greetings in the street, but he never knew her well; he effectively set the example for so-called courtly love, a phenomenon developed in French and Provenal poetry of the preceding centuries. Dante's experience of such love was typical, but his expression of it was unique. It was in the name of this love that Dante gave his imprint to the Dolce Stil Novo (Sweet New Style, a term which Dante himself coined) and would join other contemporary poets and writers in exploring the themes of Love (Amore), which had never been so emphasized before. Love for Beatrice (as in a different manner Petrarch would show for his Laura) would apparently be the reason for poetry and for living, together with political passions. In many of his poems, she is depicted as semi-divine, watching over him constantly and providing spiritual instruction, sometimes harshly. When Beatrice died in 1290, Dante sought refuge in Latin literature. The Statue of Dante at the Uffizi, Convivio reveals that he had read Boethius's De consolatione philosophiae and Florence Cicero's De amicitia. He then dedicated himself to philosophical studies at religious schools like the Dominican one in Santa Maria Novella. He took part in the disputes that the two principal mendicant orders (Franciscan and Dominican) publicly or indirectly held in Florence, the former explaining the doctrine of the mystics and of Saint Bonaventure, the latter presenting Saint Thomas Aquinas' theories. At 18, Dante met Guido Cavalcanti, Lapo Gianni, Cino da Pistoia and soon after Brunetto Latini; together they became the leaders of the Dolce Stil Novo. Brunetto later received a special mention in the Divine Comedy (Inferno, XV, 28), for what he had taught Dante. Nor speaking less on that account, I go With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are His most known and most eminent companions. Some fifty poetical components by Dante are known (the so-called Rime, rhymes), others being included in the later Vita Nuova and Convivio. Other studies are reported, or deduced from Vita Nuova or the Comedy, regarding painting and music.

Florence and politics

Dante, like most Florentines of his day, was embroiled in the Guelph-Ghibelline conflict. He fought in the Battle of Campaldino (June 11, 1289), with the Florentine Guelphs against Arezzo Ghibellines, then in 1294 he was among the escorts of Charles Martel of Anjou (grandson of CharlesI of Naples, more commonly called Charles of Anjou) while he was in Florence. To further his political career, he became a pharmacist. He did not intend to actually practice as one, but a law issued in 1295 required that nobles who wanted public office had to be enrolled in one of the Corporazioni delle Arti e dei Mestieri, so Dante obtained admission to the apothecaries' guild. This profession was not entirely inapt, since at that time books were sold from apothecaries' shops. As a politician, he accomplished little, but he held various offices over a number of years in a city undergoing political unrest.

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After defeating the Ghibellines, the Guelphs divided into two factions: the White Guelphs (Guelfi Bianchi) Dante's party, led by Vieri dei Cerchi and the Black Guelphs (Guelfi Neri), led by Corso Donati. Although initially the split was along family lines, ideological differences rose based on opposing views of the papal role in Florentine affairs, with the Blacks supporting the Pope and the Whites wanting more freedom from Rome. Initially the Whites were in power and expelled the Blacks. In response, Pope Boniface VIII planned a military occupation of Florence. In 1301, Charles of Valois, brother of King Philip IV of France, was expected to visit Florence because the Pope had appointed him peacemaker for Tuscany. But the city's government had treated the Pope's ambassadors badly a few weeks Dante Alighieri, detail from Luca Signorelli's fresco, Chapel of San Brizio, Orvieto Cathedral. before, seeking independence from papal influence. It was believed that Charles of Valois would eventually have received other unofficial instructions. So the council sent a delegation to Rome to ascertain the Pope's intentions. Dante was one of the delegates.

Exile and death

Boniface quickly dismissed the other delegates and asked Dante alone to remain in Rome. At the same time (November 1, 1301), Charles of Valois entered Florence with the Black Guelphs, who in the next six days destroyed much of the city and killed many of their enemies. A new Black Guelph government was installed and Cante de' Gabrielli da Gubbio was appointed podest of the city. Dante was condemned to exile for two years and ordered to pay a large fine. The poet was still in Rome where the Pope had "suggested" he stay and was therefore considered an absconder. He did not pay the fine in part because he believed he was not guilty and in part because all his assets in Florence had been seized by the Black Guelphs. He was condemned to perpetual exile, and if he returned to Florence without paying the fine, he could be burned at the stake. (The city council of Florence finally passed a motion rescinding Dante's sentence in June 2008.[4] ) He took part in several attempts by the White Guelphs to regain power, but these failed due to treachery. Dante, bitter at the treatment he received from his enemies, also grew disgusted with the infighting and ineffectiveness of his erstwhile allies and vowed to become a party of one. Dante went to Verona as a guest of Bartolomeo I della Scala, then moved to Sarzana in Liguria. Later, he is supposed to have lived in Lucca with a lady called Gentucca, who made his stay comfortable (and was later gratefully mentioned in Purgatorio, XXIV, 37). Some speculative sources claim he visited Paris between 1308 and 1310 and others, even less trustworthy, take him to Oxford: these claims, first occurring in Boccaccio's book on Dante several decades after his death, seem inspired by readers being impressed with the poet's wide learning and erudition. Evidently Dante's command of philosophy and his literary interests deepened in exile, when he was no longer busy with the day-to-day business of Florentine domestic politics, and this is evidenced in his prose writings in this period, but there is no real indication that he ever left Italy. Despite these years of disputed

A recreated death mask of Dante Alighieri in Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.

Dante Alighieri whereabouts, Dante's Immensa Dei dilectione testante to Henry VII of Luxembourg confirms his residence "beneath the springs of Arno, near Tuscany" in March of 1311. In 1310, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg marched 5,000 troops into Italy. Dante saw in him a new Charlemagne who would restore the office of the Holy Roman Emperor to its former glory and also re-take Florence from the Black Guelphs. He wrote to Henry and several Italian princes, demanding that they destroy the Black Guelphs. Mixing religion and private concerns, he invoked the worst anger of God against his city and suggested several particular targets that coincided with his personal enemies. It was during this time that he wrote De Monarchia, proposing a universal monarchy under Henry VII. At some point during his exile, he conceived of the Comedy, but the date cannot be specified. The work is much more assured, and on a larger scale, than anything he had produced in Florence, and it is likely that he would have undertaken such a work only after he realized that his personal political ambitions, which had been central to him up to his banishment, would have to be put on hold for some time, possibly forever. It is also noticeable that Beatrice has returned to his imagination with renewed force and with a wider meaning than in the Vita Nuova; in Convivio (written c.1304-07) he had declared that the memory of this youthful romance belonged to the past. One of the earliest outside indications that the poem was under way is a notice by the law professor Francesco da Barberino, tucked into his I Documenti d'Amore (Lessons of Love) and written probably in 1314 or early 1315: speaking of Virgil, da Barberino notes in appreciative words that Dante followed the Roman classic in a poem called the Comedy, and that the Statue of Dante in the Piazza di Santa Croce in setting of this poem (or part of it) was the underworld, that is, Hell.[5] Florence. The brief note gives no incontestable indication that he himself had seen or read even Inferno, or that this part had been published at the time, but it indicates that composition was well under way and that the sketching of the poem may likely have begun some years before. We know that Inferno had been published by 1317; this is established by quoted lines interspersed in the margins of contemporary dated records from Bologna, but there is no certainty whether the three parts of the poem were published each part in full or a few cantos at a time. Paradiso seems to have been published posthumously. In Florence, Baldo d'Aguglione pardoned most of the White Guelphs in exile and allowed them to return; however, Dante had gone too far in his violent letters to Arrigo (Henry VII), and the sentence on him was not recalled. In 1312, Henry assaulted Florence and defeated the Black Guelphs, but there is no evidence that Dante was involved. Some say he refused to participate in the assault on his city by a foreigner; others suggest that he had become unpopular with the White Guelphs too and that any trace of his passage had carefully been removed. In 1313, Henry VII died (from fever), and with him any hope for Dante to see Florence again. He returned to Verona, where Cangrande I della Scala allowed him to live in a certain security and, presumably, in a fair amount of prosperity. Cangrande was admitted to Dante's Paradise (Paradiso, XVII, 76). In 1315, Florence was forced by Uguccione della Faggiuola (the military officer controlling the town) to grant an amnesty to people in exile, including Dante. But Florence required that as well as paying a sum of money, these exiles would do public penance. Dante refused, preferring to remain in exile. When Uguccione defeated Florence, Dante's death sentence was commuted to house arrest, on condition that he go to Florence to swear that he would never enter the town again. Dante refused to go. His death sentence was confirmed and extended to his sons. Dante still hoped late in life that he might be invited back to Florence on honorable terms. For Dante, exile was nearly a form of death, stripping him of much of his identity and his heritage. He addresses the pain of exile in Paradiso,

Dante Alighieri XVII (55-60), where Cacciaguida, his great-great-grandfather, warns him what to expect:

Mural of Dante in the Uffizi Gallery, by Andrea del Castagno, c. 1450.

... Tu lascerai ogne cosa diletta pi caramente; e questo quello strale che l'arco de lo essilio pria saetta. Tu proverai s come sa di sale lo pane altrui, e come duro calle

... You shall leave everything you love most: this is the arrow that the bow of exile shoots first. You are to know the bitter taste of others' bread, how salty it is, and know how hard a path it is for one who goes

lo scendere e 'l salir per l'altrui scale ... ascending and descending others' stairs ...

As for the hope of returning to Florence, he describes it as if he had already accepted its impossibility, (Paradiso, XXV, 19):
Se mai continga che 'l poema sacro al quale ha posto mano e cielo e terra, s che m'ha fatto per molti anni macro, vinca la crudelt che fuor mi serra del bello ovile ov'io dormi' agnello, nimico ai lupi che li danno guerra; con altra voce omai, con altro vello ritorner poeta, e in sul fonte If it ever come to pass that the sacred poem to which both heaven and earth have set their hand so as to have made me lean for many years should overcome the cruelty that bars me from the fair sheepfold where I slept as a lamb, an enemy to the wolves that make war on it, with another voice now and other fleece I shall return a poet and at the font

del mio battesmo prender 'l cappello ... of my baptism take the laurel crown ...

Prince Guido Novello da Polenta invited him to Ravenna in 1318, and he accepted. He finished the Paradiso, and died in 1321 (at the age of 56) while returning to Ravenna from a diplomatic mission to Venice, possibly of malaria contracted there. Dante was buried in Ravenna at the Church of San Pier Maggiore (later called San Francesco). Bernardo Bembo, praetor of Venice in 1483, took care of his remains by building a better tomb.

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On the grave, some verses of Bernardo Canaccio, a friend of Dante, dedicated to Florence: parvi Florentia mater amoris "Florence, mother of little love" The first formal biography of Dante was the Vita di Dante (also known as Trattatello in laude di Dante) written after 1348 by Giovanni Boccaccio;[6] several statements and episodes of it are seen as unreliable by modern research. However, an earlier account of Dante's life and works had been included in the Nuova Cronica of the Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani.[7] Eventually, Florence came to regret Dante's exile, and made repeated requests for the return of his remains. The custodians of the body at Ravenna refused to comply, at one point going so far as to conceal the bones in a false wall of the monastery. Nevertheless, in 1829, a tomb was built for him in Florence in the basilica of Santa Croce. That tomb has been empty ever since, with Dante's body remaining in Ravenna, far from the land he loved so dearly. The front of his tomb in Florence reads Onorate l'altissimo poetawhich roughly translates as "Honour the most exalted poet". The phrase is a quote from the fourth canto of the Inferno, depicting Virgil's welcome as he returns among the great ancient poets spending eternity in Limbo. The continuation of the line, L'ombra sua torna, ch'era dipartita ("his spirit, which had left us, returns"), is poignantly absent from the empty tomb. In 2007, a reconstruction of Dante's face was completed in a collaborative project. Artists from Pisa University and engineers at the University of Bologna at Forli completed the revealing model, which indicated that Dante's features were somewhat different than was once thought.[8] [9]

Dante's tomb in Ravenna, built in 1780.

Works
See also Works by Dante Alighieri.
Cenotaph in Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence.

The Divine Comedy describes Dante's journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Paradise (Paradiso), guided first by the Roman poet Virgil and then by Beatrice, the subject of his love and of another of his works, La Vita Nuova. While the vision of Hell, the Inferno, is vivid for modern readers, the theological niceties presented in the other books require a certain amount of patience and knowledge to appreciate. Purgatorio, the most lyrical and human of the three, also has the most poets in it; Paradiso, the most heavily theological, has the most beautiful and ecstatic mystic passages in which Dante tries to describe what he confesses he is unable to convey (e.g., when Dante looks into the face of God: "all'alta fantasia qui manc possa""at this high moment, ability failed my capacity to describe," Paradiso, XXXIII, 142).

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By its serious purpose, its literary stature and the rangeboth stylistically and in subject matterof its content, the Comedy soon became a cornerstone in the evolution of Italian as an established literary language. Dante was more aware than most earlier Italian writers of the variety of Italian dialects and of the need to create a literature beyond the limits of Latin writing at the time, and a unified literary language; in that sense he is a forerunner of the renaissance with its effort to create vernacular literature in competition with earlier Dante, poised between the mountain of purgatory classical writers. Dante's in-depth knowledge (within the realms of the and the city of Florence, displays the famous time) of Roman antiquity and his evident admiration for some aspects incipit Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita in a detail of Domenico di Michelino's painting, of pagan Rome also point forward to the 15th century. Ironically, while Florence 1465. he was widely honoured in the centuries after his death, the Comedy slipped out of fashion among men of letters: too medieval, too rough and tragical and not stylistically refined in the respects that the high and late renaissance came to demand of literature. He wrote the Comedy in a language he called "Italian", in some sense an amalgamated literary language mostly based on the regional dialect of Tuscany, with some elements of Latin and of the other regional dialects. The aim was to deliberately reach a readership throughout Italy, both laymen, clergymen and other poets. By creating a poem of epic structure and philosophic purpose, he established that the Italian language was suitable for the highest sort of expression. In French, Italian is sometimes nicknamed la langue de Dante. Publishing in the vernacular language marked Dante as one of the first (among others such as Geoffrey Chaucer and Giovanni Boccaccio) to break free from standards of publishing in only Latin (the language of liturgy, history, and scholarship in general, but often also of lyric poetry). This break set a precedent and allowed more literature to be published for a wider audiencesetting the stage for greater levels of literacy in the future. However, unlike Boccaccio, Milton or Ariosto, Dante didn't really become an author read all over Europe until the romantic era. To the romantics, Dante, like Homer and Shakespeare, was a prime example of the "original genius" who sets his own rules, creates persons of overpowering stature and depth and goes far beyond any imitation of the patterns of earlier masters and who, in turn, cannot really be imitated. Throughout the 19th century, Dante's reputation grew and solidified, and by the time of the 1865 jubilee, he had become solidly established as one of the greatest literary icons of the Western world.

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Readers often cannot understand how such a serious work may be called a "comedy". In Dante's time, all serious scholarly works were written in Latin (a tradition that would persist for several hundred years more, until the waning years of the Enlightenment) and works written in any other language were assumed to be more trivial in nature. Furthermore, the word "comedy", in the classical sense, refers to works which reflect belief in an ordered universe, in which events not only tended towards a happy or "amusing" ending, but an ending influenced by a Providential will that orders all things to an ultimate good. By this meaning of the word, as Dante himself wrote in a letter to Cangrande I della Scala, the progression of the pilgrimage from Hell to Paradise is the paradigmatic expression of comedy, since the work begins with the pilgrim's moral confusion and ends with the vision of God.

Profile portrait of Dante, by Sandro Botticelli.

Dante's other works include the Convivio ("The Banquet")[10] a collection of his longest poems with an (unfinished) allegorical commentary; Monarchia,[11] a summary treatise of political philosophy in Latin, which was condemned and burned after Dante's death[12] [13] by the Papal Legate Bertrando del Poggetto, which argues for the necessity of a universal or global monarchy in order to establish universal peace in this life, and this monarchy's relationship to the Roman Catholic Church as guide to eternal peace; De vulgari eloquentia ("On the Eloquence of Vernacular"),[14] on vernacular Statue of Dante Alighieri in Verona. literature, partly inspired by the Razos de trobar of Raimon Vidal de Bezaudun; and, La Vita Nuova ("The New Life"),[15] the story of his love for Beatrice Portinari, who also served as the ultimate symbol of salvation in the Comedy. The Vita Nuova contains many of Dante's love poems in Tuscan, which was not unprecedented; the vernacular had been regularly used for lyric works before, during all the thirteenth century. One of the most famous poems is Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare, which many Italians can recite by heart. However, Dante's commentary on his own work is also in the vernacularboth in the Vita Nuova and in the Convivioinstead of the Latin that was almost universally used. References to Divina Commedia are in the format (book, canto, verse), e.g., (Inferno, XV, 76).

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10

References
[1] Bloom, Harold (1994). The Western Canon. [2] His birth date is listed as "probably in the end of May" by Robert Hollander in "Dante" in Dictionary of the Middle Ages, volume 4. According to Boccaccio, the poet himself said he was born in May. See "ALIGHIERI, Dante" in the Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. [3] Chimenz, S.A.. ALIGHIERI, Dante (http:/ / www. treccani. it/ enciclopedia/ dante-alighieri_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ ). Enciclopedia Italiana. . [4] Malcolm Moore "Dante's infernal crimes forgiven", (http:/ / www. telegraph. co. uk/ news/ newstopics/ howaboutthat/ 2145378/ Dante's-infernal-crimes-forgiven. html) Daily Telegraph, 17 June 2008. Retrieved on 18 June 2008. [5] see Bookrags.com (http:/ / www. bookrags. com/ tandf/ francesco-daccorso-tf/ ) and Tigerstedt, E.N. 1967, Dante; Tiden Mannen Verket ("Dante; The Age, the Man, the Work"), Bonniers, Stockholm, 1967. [6] "Dante Alighieri" (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ cathen/ 04628a. htm). The Catholic Encyclopedia. . Retrieved 2 May 2010. [7] Vauchez, Andr; Dobson, Richard Barrie; Lapidge, Michael (2000). Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers.; Caesar, Michael (1989). Dante, the Critical Heritage, 1314(?)-1870. London: Routledge. [8] Pullella, Philip (January 12, 2007). "Dante gets posthumous nose job - 700 years on" (http:/ / www. reuters. com/ article/ oddlyEnoughNews/ idUSL1171092320070112). statesman (Reuters). . Retrieved 2007-11-05. [9] Benazzi S. (2009). "The face of the poet Dante Alighieri reconstructed by virtual modelling and forensic anthropology techniques". Journal of archaeological science 36 (2):278283. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.09.006 [10] "Banquet" (http:/ / www. danteonline. it/ english/ opere. asp?idope=2& idlang=UK). Dante online. . Retrieved 2008-09-02. [11] "Monarchia" (http:/ / www. danteonline. it/ english/ opere. asp?idope=4& idlang=UK). Dante online. . Retrieved 2008-09-02. [12] Anthony K. Cassell The Monarchia Controversy (http:/ / cuapress. cua. edu/ BOOKS/ viewbook. cfm?Book=CAMC). The Monarchia stayed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum from its inception until 1881. [13] Giuseppe Cappelli, La divina commedia di Dante Alighieri (http:/ / books. google. it/ books?id=_ssFAAAAQAAJ& pg=RA1-PA28& lpg=RA1-PA28& dq=dante+ "de+ monarchia"+ bertrando& source=web& ots=NCqp5oQsQq& sig=47buQld-37Cg8XgjLAmlMvm2Bls& hl=it), in Italian. [14] "De vulgari Eloquentia" (http:/ / www. danteonline. it/ english/ opere. asp?idope=3& idlang=UK). Dante online. . Retrieved 2008-09-02. [15] "New Life" (http:/ / www. danteonline. it/ english/ opere. asp?idope=5& idlang=UK). Dante online. . Retrieved 2008-09-02.

Sources
Gardner, Edmund Garratt (1921). Dante (http://www.archive.org/details/dantedante00gardrich), London, Pub. for the British academy by H. Milford, Oxford University Press. Hede, Jesper. (2007). Reading Dante: The Pursuit of Meaning. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. Raffa, Guy P. (2009). The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the Divine Comedy. University of Chicago Press. ISBN9780226702704. Scott, John A. (1996). Dante's Political Purgatory, Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press. Seung, T. K. (1962). The Fragile Leaves of the Sibyl: Dante's Master Plan. Westminster, MD: Newman Press. Toynbee, Paget (1898) A Dictionary of the Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante (http:// www.archive.org/details/adictionaryprop00toyngoog). London, The Clarendon Press. Whiting, Mary Bradford (1922). Dante the Man and the Poet (http://www.archive.org/details/ dantemanpoet00whitrich). Cambridge, England. W. Heffer & Sons, ltd. Allitt, John Stewart. (2011). Dante, il Pellegrino, Villa di Serio (BG), Edizioni Villadiseriane (in Italian).

External links
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Biography, on his works and bibliography (http://plato.stanford.edu/ entries/dante/) The World of Dante (http://www.worldofdante.org/) multimedia, texts, maps, gallery, searchable database, music, teacher resources, timeline Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/) multimedia The Princeton Dante Project (http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/index.html) texts and multimedia The Dartmouth Dante Project (http://dante.dartmouth.edu/) searchable database of commentary Societ Dantesca Italiana (bilingual site) (http://www.danteonline.it/english/home_ita.asp) manuscripts of works, images and text transcripts

Dante Alighieri "Digital Dante" (http://dante.ilt.columbia.edu/) Divine Comedy with commentary, other works, scholars on Dante Works (http://www.intratext.com/catalogo/Autori/Aut11.htm) Italian and Latin texts, concordances and frequency lists Works by or about Dante Alighieri (http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n78-95495) in libraries (WorldCat catalog) Works by Dante Alighieri (http://www.gutenberg.org/author/Dante+Alighieri) at Project Gutenberg "The Earth is Round! The Image of the Earth in the Middle Ages"- Animated Short (http://www.vimeo.com/ 7851867)

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12

Works in Latin
De vulgari eloquentia
De vulgari eloquentia (On Eloquence in the vernacular) is the title of an essay by Dante Alighieri, written in Latin and initially meant to consist of four books, but abandoned in the middle of the second. It was probably composed shortly after Dante went into exile; internal evidence points to a date between 1302 and 1305. The first book deals with the relationship between Latin and vernacular, and the search for an illustrious vernacular in the Italian area, while the second is an analysis of the structure of the "canto" or song (also spelled "canzone" in Italian), a literary genre. Latin essays were very popular in the Middle Ages, but Dante made some innovations in his work: firstly the topic, which is the vernacular, was an uncommon choice at that time. Secondly, the way Dante approached this theme, that is giving to vernacular the same dignity that was only meant for Latin. Finally, Dante wrote this essay in order to analyse the origin and the philosophy of the vernacular, because, in his opinion, this language was not something static, but something that evolves and needed a historical contextualisation.

Structure
Dante interrupted his work at the fourteenth chapter of the second book, and though historians have tried to find a reason for this, it is still not known why Dante so abruptly aborted his essay. Indeed it is an unfinished project, and so information about its intended structure is limited. Though at some point, Dante mentions a fourth book in which he planned to deal with the comic genre and the "mediocre" style, nothing at all is known about the third book. It is thought, however, that the first book was meant to be a sort of preface to the following three books, and so shorter than the others.

Content
In the beginning, Dante tackles the historical evolution of language, which he thinks was born unitary and, at a later stage, was separated into different idioms because of the presumptuousness demonstrated by humankind at the time of the building of the Tower of Babel. He compiles a map of the geographical position of the languages he knows, dividing the European territory into three parts: one to the east, with the Greek languages; one to the north, with the Germanic languages; one to the south, separated into three Romance languages identified by the affirmation adverb: oc language, ol language and s language. He then discusses "gramatica" grammar, which is a static language consisting of unchanging rules, needed to make up for the natural languages. In chapters ten to fifteen of the first book, Dante writes about his search for the illustrious vernacular, among the fourteen varieties he claims to have found in the Italian region. In the second book, Dante deals with literary genres, specifying which are the ones that suit the vernacular.

Models
Dante takes inspiration from rhetorical essays in Latin, Occitan, and Italian, and from philosophical readings. The main classical rhetorical texts from which he drew information were the Ars Poetica by Horace, the Rhetorica ad Herennium by an anonymous author, and De Inventione by Cicero. About the philosophical works, it is important to know that Dante read not only first hand texts, but also summaries that sometimes were not of the original work, but of an intermediary one.

De vulgari eloquentia The major Occitan work that influenced Dante was probably Razos de trobar by the Catalan troubadour Raimon Vidal de Bezaudun and the Vers e regles de trobar, an amplification of Vidal's manual, by Jofre de Foix.[1] [2] Both of these works were Occitan manuals of grammar for troubadour poetry. They implicitly and explicitly defended Occitan as the best vernacular for song and verse, prompting Dante to come to the defence of his beloved Tuscan tongue. The popularity of both singing and composing in Occitan by Italians prompted Dante to write: A perpetuale infamia e depressione delli malvagi uomini d'Italia, che commendando lo volgare altrui, e li loro proprio dispregiano,[3] meaning "It is to the perpetual shame and sadness of the abominable Italians that they have taken command of another vernacular and despise their own." Directly or indirectly, Dante came to read Saint Augustine's works, the De Consolatione Philosophiae by Bothius, Saint Thomas Aquinas's works and some encyclopedic dictionaries like the Etymologiae by Isidore of Seville and the Livre du Tresor by Brunetto Latini. He takes also inspiration from Aristotelian philosophy, and in Dante's work are traceable some references to texts by representatives of what is sometimes referred to as Radical Aristotelianism.

13

Sources
Graham-Leigh, Elaine. The Southern French Nobility and the Albigensian Crusade. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2005. ISBN 1-84383-129-5 Ewert, A. "Dante's Theory of Language." [4] The Modern Language Review, Vol. 35, No. 3. (Jul., 1940), pp 355366. Weiss, R. "Links between the "Convivio" and the 'De Vulgari Eloquentia'." [5] The Modern Language Review, Vol. 37, No. 2. (Apr., 1942), pp 156168. Dante Alighieri, "De vulgari eloquentia," edited and translated by Steven Botterill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Notes
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Ewert, 357. Weiss, 160 n1. Graham-Leigh, 32 and n130. http:/ / links. jstor. org/ sici?sici=0026-7937%28194007%2935%3A3%3C355%3ADTOL%3E2. 0. CO%3B2-G http:/ / links. jstor. org/ sici?sici=0026-7937%28194204%2937%3A2%3C156%3ALBT%22AT%3E2. 0. CO%3B2-T

External links
(http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/dante.html) De vulgari eloquentia in Latin.

De Monarchia

14

De Monarchia
De Monarchia (pronounced Monrchia) is a treatise on secular and religious power by Dante Alighieri. With this Latin text, the poet intervened in one of the most controversial subjects of his period: the relationship between secular authority (represented by the Holy Roman Emperor) and religious authority (represented by the Pope). Dante's point of view is known on this problem, since during his political activity he had fought to defend the autonomy of the city-government of Florence from the temporal demands of Pope Boniface VIII.

Date
According to most accepted chronology, De Monarchia was composed in the years 1312-13, that is to say the time of Henry VII of Luxemburg's journey to Italy; according to another, the date of composition has to be brought back to at least 1308; and yet another, moves it forward to 1318, shortly before the author's death in 1321.

Argument
It is made up of three books, but the most significant is the third, in which Dante most explicitly confronts the subject of relations between the Pope and the emperor. Dante firstly condemns the theocratic conception of the power elaborated by the Roman Church and solemnly confirmed by the papal bull Unam sanctam of 1302. The theocratic conception assigned all power to the Pope, making his authority superior to that of the emperor: this meant that the Pope could also legitimately intervene in the matters usually in the sphere of secular authority. Against this theocratic conception, Dante expressed his need for another strong Holy Roman Emperor and proposed the idea that man essentially pursues two ends: the happiness of earthly life and that of eternal life. Dante argues that to the Pope is assigned the management of men's eternal life (though he still recognizes this as the higher of the two), but to the emperor is assigned the task of leading men towards earthly happiness. From this he derives the autonomy of the temporal sphere, under the emperor, from the spiritual sphere, under the Pope - the pontiff's authority should not influence that of the emperor in their competing tasks. Dante wanted to demonstrate that the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope were both human and that both derived their power and authority directly from God. To understand this it is necessary to think that man is the only thing to occupy an intermediate position between corruptibility and incorruptibility. If it is considered that man is only made up of two parts, that is to say the soul and the body, he is corruptible - only in terms of the soul is he incorruptible. Man, then, has the function of uniting corruptibility with incorruptibility. The Pope and Emperor were both human, and no peer had power over another peer. Only a higher power could judge the two "equal swords," as each was given power by God to rule over their respected domains.

External links
Online text (original) [1] Online text (Italian translation) [2] (English translation) [3] "Return of Dante: the Guelphs and the Ghibellines" [4]. The Independent. 19 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-19.

References
[1] http:/ / it. wikisource. org/ wiki/ la:De_monarchia [2] http:/ / it. wikisource. org/ wiki/ Monarchia [3] http:/ / oll. libertyfund. org/ index. php?option=com_staticxt& staticfile=show. php%3Ftitle=2196& Itemid=27 [4] http:/ / www. independent. co. uk/ news/ world/ europe/ return-of-dante-the-guelphs-and-the-ghibellines-850012. html

Eclogues

15

Eclogues
The Eclogues are two Latin hexameter poems in the bucolic style by Dante Alighieri, named after Virgil's Eclogues. The two poems are the 68-verse Vidimus in migris albo patiente lituris and the 97-verse Velleribus Colchis prepes detectus Eous. They were composed between 1319 and 1320 in Ravenna, but only published for the first time in Florence in 1719.

16

Works in Italian
La Vita Nuova
La Vita Nuova (English: The New Life) is a medieval text written by Dante Alighieri in 1295. It is an expression of the medieval genre of courtly love in a prosimetrum style, a combination of both prose and verse. Besides its content, it is notable for being written in Italian, rather than Latin; with Dante's other works, it helped to establish the Tuscan dialect in which it is written as the Italian standard.[1]

History and context

Henry Holiday's Dante meets Beatrice at Ponte Santa Trinita is inspired by La Vita Referred to by Dante as his libello, or "little Nuova (Beatrice is in white). book", The New Life is the first of two collections of verse written by Dante in his life; the other being the Convivio. La Vita Nuova is a prosimetrum, as is the Convivio, meaning that it is a piece which is made up of both verse and prose, in the vein of Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy.

Dante used each prosimetrum as a means for combining poems written over periods of roughly ten years - La Vita Nuova contains his works from before 1283 to roughly 1293, whereas the Convivio contains his works from 1294 until the time of Divine Comedy.

Structure
La Vita Nuova contains 42 brief chapters (31 for Guglielmo Gorni) with commentaries on 25 sonnets, one ballata, and four canzoni; one canzone is left unfinished, interrupted by the death of Beatrice Portinari, Dante's lifelong love. Dante's two-part commentaries explain each poem, placing them within the context of his life. The chapters containing poems consist of three parts: the semi-autobiographical narrative, the lyric that resulted from those circumstances, and brief structural outline of the lyric.[2] The poems present a frame story, recounting Dante's love of Beatrice from his first sight of her (when he was nine and she eight) all the way to his mourning after her death, and his determination to write of her "that which has never been written of any woman." Each separate section of commentary further refines Dante's concept of romantic love as the initial step in a spiritual development that results in the capacity for divine love (see courtly love). Dante's unusual approach to his piece drawing upon personal events and experience, addressing the readers, and writing in Italian rather than Latin marked a turning point in European poetry, when many writers abandoned highly stylized forms of writing for a simpler style.

La Vita Nuova

17

Personality
Dante wanted to collect and publish the lyrics dealing with his love for Beatrice, explaining the autobiographical context of its composition and pointing out the expository structure of each lyric as an aid to careful reading. Though the result is a landmark in the development of emotional autobiography (the most important advance since Saint Augustine's Confessions in the 5th century), like all medieval literature it is far removed from the modern autobiographical impulse. However, Dante and his audience were interested in the emotions of courtly love and how they develop, how they are expressed in verse, how they reveal the permanent intellectual truths of the divinely created world and how love can confer blessing on the soul and bring it closer to God. The names of the people in the poem, including Beatrice herself, are employed without use of surnames or any details that would assist readers to identify them among the many people of Florence. Only the name "Beatrice" is used, because that was both her actual name and her symbolic name as the conferrer of blessing. Ultimately the names and people work as metaphors. In chapter XXIV, "I Felt My Heart Awaken" ("Io mi senti' svegliar dentro a lo core", also translated as "I Felt a Loving Spirit Suddenly"), Dante accounts a meeting with Love, who asks the poet do his best to honour her.
Io mi senti' svegliar dentro a lo core Un spirito amoroso che dormia: E poi vidi venir da lungi Amore Allegro s, che appena il conoscia, Dicendo: "Or pensa pur di farmi onore"; E 'n ciascuna parola sua ridia. E poco stando meco il mio segnore, Guardando in quella parte onde venia, Io vidi monna Vanna e monna Bice Venire inver lo loco l 'v'io era, L'una appresso de l'altra miriviglia; E s come la mente mi ridice, Amor mi disse: "Quell' Primavera, E quell'ha nome Amor, s mi somiglia." I felt awoken in my heart a loving spirit that was sleeping; and then I saw Love coming from far away so glad, I could just recognize. saying "you think you can honor me", and with each word laughing. And little being with me my lord, watching the way it came from, I saw lady Joan and lady Bice coming towards the spot I was at, one wonder past another wonder. And as my mind keeps telling me, Love said to me "She is Spring who springs first, and that bears the name Love, who resembles me."

Dante does not name himself in La Vita Nuova. He refers to Guido Cavalcanti as "the first of my friends", to his own sister as "a young and noble lady... who was related to me by the closest consanguinity", to Beatrice's brother similarly as one who "was so linked in consanguinity to the glorious lady that no-one was closer to her". The reader is invited into the very emotional turmoil and lyrical struggle of the unnamed author's own mind and all the surrounding people in his story are seen in their relations to that mind's quest of encountering Love. La Vita Nuova is essential for understanding the context of his other works principally La Commedia.

La Vita Nuova

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Cultural references
The Henry Holiday painting Dante meets Beatrice at Ponte Santa Trinita (1883) is inspired by La Vita Nuova, as was Dante Gabriel Rossetti's The Salutation of Beatrice (1859). The opening line of the work's Introduction was used on the television show Star Trek: Voyager in the episode "Latent Image" (1999).[3] Vladimir Martynov's 2003 opera Vita Nuova premiered in the U.S. on February 28, 2009 at the Alice Tully Hall, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. In the movie Hannibal, Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Inspector Pazzi see an outdoor opera in Florence based on Dante's La Vita Nuova, called Vide Cor Meum. This was specially composed for the movie, and is based on the sonnet "A ciascun'alma presa", in chapter 3 of La Vita Nuova. Several lines from La Vita Nuova are heard being read from a cassette player in a zoo by the head zoo keeper in the 1982 movie Cat People. The author Allegra Goodman wrote a short story entitled "La Vita Nuova", published in the May 3, 2010 issue of The New Yorker, in which Dante's words (in English) are interspersed throughout the piece.

Notes
[1] See Lepschy, Laura; Lepschy, Giulio (1977). The Italian Language Today. or any other history of Italian language. [2] One exception is found in ch. 31, containing the third canzone, which follows Beatrice's death; Dante says he will make the canzone appear "more widow-like" by placing the structural division before the poem (Musa 63). [3] Frederick S. Clarke. Cinefantastique 31.7-11, p. 30

Bibliography
Dante; Mark Musa (trans.) (1992). Vita Nuova (http://books.google.com/books?id=SWf4r6lObPMC). Oxford: Oxford UP. ISBN9780199540655.

External links
The New Life (http://www.adkline.freeuk.com/TheNewLife.htm), translated by A. S. Kline The New Life, translated by Charles Eliot Norton (http://www.elfinspell.com/DanteNewLife1.html) (Italian) La Vita Nuova (HTML) (http://digilander.libero.it/letteratura_dante/alighieri_dante_vita_nuova. html) (Italian) La Vita Nuova (PDF) (http://www.liberliber.it/biblioteca/a/alighieri/vita_nuova_edizione_barbera/ pdf/vita_n_p.pdf)

Le Rime

19

Le Rime
Le Rime (The Rhymes) are a group of lyric poems by Dante Alighieri written throughout his life and based on the poet's varied existential and stylistic experiences. They were not designed as a collection by Dante himself, but were collected and ordered later by modern critics.

Convivio
Convivio (The Banquet)[1] is a work written by Dante Alighieri roughly between 1304 and 1307. It contains details of the author's growing interest in philosophy, particularly in reference to the works of Cicero and Boethius. It also includes philosophical commentary by the author.

References
[1] "Banquet" (http:/ / www. danteonline. it/ english/ opere. asp?idope=2& idlang=UK). Dante online. . Retrieved 2008-09-02.

External links
Etext of English translation (http://dante.ilt.columbia.edu/books/convivi/index.html) by Richard Lansing, Brandeis University Translation (http://www.archive.org/details/convivioofdantea00dantiala) by Philip Henry Wickstool at the Internet Archive

20

Divine Comedy
Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia)
The Divine Comedy (Italian: Divina Commedia) is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature,[1] and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature.[2] The poem's imaginative and allegorical vision of the afterlife is a culmination of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church. It helped establish the Tuscan dialect, in which it is written, as the standardized Italian.[3] It is divided into three parts, the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. On the surface, the poem describes Dante's Dante shown holding a copy of the Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, travels through Hell, Purgatory, and the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory and the city of Florence, with the spheres of Heaven;[4] but at a deeper level, it represents Heaven above, in Michelino's fresco allegorically the soul's journey towards God.[5] At this deeper level, Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and philosophy, especially Thomistic philosophy and the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas.[6] Consequently, the Divine Comedy has been called "the Summa in verse."[7] The work was originally simply titled Comeda and was later christened Divina by Giovanni Boccaccio. The first printed edition to add the word divine to the title was that of the Venetian humanist Lodovico Dolce,[8] published in 1555 by Gabriele Giolito de' Ferrari.

Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia)

21

Structure and story

The Divine Comedy is composed of 14,233 lines that are divided into three canticas (Ital. pl. cantiche)Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise)each consisting of 33 cantos (Ital. pl. canti). An initial canto serves as an introduction to the poem and is generally considered to be part of the first cantica, bringing the total number of cantos to 100. It is generally accepted, however, that the first two cantos serve as a unitary prologue to the entire epic, as well as the opening two cantos of each cantica serving as a prologue to each of the three cantiche.[9] [10] [11] The number three is prominent in the work, represented here by the length of each cantica. The verse scheme used, terza rima, is hendecasyllabic (lines of eleven syllables), with the lines composing tercets according to the rhyme scheme aba, bcb, cdc, ded, .... The poem is written in the first person, and tells of Dante's journey through the three realms of the dead, lasting from the night before Good Friday to the Wednesday after Easter in the spring of 1300. The Roman poet Virgil guides him through Hell and Purgatory; Beatrice, Dante's ideal woman, guides him through Heaven. Beatrice was a Florentine woman whom he had met in childhood and admired from afar in the mode of the then-fashionable courtly love tradition which is highlighted in Dante's earlier work La Vita Nuova.

Detail of a manuscript in Milan's Biblioteca Trivulziana (MS 1080), written in 1337 by Francesco di ser Nardo da Barberino, showing the beginning of Dante's Comedy

The structure of the three realms follows a common numerical pattern of 9 plus 1 for a total of 10: 9 circles of the Inferno, followed by Lucifer contained at its bottom; 9 rings of Mount Purgatory, followed by the Garden of Eden crowning its summit; and the 9 celestial bodies of Paradiso, followed by the Empyrean containing the very essence of God. Within the 9, 7 correspond to a specific moral scheme, subdividing itself into three subcategories, while two others of more particularity are added on for a completion of nine. For example, the seven deadly sins of the Catholic Church that are cleansed in Purgatory are joined by special realms for the Late repentant and the excommunicated by the church. The core seven sins within purgatory correspond to a moral scheme of love perverted, subdivided into three groups corresponding to excessive love (Lust, Gluttony, Greed), deficient love (Sloth), and malicious love (Wrath, Envy, Pride). In central Italy's political struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines, Dante was part of the Guelphs, who in general favored the Papacy over the Holy Roman Emperor. Florence's Guelphs split into factions around 1300, the White Guelphs, and the Black Guelphs. Dante was among the White Guelphs who were exiled in 1302 by the Lord-Mayor Cante de' Gabrielli di Gubbio, after troops under Charles of Valois entered the city, at the request of Pope BonifaceVIII, who supported the Black Guelphs. This exile, which lasted the rest of Dante's life, shows its influence in many parts of the Comedy, from prophecies of Dante's exile to Dante's views of politics to the eternal damnation of some of his opponents. In Hell and Purgatory, Dante shares in the sin and the penitence respectively. The last word in each of the three parts of the Divine Comedy is stelle, "stars."

Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia)

22

Inferno
The poem begins on the night before Good Friday in the year 1300, "halfway along our life's path" (Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita). Dante is thirty-five years old, half of the biblical life expectancy of 70 (Psalms 90:10), lost in a dark wood (understood as sin[12] [13] [14] ), assailed by beasts (a lion, a leopard, and a she-wolf) he cannot evade, and unable to find the "straight way" (diritta via) also translatable as "right way" to salvation (symbolized by the sun behind the mountain). Conscious that he is ruining himself and that he is falling into a "deep place" (basso loco) where the sun is silent ('l sol tace), Dante is at last rescued by Virgil, and the two of them begin their journey to the underworld. Each sin's punishment in Inferno is a contrapasso, a symbolic instance of poetic justice; for example, fortune-tellers have to walk with their heads on backwards, unable to see what is ahead, because that was what they had tried to do in life: they had their faces twisted toward their haunches and found it necessary to walk backward, because they could not see ahead of them. ... and since he wanted so to see ahead, he looks behind and walks a backward path.[15]

Gustave Dor's engravings illustrated the Divine Comedy (18611868); here Charon comes to ferry souls across the river Acheron to Hell.

Allegorically, the Inferno represents the Christian soul seeing sin for what it really is, and the three beasts represent three types of sin: the self-indulgent, the violent, and the malicious.[16] These three types of sin also provide the three main divisions of Dante's Hell: Upper Hell, beyond the city of Dis, containing four indulgent sins (Lust, gluttony, avarice, anger); Circle 7 for the sins of violence, and Circles 8 and 9 for the sins of malice (fraud and treachery). Added onto these are two unlike categories that are specifically spiritual: Limbo, within Circle 1, contains the virtuous pagans who were not sinful but were ignorant of Christ; and Circle 6, containing the heretics who contradicted the doctrine and confused the spirit of Christ. The circles are put to 9, with the addition of the Satan completing the structure of 9 + 1 = 10.[17]

Purgatorio
Having survived the depths of Hell, Dante and Virgil ascend out of the undergloom, to the Mountain of Purgatory on the far side of the world. The Mountain is on an island, the only land in the Southern Hemisphere, created by the displacement of rock which resulted when Satan's fall created Hell[18] (which Dante portrays as existing underneath Jerusalem[19] ). The mountain has seven terraces, corresponding to the seven deadly sins or "seven roots of sinfulness."[20] The classification of sin here is more psychological than that of the Inferno, being based on motives, rather than actions. It is also drawn primarily from Christian theology, rather than from classical sources.[21] However, Dante's illustrative examples of sin and virtue draw on classical sources as well as on the Bible and on contemporary events. The seven deadly sins correspond to a threefold

Dante gazes at Mount Purgatory in an allegorical portrait by Agnolo Bronzino, painted c. 1530

Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia) scheme of improper love: excessive love, or love of the things that are secondary to divinity (Lust, Gluttony, Greed); deficient love, or the lacking in a desire to achieve divinity (Sloth), and malicious love, or love of malignant things that should grieve man and which are contrary to divinity (Wrath, Envy, Pride). Below the seven purges of the soul is the Ante-Purgatory, containing the Excommunicated from the church and the Late repentant who died, often violently, before receiving rites. Thus the total comes to 9, with the addition of the Garden of Eden at the summit, equaling 10.[22] Allegorically, the Purgatorio represents the Christian life. Christian souls arrive escorted by an angel, singing in exitu Israel de Aegypto. In his Letter to Cangrande, Dante explains that this reference to Israel leaving Egypt refers both to the redemption of Christ and to "the conversion of the soul from the sorrow and misery of sin to the state of grace."[23] Appropriately, therefore, it is Easter Sunday when Dante and Virgil arrive. The Purgatorio is notable for demonstrating the medieval knowledge of a spherical Earth. During the poem, Dante discusses the different stars visible in the southern hemisphere, the altered position of the sun, and the various timezones of the Earth. At this stage it is, Dante says, sunset at Jerusalem, midnight on the River Ganges, and sunrise in Purgatory.

23

Paradiso
After an initial ascension, Beatrice guides Dante through the nine celestial spheres of Heaven. These are concentric and spherical, as in Aristotelian and Ptolemaic cosmology. While the structures of the Inferno and Purgatorio were based on different classifications of sin, the structure of the Paradiso is based on the four cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues. The first seven spheres of Heaven deal solely with the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Fortitude, Justice and Temperance. The first three describe a deficiency of one of the cardinal virtues the Moon, containing the inconstant whose vows to God waned as the moon thus lack fortitude; Mercury, containing the ambitious who were virtuous for glory and thus lacked justice; and Venus, containing the lovers, whose love was directed toward another than God and thus lacked Temperance. The final four incidentally are positive examples of the cardinal virtues, all led on by the Sun, containing the prudent, whose wisdom lighted the way for the other virtues, to which the others are Dante and Beatrice speak to Piccarda and Constance of Sicily, in a fresco by Philipp Veit, bound (constituting a category on its own). Mars contains the men of Paradiso, Canto 3. fortitude who died in the cause of Christianity; Jupiter contains the kings of Justice; and Saturn contains the temperant, the monks who abided to the contemplative lifestyle. The seven subdivided into three are raised further by two more categories: the eighth sphere of the fixed stars that contain those who achieved the theological virtues of faith, hope and love, and represent the Church Triumphant the total perfection of man, cleansed of all the sins and carrying all the virtues of heaven; and the ninth circle, or Primum Mobile (corresponding to Medieval astronomy of Geocentricism) which contains the angels, creatures never poisoned by original sin. Topping them all is the Empyrean that contains the essence of God, completing the 9 fold division to 10. Dante meets and converses with several great saints of the Church, including Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, Saint Peter, and St. John. The Paradiso is consequently more theological in nature than the Inferno and the Purgatorio. However, Dante admits the vision of heaven he receives is the one that his human eyes permit him to see, and the vision of heaven found in the Cantos is Dante's own personal one.

Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia) The Divine Comedy finishes with Dante seeing the Triune God. In a flash of understanding, which he cannot express, Dante finally understands the mystery of Christ's divinity and humanity, and his soul becomes aligned with God's love:[24] But already my desire and my will were being turned like a wheel, all at one speed, by the Love which moves the sun and the other stars.[25]

24

Earliest manuscripts
According to the Italian Dante Society, no original manuscript written by Dante has survived, although there are many manuscript copies from the 14th and 15th centuries more than 825 are listed on their site.[26] The oldest belongs to the 1330s, almost a decade after Dante's death. The most precious ones are the three full copies made by Giovanni Boccaccio (1360s), who himself did not have the original manuscript as a source. The first printed edition was published in Foligno, Italy, by Johann Numeister and Evangelista Angelini da Trevi on 11 April 1472.[27] Of the 300 copies printed, fourteen still survive. The original printing press is on display in the Oratorio della Nunziatella in Foligno.
First printed edition, 11April 1472

Thematic concerns
The Divine Comedy can be described simply as an allegory: Each canto, and the episodes therein, can contain many alternative meanings. Dante's allegory, however, is more complex, and, in explaining how to read the poem see the Letter to Cangrande[28] he outlines other levels of meaning besides the allegory: the historical, the moral, the literal, and the anagogical. The structure of the poem, likewise, is quite complex, with mathematical and numerological patterns arching throughout the work, particularly threes and nines, which are related to the Trinity. The poem is often lauded for its particularly human qualities: Dante's skillful delineation of the characters he encounters in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise; his bitter denunciations of Florentine and Italian politics; and his powerful poetic imagination. Dante's use of real characters, according to Dorothy Sayers in her introduction to her translation of the Inferno, allows Dante the freedom of not having to involve the reader in description, and allows him to "[make] room in his poem for the discussion of a great many subjects of the utmost importance, thus widening its range and increasing its variety."[29] Dante called the poem "Comedy" (the adjective "Divine" was added later in the 14th century) because poems in the ancient world were classified as High ("Tragedy") or Low ("Comedy"). Low poems had happy endings and were of everyday or vulgar subjects, while High poems were for more serious matters. Dante was one of the first in the Middle Ages to write of a serious subject, the Redemption of Man, in the low and vulgar Italian language and not the Latin language as one might expect for such a serious topic. Boccaccio's account that an early version of the poem was begun by Dante in Latin is still controversial.[30] [31]

Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia)

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Dante's personal involvement

In his allegorical description of sin (in the Inferno) and virtue (in the Purgatorio and Paradiso), Dante draws on real characters from ancient Greek and Roman myths and history, and from his own times. However, his own actions often also illustrate the concepts he is discussing. For example, Dante shares the fleshly sins of the damned at several points in the upper circles of Hell. At the first circle where the virtuous pagans who pursued honor above all else are punished by eternally knowing they have fallen short for their lack of faith, Dante shares with them their love of honor, as evidenced by the word "honor" being used repeatedly in the Canto.[32] Similarly, at the third circle where Ciacco and other gluttons are punished for their appetites, Dante's appetite for political information about his fellow Florentines appears equally gluttonous: And I to him: I wish thee still to teach me, And make a gift to me of further speech. Farinata and Tegghiaio, once so worthy, Jacopo Rusticucci, Arrigo, and Mosca, And others who on good deeds set their thoughts, Say where they are, and cause that I may know them; For great desire constraineth me to learn If Heaven doth sweeten them, or Hell envenom.[33] Conversely, in the Purgatorio, after leaving the terrace of the proud, Dante has learned from the example set by Omberto[34] and suppresses his own pride, declining to speak of his achievements: And I: Through midst of Tuscany there wanders A streamlet that is born in Falterona, And not a hundred miles of course suffice it; From thereupon do I this body bring. To tell you who I am were speech in vain, Because my name as yet makes no great noise."[35]

Scientific themes
Although the Divine Comedy is primarily a religious poem, discussing sin, virtue, and theology, Dante also discusses several elements of the science of his day (this mixture of science with poetry has received both praise and blame over the centuries[36] ). The Purgatorio repeatedly refers to the implications of a spherical Earth, such as the different stars visible in the southern hemisphere, the altered position of the sun, and the various timezones of the Earth. For example, at sunset in Purgatory it is midnight at the Ebro (a river in Spain), dawn in Jerusalem, and noon on the River Ganges:[37] Just as, there where its Maker shed His blood, the sun shed its first rays, and Ebro lay

Albert Ritter sketched the Comedy's geography from Dante's Cantos: Hell's entrance is near Florence with the circles descending to Earth's centre; sketch 5 reflects Canto 34's inversion as Dante passes down, and thereby up to Mount Purgatory's shores in the southern hemisphere, where he passes to the first sphere of Heaven at the top.

Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia) beneath high Libra, and the ninth hour's rays were scorching Ganges' waves; so here, the sun stood at the point of day's departure when God's angelhappyshowed himself to us.[38] Dante travels through the centre of the Earth in the Inferno, and comments on the resulting change in the direction of gravity in CantoXXXIV (lines 76120). A little earlier (XXXIII, 102105), he queries the existence of wind in the frozen inner circle of hell, since it has no temperature differentials.[39] Inevitably, given its setting, the Paradiso discusses astronomy extensively, but in the Ptolemaic sense. The Paradiso also discusses the importance of the experimental method in science, with a detailed example in lines 94105 of CantoII: Yet an experiment, were you to try it, could free you from your cavil and the source of your arts' course springs from experiment. Taking three mirrors, place a pair of them at equal distance from you; set the third midway between those two, but farther back. Then, turning toward them, at your back have placed a light that kindles those three mirrors and returns to you, reflected by them all. Although the image in the farthest glass will be of lesser size, there you will see that it must match the brightness of the rest.[40] A briefer example occurs in Canto XV of the Purgatorio (lines 1621), where Dante points out that both theory and experiment confirm that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. Other references to science in the Paradiso include descriptions of clockwork in CantoXXIV (lines 1318), and Thales' theorem about triangles in CantoXIII (lines 101102). Galileo Galilei is known to have lectured on the Inferno, and it has been suggested that the poem may have influenced some of Galileo's own ideas regarding mechanics.[41]

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Islamic philosophy
In 1919, Professor Miguel Asn Palacios, a Spanish scholar and a Catholic priest, published La Escatologa musulmana en la Divina Comedia ("Islamic Eschatology in the Divine Comedy"), an account of parallels between early Islamic philosophy and the Divine Comedy. Palacios argued that Dante derived many features of and episodes about the hereafter from the spiritual writings of Ibn Arabi and from the Isra and Mi'raj or night journey of Muhammad to heaven. The latter is described in the Hadith and the Kitab al Miraj (translated into Latin in 1264 or shortly before[42] as Liber Scalae Machometi, "The Book of Muhammad's Ladder"), and has some slight similarities to the Paradiso, such as a sevenfold division of Paradise,[43] although this is not unique to the Kitab al Miraj. Some "superficial similarities"[44] of the Divine Comedy to the Resalat Al-Ghufran or Epistle of Forgiveness of Al-Ma'arri have also been mentioned in this debate. The Resalat Al-Ghufran describes the journey of the poet in the realms of the afterlife and includes dialogue with people in Heaven and Hell, although, unlike the Kitab al Miraj, there is little description of these locations,[45] and it is unlikely that Dante borrowed from this work.[46] [47] Dante did, however, live in a Europe of substantial literary and philosophical contact with the Muslim world, encouraged by such factors as Averroism ("Averrois, che 'l gran comento feo" Commedia,Inferno,IV,144 that means

Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia) "Averrois, who wrote the great comment") and the patronage of AlfonsoX of Castile. Of the twelve wise men Dante meets in CantoX of the Paradiso, Thomas Aquinas and, even more so, Siger of Brabant were strongly influenced by Arabic commentators on Aristotle.[48] Medieval Christian mysticism also shared the Neoplatonic influence of Sufis such as Ibn Arabi. Philosopher Frederick Copleston argued in 1950 that Dante's respectful treatment of Averroes, Avicenna, and Siger of Brabant indicates his acknowledgement of a "considerable debt" to Islamic philosophy.[48] Although this philosophical influence is generally acknowledged, many scholars have not been satisfied that Dante was influenced by the Kitab al Miraj. The 20th century Orientalist Francesco Gabrieli expressed skepticism regarding the claimed similarities, and the lack of evidence of a vehicle through which it could have been transmitted to Dante. Even so, while dismissing the probability of some influences posited in Palacios' work,[49] Gabrieli conceded that it was "at least possible, if not probable, that Dante may have known the Liber scalae and have taken from it certain images and concepts of Muslim eschatology". Shortly before her death, the Italian philologist Maria Corti pointed out that, during his stay at the court of AlfonsoX, Dante's mentor Brunetto Latini met Bonaventura de Siena, a Tuscan who had translated the Kitab al Miraj from Arabic into Latin. Corti speculates that Brunetto may have provided a copy of that work to Dante.[50] Ren Guenon, in The Esoterism of Dante, rejected the influence of Ibn Arabi (direct or indirect) on Dante.[51]

27

Literary influence in the English-speaking world and beyond

The work was not always so well regarded. After being recognized as a masterpiece in the centuries immediately following its publication,[52] the work was largely ignored during the Enlightenment, with some notable exceptions such as Vittorio Alfieri; Antoine de Rivarol, who translated the Inferno into French; and Giambattista Vico, who in the Scienza nuova and in the Giudizio su Dante inaugurated what would later become the romantic reappraisal of Dante, juxtaposing him to Homer.[53] The Comedy was "rediscovered" by William Blake who illustrated several passages of the epic and the romantic writers of the 19th century. Later authors such as T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Samuel Beckett, C. S. Lewis and James Joyce have drawn on it for inspiration. The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was its first American translator,[54] and modern poets, including Seamus Heaney,[55] Robert Pinsky, John Ciardi, and W. S. Merwin, have also produced translations of all or parts of the book. In Russia, beyond Pushkin's memorable translation of a few tercets,[56] Osip Mandelstam's late poetry has been said to bear of the mark of a "tormented meditation" on the Comedy.[57] In 1934 Mandelstam gave a modern reading of the poem in his labyrinthine "Conversation on Dante".[58] Mikhail Lozinsky's translation of the poem, completed in 1945, is considered to be one of the greatest works of Russian poetry in the 20th century and arguably the best translation of any foreign-language poem into Russian ever. New English translations of the Divine Comedy continue to be published regularly. Notable English translations of the complete poem include the following.
Year Translator An older translation, widely available online Notes [59] .

18051814 Henry Francis Cary 1867 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The first U.S. translation, raising American interest in the poem. It is still widely read, including online. Translation used by Great Books of the Western World. Available online [60] at Project Gutenberg.

18911892 Charles Eliot Norton 19331943 Laurence Binyon 19491962 Dorothy L. Sayers 19541970 John Ciardi 1981 C. H. Sisson

An English version rendered in terza rima, with some advisory assistance from Ezra Pound Translated for Penguin Classics, intended for a wider audience, and completed by Barbara Reynolds. His Inferno was recorded and released by Folkways Records in 1954. Available in Oxford World's Classics. Available online [59] .

19801984 Allen Mandelbaum

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An alternative Penguin Classics version. Online [61] as part of the Princeton Dante Project.

19672002 Mark Musa 20002007 Robert and Jean Hollander 20022004 Anthony M. Esolen 20062007 Robin Kirkpatrick 2010 Burton Raffel

Modern Library Classics edition. A third Penguin Classics version, replacing Musa's. A Northwestern World Classics version.

A number of other translators, such as Robert Pinsky, have translated the Inferno only.

In the arts
The Divine Comedy has been a source of inspiration for countless artists for almost seven centuries. There are many references to Dante's work in literature. In music, Franz Liszt was one of many composers to write works based on the Divine Comedy. In sculpture, the work of Auguste Rodin is notable for themes from Dante, and many visual artists have illustrated Dante's work, as shown by the examples above. There have also been many references to the Divine Comedy in cinema and computer games.

Footnotes
[1] For example, Encyclopedia Americana, 2006, Vol. 30. p. 605: "the greatest single work of Italian literature;" John Julius Norwich, The Italians: History, Art, and the Genius of a People, Abrams, Rodin's The Kiss represents Paolo [62] 1983, p. 27: "his tremendous poem, still after six and a half centuries the supreme work of Italian and Francesca from the Inferno. literature, remains after the legacy of ancient Rome the grandest single element in the Italian heritage;" and Robert Reinhold Ergang, The Renaissance, Van Nostrand, 1967, p. 103: "Many literary historians regard the Divine Comedy as the greatest work of Italian literature. In world literature it is ranked as an epic poem of the highest order." [2] Bloom, Harold (1994). The Western Canon. See also Western canon for other "canons" that include the Divine Comedy. [3] See Lepschy, Laura; Lepschy, Giulio (1977). The Italian Language Today. or any other history of Italian language. [4] Peter E. Bondanella, The Inferno, Introduction, p. xliii, Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003, ISBN 1593080514: "the key fiction of the Divine Comedy is that the poem is true." [5] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on page 19. [6] Charles Allen Dinsmore, The Teachings of Dante, Ayer Publishing, 1970, p. 38, ISBN 0836955218. [7] The Fordham Monthly (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=-AQTAAAAIAAJ& q="the+ Summa+ in+ verse"& dq="the+ Summa+ in+ verse"& cd=10) Fordham University, Vol. XL, Dec. 1921, p. 76 [8] Ronnie H. Terpening, Lodovico Dolce, Renaissance Man of Letters (Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press, 1997), p. 166. [9] Dante The Inferno A Verse Translation by Professor Robert and Jean Hollander page 43 [10] Epist. XIII 43 to 48 [11] Wilkins E.H The Prologue to the Divine Comedy Annual Report of the Dante Society page 1 to 7 [12] "Inferno, la Divina Commedia annotata e commentata da Tommaso Di Salvo, Zanichelli, Bologna, 1985" (http:/ / www. abebooks. it/ INFERNO-DIVINA-COMMEDIA-ANNOTATA-COMMENTATA-TOMMASO/ 590245816/ bd). Abebooks.it. . Retrieved 2010-01-16. [13] Lectura Dantis, Societ dantesca italiana [14] Online sources include (http:/ / www. ladante. it/ DanteAlighieri/ hochfeiler/ inferno/ naviga/ selva. htm), (http:/ / www. operare. net/ news. php?id=55), (http:/ / www. learnitaly. com/ selva. htm) (http:/ / balbruno. altervista. org/ index-182. html), (http:/ / www. primocircolopotenza. it/ DivinaCommedia/ Dante/ caratteristiche. htm), (http:/ / skuola. tiscali. it/ dante/ divina-commedia/ dante-l-inferno-simbolismo-e-allegorismo-il-simbolismo-numerico. html), and (http:/ / doc. studenti. it/ appunti/ dante/ 3/ inferno. html) [15] Inferno, CantoXX, lines 1315 and 3839, Mandelbaum translation. [16] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on page 75. [17] Carlyle-Okey-Wicksteed, Divine Comedy, "Notes to Dante's Inferno" [18] Inferno, Canto 34, lines 121126. [19] Richard Lansing and Teodolinda Barolini, The Dante Encyclopedia, p. 475, Garland Publishing, 2000, ISBN 0-8153-1659-3. [20] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, Introduction, pp. 6567 (Penguin, 1955). [21] Robin Kirkpatrick, Purgatorio, Introduction, p. xiv (Penguin, 2007).

Divine Comedy (Divina Commedia)

[22] Carlyle-Oakey-Wickstead, Divine Comedy, "Notes on Dante's Purgatory. [23] "The Letter to Can Grande," in Literary Criticism of Dante Alighieri, translated and edited by Robert S. Haller (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1973), 99 [24] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on CantoXXXIII. [25] Paradiso, CantoXXXIII, lines 142145, C. H. Sisson translation. [26] "Elenco Codici" (http:/ / www. danteonline. it/ english/ codici_frames/ elencocodici. asp). Danteonline.it. . Retrieved 2009-08-05. [27] Christopher Kleinhenz, Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1, Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0415939305, p. 360. [28] "Epistle to Can Grande" (http:/ / www. english. udel. edu/ dean/ cangrand. html). English.udel.edu. . Retrieved 2009-08-05. [29] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, Introduction, p. 16 (Penguin, 1955). [30] Boccaccio also quotes the initial triplet:"Ultima regna canam fluvido contermina mundo, / spiritibus quae lata patent, quae premia solvunt /pro meritis cuicumque suis". For translation and more, see Guyda Armstrong, Review (http:/ / www. brown. edu/ Departments/ Italian_Studies/ heliotropia/ 02-02/ armstrong. shtml) of Giovanni Boccaccio. Life of Dante. J. G. Nichols, trans. London: Hesperus Press, 2002. [31] Hiram Peri, The Original Plan of the Divine Comedy (http:/ / links. jstor. org/ sici?sici=0075-4390(195507/ 12)18:3/ 4<189:TOPOTD>2. 0. CO;2-U), Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 18, No. 3/4 (1955), pp. 189210. [32] Inferno, Canto 4, lines 72, 73, 76, 80, 100, and 133, Mandelbaum translation [33] Inferno, CantoVI, lines 7784, Longfellow translation. [34] Purgatorio, CantoXI, lines 5867 [35] Purgatorio, CantoXIV, lines 1621, Longfellow translation. [36] Michael Caesar, Dante: The Critical Heritage, Routledge, 1995, pp 288, 383, 412, 631. [37] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on p. 286 [38] Purgatorio, CantoXXVII, lines 16, Mandelbaum translation. [39] Dorothy L. Sayers, Inferno, notes on page 284. [40] Paradiso, CantoII, lines 94105, Mandelbaum translation. [41] Mtholyoke.edu (http:/ / www. mtholyoke. edu/ offices/ comm/ csj/ 030802/ peterson. shtml) "Mark Peterson Sheds New Light on Discovery by Galileo," College Street Journal, March 8, 2002. Retrieved 2 April 2009. [42] I. Heullant-Donat and M.-A. Polo de Beaulieu, "Histoire d'une traduction," in Le Livre de l'chelle de Mahomet, Latin edition and French translation by Gisle Besson and Michle Brossard-Dandr, Collection Lettres Gothiques, Le Livre de Poche, 1991, p. 22 with note 37. [43] See the English translation (http:/ / www20. brinkster. com/ gurupak/ Miraaj - The Ascension to Heaven. htm) of the Kitab al Miraj. [44] William Montgomery Watt and Pierre Cachia, A History of Islamic Spain, 2nd edition, Edinburgh University Press, 1996, pp. 125126, ISBN 0-7486-0847-8. [45] Dionisius A. Agius and Richard Hitchcock, The Arab Influence in Medieval Europe, Ithaca Press, 1996, p. 70, ISBN 0-86372-213-X. [46] Kmil Kln and G. Brackenbury, Introduction to Risalat ul Ghufran: A Divine Comedy, 3rd ed, Al-Maaref Printing and Publishing House, 1943, p. 8. [47] The theory "receives little credence", according to Watt and Cachia, p. 183. [48] Frederick Copleston (1950). A History of Philosophy, Volume 2. London: Continuum. p.200. [49] Francesco Gabrieli, "New light on Dante and Islam", Diogenes, 2:6173, 1954> [50] Maria Corti: Dante e l'Islam (interview) (http:/ / www. emsf. rai. it/ interviste/ interviste. asp?d=490#3) [51] Guenon, Ren (1925). The Esoterism of Dante. [52] Chaucer wrote in the Monk's Tale (http:/ / ebooks. adelaide. edu. au/ c/ chaucer/ canterbury/ daniel/ chapter13. html), "Redeth the grete poete of Ytaille / That highte Dant, for he kan al devyse / Fro point to point; nat o word wol he faille". [53] Erich Auerbach, Dante: Poet of the Secular World (http:/ / books. google. it/ books?id=R_HofoKY87gC& pg=PA101& dq=Vico+ + Dante& lr=& as_brr=3& ei=OzD6SISdOIm6zAS449X9DA). ISBN 0-226-03205-1. [54] Irmscher, Christoph. Longfellow Redux. University of Illinois, 2008: 11. ISBN 978-0-252-03063-5. [55] Seamus Heaney, "Envies and Identifications: Dante and the Modern Poet." The Poet's Dante: Twentieth-Century Responses. Ed. Peter S. Hawkins and Rachel Jacoff. New York: Farrar, 2001. 239258. [56] 'Dante in Russia' in "The Dante encyclopedia" by Richard H. Lansing and Teodolinda Barolini, (http:/ / books. google. it/ books?id=vuW4Z7Y79zYC& pg=PA276& lpg=PA276& dq=pushkin+ dante& source=bl& ots=Uugj6U3OM2& sig=GZllCG94KqTPPsOwBZwrEmmu-hE& hl=it& ei=lsaGSoL4ENCg_AaoysCOAg& sa=X& oi=book_result& ct=result& resnum=1#v=onepage& q=pushkin dante& f=false) [57] Marina Glazova, Mandelstam and Dante: The Divine Comedy in Mandelstam's poetry of the 1930s (http:/ / www. springerlink. com/ content/ k57457842727k15n/ ) Studies in East European Thought, Volume 28, Number 4, November1984. [58] James Fenton, Hell set to music (http:/ / books. guardian. co. uk/ review/ story/ 0,,1529394,00. html#article_continue), The Guardian, 16 July 2005 [59] http:/ / www. divinecomedy. org/ divine_comedy. html [60] http:/ / www. gutenberg. org/ browse/ authors/ n#a778 [61] http:/ / etcweb. princeton. edu/ dante/ pdp/ [62] Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette (1999). Rodin:The Gates of Hell. Paris: Muse Rodin. ISBN2-9014-2869-X.

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External links
Princeton Dante Project (http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/index.html) Website that offers the complete text of the Divine Comedy (and Dante's other works) in Italian and English along with audio accompaniment in both languages. Includes historical and interpretive annotation. The Comedy in English: trans. Cary (with Dor's illustrations) (http://bulfinch.englishatheist.org/dante/hell/ hellindex.htm) (HTML), trans. Cary (with Dor's illustrations) (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8800) (zipped HTML downloadable from Project Gutenberg), Cary/Longfellow/Mandelbaum parallel edition (http://www. divinecomedy.org/divine_comedy.html), trans. James Finn Cotter (http://www.italianstudies.org/comedy/ index.htm) Dante Dartmouth Project (http://dante.dartmouth.edu/): Full text of more than 70 Italian, Latin, and English commentaries on the Commedia, ranging in date from 1322 (Iacopo Alighieri) to the 2000s (Robert Hollander) On-line Concordance to the Divine Comedy (http://www.tsoules.com/Dante/Concordance/) A Dictionary of the Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante (http://www.archive.org/details/ adictionaryprop00toyngoog) by Paget Toynbee, London, The Clarendon Press (1898). Online manuscript codices: Phillips 9589 (http://amshistorica.cib.unibo.it/diglib.php?inv=170) Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu), multimedia presentation of the Divine Comedy for students by Guy Raffa of the University of Texas World of Dante (http://www.worldofdante.org/) Multimedia website that offers Italian text of Divine Comedy, Allen Mandelbaum's translation, gallery, interactive maps, timeline, musical recordings, and searchable database for students and teachers by Deborah Parker and IATH (Institute for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities) of the University of Virginia Audio Lino Pertile's reading (http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/pdp/audioitl.html), Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures, Harvard University. Audiobooks: Public domain recordings from LibriVox ( in Italian (LibriVox) (http://www.archive.org/details/ divina_commedia_librivox), Longfellow translation (http://librivox.org/the-divine-comedy-by-dante-alighieri/ )); some additional recordings (http://www.audiolibri.blogspot.com) Readings of the complete Italian Divina Commedia in MP3 fomat (http://www.iacopovettori.it/recitazione/ commedia/en/Default.aspx) by Iacopo Vettori

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Inferno
Inferno (Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. It is an allegory telling of the journey of Dante through what is largely the medieval concept of Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine circles of suffering located within the Earth. Allegorically, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul towards God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.[1]

Overview and vestibule of Hell

The poem begins on the day before Good Friday in the year 1300. The narrator, Dante himself, is thirty-five years old, and thus "halfway along our life's path" (Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita)half of the Biblical life expectancy of seventy (Psalm 90:10). The poet finds himself lost in a dark wood in front of a mountain, assailed by three beasts (a lion, a lonza (rendered as "leopard" or "leopon"),[2] and a Gustave Dor's engravings illustrated the Divine she-wolf) he cannot evade, and unable to find the "straight way" Comedy (18611868); here Dante is lost in Canto (diritta via)also translatable as "right way"to salvation. Conscious 1 of the Inferno that he is ruining himself and that he is falling into a "deep place" (basso loco) where the sun is silent (l sol tace), Dante is at last rescued by the Roman poet Virgil, who claims to have been sent by Beatrice, and the two of them begin their journey to the underworld. Each sin's punishment in Inferno is a contrapasso, a symbolic instance of poetic justice; for example, fortune-tellers have to walk forwards with their heads on backwards, unable to see what is ahead, because they tried, through forbidden means, to look ahead to the future in life. Such a contrapasso "functions not merely as a form of divine revenge, but rather as the fulfilment of a destiny freely chosen by each soul during his or her life."[3] Dante passes through the gate of Hell, which bears an inscription, the ninth (and final) line of which is the famous phrase "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate", or "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here"[4] Before entering Hell completely, Dante and his guide see the Uncommitted, souls of people who in life did nothing, neither for good nor evil (among these Dante recognizes either Pope Celestine V or Pontius Pilate; the text is ambiguous). Mixed with them are outcasts who took no side in the Rebellion of Angels. These souls are neither in Hell nor out of it, but reside on the shores of the Acheron, their The Barque of Dante by Eugne Delacroix punishment to eternally pursue a banner (i.e. self interest) while pursued by wasps and hornets that continually sting them while maggots and other such insects drink their blood and tears. This symbolizes the sting of their conscience and the repugnance of sin. This can also be seen as a reflection of the spiritual stagnation they lived in. As with the Purgatorio and Paradiso, the Inferno has a structure of 9+1=10, with this "vestibule" different in nature from the nine circles of Hell, and separated from them by the Acheron. After passing through the "vestibule," Dante and Virgil reach the ferry that will take them across the river Acheron and to Hell proper. The ferry is piloted by Charon, who does not want to let Dante enter, for he is a living being.

Inferno Virgil forces Charon to take him by means of another famous line Vuolsi cos col dove si puote, which translates to "So it is wanted there where the power lies," referring to the fact that Dante is on his journey on divine grounds. The wailing and blasphemy of the damned souls entering Charon's boat are a contrast to the joyful singing of the blessed souls arriving by ferry in the Purgatorio. However, the actual passage across the Acheron is undescribed since Dante faints and does not wake up until he is on the other side. Virgil then guides Dante through the nine circles of Hell. The circles are concentric, representing a gradual increase in wickedness, and culminating at the centre of the earth, where Satan is held in bondage. Each circle's sinners are punished in a fashion fitting their crimes: each sinner is afflicted for all of eternity by the chief sin he committed. People who sinned but prayed for forgiveness before their deaths are found not in Hell but in Purgatory, where they labour to be free of their sins. Those in Hell are people who tried to justify their sins and are unrepentant. Allegorically, the Inferno represents the Christian soul seeing sin for what it really is, and the three beasts represent three types of sin: the self-indulgent, the violent, and the malicious.[5] These three types of sin also provide the three main divisions of Dante's Hell: Upper Hell (the first 5 Circles) for the self-indulgent sins; Circles 6 and 7 for the violent sins; and Circles 8 and 9 for the malicious sins.

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The nine circles of Hell

First Circle (Limbo)
In Limbo reside the unbaptized and the virtuous pagans, who, though not sinful, did not accept Christ. Limbo shares many characteristics with the Asphodel Meadows; thus the guiltless damned are punished by living in a deficient form of Heaven. Without baptism ("the portal of the faith that you embrace"[6] ) they lacked the hope for something greater than rational minds can conceive. Limbo includes green fields and a castle with seven gates to represent the seven virtues, the dwelling place of the wisest men of antiquity, including Virgil himself, as well as the Persian polymath Avicenna. In the castle Dante meets the poets Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan, the Amazon queen Penthesilea, the The Harrowing of Hell, in a 14th c. mathematician Euclid, the scientist Pedanius Dioscorides, the statesman Cicero, illuminated manuscript, the Petites Heures de Jean de Berry the first doctor Hippocrates, the philosophers Socrates, Plato, Averroes, and Aristotle, and many others, including Julius Caesar in his role as Roman general ("in his armor, falcon-eyed"[7] ), Electra, Camilla, Latinus, Lucius Junius Brutus, Lucretia, and Orpheus. Interestingly, he also sees Saladin in Limbo (Canto IV). Dante implies that all virtuous non-Christians find themselves here, although he later encounters two (Cato of Utica and Statius) in Purgatory and two (Trajan and Ripheus) in Heaven. Beyond the first circle, all of those condemned for active, deliberately willed sin are judged by the serpentine Minos, who sentences each soul to one of the lower eight circles by wrapping his tail around himself a corresponding number of times (Minos initially hinders the poets' passage, until rebuked by Virgil). The lower circles are structured according to the classical (Aristotelian) conception of virtue and vice, so that they are grouped into the sins of incontinence, violence, and fraud (which for many commentators are represented by the leopard, lion, and she-wolf[8] ). The sins of incontinenceweakness in controlling one's desires and natural urgesare the mildest among them, and, correspondingly, appear first, while the sins of violence and fraud appear lower down.

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Second Circle (Lust)

In the second circle of Hell are those overcome by lust. Dante condemns these "carnal malefactors"[9] for letting their appetites sway their reason. They are the first ones to be truly punished in Hell. These souls are blown about to and fro by the terrible winds of a violent storm, without hope of rest. This symbolises the power of lust to blow one about needlessly and aimlessly. In this circle, Dante sees Semiramis, Dido, Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Achilles, Paris, Tristan, and many others who were overcome by sensual love during their life. Dante is told by Francesca da Rimini how she and her husband's brother Paolo Malatesta committed adultery, but then died a violent death, in the name of Love, at the hands of her husband, Giovanni (Gianciotto). Francesca reports that their act of adultery was triggered by reading the adulterous story of Lancelot and Guinevere (an episode sculpted by Auguste Rodin in The Kiss). Nevertheless, she predicts that her husband will be punished for his fratricide in Caina, within the ninth circle (Canto V). The English poet John Keats, in his sonnet "On a Dream," imagines what Dante does not give us, the point of view of Paolo: "... But to that second circle of sad hell, Where mid the gust, the whirlwind, and the flaw Of rain and hail-stones, lovers need not tell Their sorrows. Pale were the sweet lips I saw, Pale were the lips I kissd, and fair the form I floated with, about that melancholy storm."[10]

Gianciotto Discovers Paolo and Francesca by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.

Third Circle (Gluttony)

The "Great Worm" Cerberus guards the gluttons, forced to lie in a vile slush produced by ceaseless foul, icy rain (Virgil obtains safe passage past the monster by filling its three mouths with mud). In her notes on this circle, Dorothy L. Sayers writes that "the surrender to sin which began with mutual indulgence leads by an imperceptible degradation to solitary self-indulgence."[11] The gluttons lie here sightless and heedless of their neighbours, symbolising the cold, selfish, and empty sensuality of their lives.[11] Just as lust has revealed its true nature in the winds of the previous circle, here the slush reveals the true nature of sensuality which includes not only overindulgence in food and drink, but also other kinds of addiction.[12] In this circle, Dante converses with a Florentine contemporary identified as Ciacco, which means "hog."[13] A character with the same nickname later appears in The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio.[14] The third circle, illustrated by Stradanus. Ciacco speaks to Dante regarding strife in Florence between the "White" and "Black" Guelphs. In one of a number of prophecies in the poem, Ciacco "predicts" the expulsion of the White party, to which Dante belonged, and which led to Dante's own exile. This event occurred in 1302, after the date in which the poem is set, but before the poem was written[13] (Canto VI).

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Cerberus as illustrated by Gustave Dor.

Fourth Circle (Greed)

Those whose attitude toward material goods deviated from the appropriate mean are punished in the fourth circle. They include the avaricious or miserly (including many "clergymen, and popes and cardinals"[15] ), who hoarded possessions, and the prodigal, who squandered them. The two groups are guarded by a figure Dante names as Pluto, either Pluto the classical ruler of the underworld or Plutus the Greek god of wealth[16] (who uses the cryptic phrase Pap Satn, pap Satn aleppe), but Virgil protects Dante from him. The two groups joust, using as weapons great weights which they push with their chests: " I saw multitudes to every side of me; their howls were loud while, wheeling weights, they used their chests to push. They struck against each other; at that point, each turned around and, wheeling back those weights, cried out: Why do you hoard? Why do you squander?' "[17]

In Gustave Dor's illustrations for the fourth circle, the weights are huge money bags.

The contrast between these two groups leads Virgil to discourse on the nature of Fortune, who raises nations to greatness, and later plunges them into poverty, as she shifts "those empty goods from nation unto nation, clan to clan."[18] This speech fills what would otherwise be a gap in the poem, since both groups are so absorbed in their activity that Virgil tells Dante that it would be pointless to try to speak to them indeed, they have lost their individuality, and been rendered "unrecognizable"[19] (Canto VII).

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Fifth Circle (Anger)

In the swamp-like water of the river Styx, the wrathful fight each other on the surface, and the sullen lie gurgling beneath the water, withdrawn "into a black sulkiness which can find no joy in God or man or the universe."[20] Phlegyas reluctantly transports Dante and Virgil across the Styx in his skiff. On the way they are accosted by Filippo Argenti, a Black Guelph from a prominent family. When Dante responds "In weeping and in grieving, accursed spirit, may you long remain,"[21] Virgil blesses him. Literally, this reflects the fact that souls in Hell are eternally fixed in the state they have chosen, but allegorically, it reflects Dante's beginning awareness of his own sin[22] (Cantos VII and VIII). The lower parts of Hell are contained within the walls of the city of Dis, which is itself surrounded by the Stygian marsh. Punished within Dis are active (rather than passive) sins. The walls of Dis are guarded by fallen angels. Virgil is unable to convince them to let Dante and him enter, and the Furies (consisting of Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone) and Medusa threaten Dante. An angel sent from Heaven secures entry for the poets, opening the gate by touching it with a wand, and rebuking those who opposed Dante. Allegorically, this reveals the fact that the poem is beginning to deal with sins that philosophy and humanism cannot fully understand. Virgil also mentioned to Dante on how Erichtho sent him down to the lowest circle of Hell to bring back a spirit from there.[22] (Cantos VIII and IX).

The fifth circle, illustrated by Stradanus.

Sixth Circle (Heresy)

In the sixth circle, Heretics, such as Epicurians (who say "the soul dies with the body"[23] ) are trapped in flaming tombs. Dante holds discourse with a pair of Epicurian Florentines in one of the tombs: Farinata degli Uberti, a Ghibelline (posthumously condemned for heresy in 1283); and Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, a Guelph, who was the father of Dante's friend and fellow poet Guido Cavalcanti. The political affiliation of these two men allows for a further discussion of Florentine politics (Canto X). Also seen here are Epicurus, Emperor Frederick II, and Pope Anastasius II.

Lower Hell, inside the walls of Dis, in an illustration by Stradanus. There is a drop from the sixth circle to the three rings of the seventh circle, then again to the ten rings of the eighth circle, and, at the bottom, to the icy ninth circle.

In response to a question from Dante about the "prophecy" he has received, Farinata explains that what the souls in Hell know of life on earth comes from seeing the future, not from any observation of the present. Consequently, when "the portal of the future has been shut,"[24] it will no longer be possible for them to know anything. Pausing for a moment before the steep descent to the foul-smelling seventh circle, Virgil explains the geography and rationale of Lower Hell, in which violent and malicious sins are punished. In this explanation, he refers to the Nicomachean Ethics and the Physics of Aristotle (Canto XI). In particular, he asserts that there are only two legitimate sources of wealth: natural resources ("nature") and human activity ("art"). Usury, to be punished in the next circle, is therefore an offence against both:[25]

Inferno "From these two, art and nature, it is fitting, if you recall how Genesis begins, for men to make their way, to gain their living; and since the usurer prefers another pathway, he scorns both nature in herself and art her follower; his hope is elsewhere."[26]

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Seventh Circle (Violence)

The seventh circle houses the violent. Its entry is guarded by the Minotaur, and it is divided into three rings: Outer ring: This ring houses the violent against people and property, who are immersed in Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood and fire, to a level commensurate with their sins: Alexander the Great is immersed up to his eyebrows, although Dante praises Alexander at other points in the poem, meaning he might be referring to a different Alexander. Dionysius I of Syracuse, Azzolino da Romano, Guy de Montfort, Obizzo d'Este, Ezzelino III da Romano, Rinier da Corneto, and Rinier Pazzo are also seen in the Phlegethon as well as references to Atilla the Hun. The Centaurs, commanded by Chiron and Pholus, patrol the ring, shooting arrows into any sinners who emerge higher out of the river than each is allowed. The centaur Nessus guides the poets along Phlegethon and across a ford in the widest, shallowest stretch of the river (Canto XII). This passage may have been influenced by the early medieval Visio Karoli Grossi.[27] Middle ring: In this ring are the suicides (the violent against self), who are transformed into gnarled thorny bushes and trees and then fed upon by Harpies. Dante breaks a twig off one of the bushes and from the broken, bleeding, branch hears the tale of Pier delle Vigne, who committed suicide after falling out of favour with Emperor Frederick II (his presence here, rather than in the ninth circle, indicates that Dante believes that the accusations made against him were false[28] ). Also here are Lano da Siena and Jacopo da Sant' Andrea. The trees are a metaphor for the state of mind in which suicide is The Gianfigliazzi family was committed.[29] Dante learns that these suicides, unique among the dead, will identified by a heraldic device of a not be corporally resurrected after the final judgement since they gave away lion (blue on yellow background). their bodies through suicide. Instead they will maintain their bushy form, with their own corpses hanging from the thorny limbs. The other residents of this ring are the profligates, who destroyed their lives by destroying the means by which life is sustained (i.e. money and property). They are perpetually chased and mauled by ferocious dogs; the destruction wrought upon the wood by the profligates' flight and punishment as they crash through the undergrowth causes further suffering to the suicides, who cannot move out of the way (Canto XIII). Inner ring: Here the violent against God (blasphemers) and the violent against nature (sodomites and, as explained in the sixth circle, usurers) all reside in a desert of flaming sand with fiery flakes raining from the sky (a similar fate to Sodom and Gomorrah). The blasphemers lie on the sand, the usurers sit, and the sodomites wander about in groups. Dante sees the classical warrior Capaneus there, who for blasphemy against Zeus was struck down with a thunderbolt during the Siege of Thebes. Dante converses with two Florentine sodomites from different groups. One of them is Dante's mentor, Brunetto Latini. Dante is very surprised and touched by this encounter and shows Brunetto great respect for what he has taught him ("you taught me how man makes himself eternal; / and while I live, my gratitude for that / must always be apparent in my words"[30] ), thus refuting suggestions that Dante only placed his enemies in Hell.[31] The other sodomite is Iacopo Rusticucci, a politician, who blames his wife for his fate. Those punished here for usury include the Florentines Catello di Rosso Gianfigliazzi, Guido Guerra, Iacopo Rusticucci, Ciappo Ubriachi, and Giovanni di Buiamonte; and the Paduans Reginaldo degli Scrovegni and Vitaliano di Iacopo Vitaliani. They are identified not primarily by name, but by

Inferno heraldic devices emblazoned on the purses around their necks purses which "their eyes seemed to feast upon"[32] (Cantos XIV through XVII).

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Eighth Circle (Fraud)

The last two circles of Hell punish sins that involve conscious fraud or treachery. These circles can be reached only by descending a vast cliff, which Dante and Virgil do on the back of Geryon, a winged monster traditionally represented as having three heads or three conjoined bodies,[33] but described by Dante as having three mixed natures: human, bestial, and reptilian.[33] Geryon is an image of fraud, with his face appearing to be that of an honest man, the body of a beautifully-colored wyvern, the furry paws of a lion, and a poisonous sting in the pointy snake-like tail[34] (Canto XVII).

A Gustave Dor wood engraving of Geryon.

The fraudulentthose guilty of deliberate, knowing evilare located in a circle named Malebolge ("Evil Pockets"), divided into ten Bolgie, or ditches of stone, with bridges spanning the ditches: Bolgia 1: Panderers and seducers march in separate lines in opposite directions, whipped by demons (Dante makes reference here to a recent traffic rule developed for the Jubilee year of 1300 in Rome: keep to the right[35] ). Just as the panderers and seducers used the passions of others to drive them to do their bidding, they are themselves driven by demons to march for all eternity.[35] In the group of panderers, the poets notice Venedico Caccianemico, who sold his own sister to the Marchese d'Este. In the group of seducers, Virgil points out Jason who gained the help of Medea by seducing and marrying her only to later desert her for Creusa.[35] Jason also seduced Hypsipyle, but "abandoned her, alone and pregnant"[36] (Canto XVIII).

Jason and Medea, by John William Waterhouse (1907).

Bolgia 2: Flatterers also exploited other people, this time using language. They are steeped in human excrement, which represents the words they produced. Alessio Interminei of Lucca and Thas are seen here.[35] (Canto XVIII). Bolgia 3: Dante now forcefully expresses[37] his condemnation of those who committed simony. Those who committed simony are

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38 placed head-first in holes in the rock (resembling baptismal fonts), with flames burning on the soles of their feet. One of the simoniacs, Pope Nicholas III, denounces two of his successors, Pope Boniface VIII and Pope Clement V, for the same offence. Simon Magus, who offered gold in exchange for holy power to Saint Peter, is also seen here. The simile of baptismal fonts gives Dante an incidental opportunity to clear his name of an accusation of malicious damage to the font in the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini[38] (Canto XIX).

Bolgia 4: Sorcerers, astrologers, and false prophets here have their heads twisted around on their bodies backward, so that they "found it necessary to walk backward, / because they could not see ahead of them."[39] While referring primarily to attempts to see into the future by forbidden means, this also symbolises the twisted nature of magic in general.[40] In this Bolgia, Dante sees Amphiaraus, Tiresias (whose double transformation was also referenced), Tiresias' daughter Manto, Aruns, Michael Scot, Alberto de Casalodi, and Guido Bonatti, among others (Canto XX).

Dante's guide rebuffs Malacoda and his fiends between Bolgie 5 and 6, Canto 21.

Bolgia 5: Corrupt politicians (barrators) are immersed in a lake of boiling pitch, which represents the sticky fingers and dark secrets of their corrupt deals.[41] The barrators are the political analogue of the simoniacs, and Dante devotes several cantos to them. They are guarded by devils called the Malebranche ("Evil Claws"), who Dante climbs the flinty steps in provide some savage and satirical black comedy. The leader of the Bolgia 7, Canto 26. Malebranche, Malacoda ("Evil Tail"), assigns a troop to escort Virgil and Dante safely to the next bridge. The troop hook and torment one of the sinners (identified by early commentators as Ciampolo), who names some Italian grafters and then tricks the Malebranche in order to escape back into the pitch. The promise of safe conduct the poets have received from the demons turns out to have limited value (and there is no "next bridge"[42] ), so that the poets are forced to scramble down into the sixth Bolgia (Cantos XXI through XXIII). Bolgia 6: In the sixth Bolgia, the poets find the hypocrites listlessly walking along wearing gilded lead cloaks, which represent the falsity behind the surface appearance of their actions falsity that weighs them down and makes spiritual progress impossible for them.[42] Dante speaks with Catalano and Loderingo, two members of the Jovial Friars, an order which had acquired a reputation for not living up to its vows,[42] and which was eventually suppressed by Pope Sixtus V. Caiaphas, the high priest responsible for ordering Jesus crucified, is also seen here, crucified to the ground and trampled (Canto XXIII). Bolgia 7: Two cantos are devoted to the thieves, who are guarded by the centaur Cacus who has a fire-breathing dragon on his shoulders and snakes covering his equine back (in Roman mythology, Cacus was not a centaur but a monstrous fire-breathing giant slain by Heracles). The thieves are pursued and bitten by snakes and lizards. The full horror of the thieves' punishment is revealed gradually: just as they stole other people's substance in life, their very identity becomes subject to theft here,[43] and the snake bites make them undergo various transformations. Vanni Fucci is turned to ashes and resurrected. Agnello is blended with the six-legged reptile that is Cianfa. Buoso exchanges shapes with the four-legged Francesco: "The soul that had become an animal, / now hissing, hurried off along the valley; / the other one, behind him, speaks and spits."[44] (Cantos XXIV and XXV).

Inferno Bolgia 8: Two further cantos are devoted to the fraudulent advisers or evil counsellors, who are concealed within individual flames. These are not people who gave false advice, but people who used their position to advise others to engage in fraud.[45] Ulysses and Diomedes are condemned here for the deception of the Trojan Horse. Ulysses also tells the tale of his fatal final voyage (an invention of Dante's) where he left his home and family to sail to the end of the Earth only to have his ship founder near Mount Purgatory. Ulysses also mentions of his encounter with Circe stating that she "beguiled him." Guido da Montefeltro recounts how he advised Pope Boniface VIII to capture the fortress of Palestrina, by offering the Colonna family inside it a false amnesty, and then razing it to the ground after they surrendered. Guido became a Franciscan in 1296, and died two years later. Guido describes St. Francis as coming to take his soul to Heaven, only to have a demon assert prior claim. Although Boniface had absolved Guido in advance for his evil advice, Dante points out the invalidity of that, since absolution requires contrition, and a man cannot be contrite for a sin at the same time that he is intending to commit it[46] (Cantos XXVI and XXVII). Bolgia 9: In the ninth Bolgia, a sword-wielding demon hacks at the Sowers of Discord, dividing parts of their bodies as in life they divided others.[47] As they make their rounds the wounds heal, only to have the demon tear apart their bodies again. Dante encounters Muhammad, who tells him to warn the schismatic and heretic Fra Dolcino. Dante describes Muhammad as a schismatic,[47] [48] apparently viewing Islam as an off-shoot from Christianity, and similarly Dante seems to condemn Ali for schism between Sunni and Shiite (for more on Dante's relationship to Islam, see the relevant section of the main article). In this Bolgia, Dante also encounters Bertran de Born, who carries around his severed head like a lantern (a literal representation allowing himself to detach his intelligence from himself), as a punishment for (Dante believes) fomenting the rebellion of Henry the Young King against his father Henry II (Cantos XXVIII and XXIX). Bolgia 10: In the final Bolgia, various sorts of falsifiers (alchemists, counterfeiters, perjurers, and impersonators), who are a "disease" on society, are themselves afflicted with different types of diseases.[49] Potiphar's wife is briefly mentioned here for her false accusation of Joseph. The Greek spy Sinon is here for tricking the Trojans into taking the Trojan Horse into their city (Sinon is here, rather than in Bolgia 8, because his advice was false as well as evil). Gianni Schicchi is a 'rabid goblin' for forging the will of Dante's relative Buoso Donati. Myrrha is here for disguising herself to commit incest with her father King Theias. In the notes on her translation, Sayers remarks that the descent through Malebolge "began with the sale of the sexual relationship, and went on to the sale of Church and State; now, the very money is itself corrupted, every affirmation has become perjury, and every identity a lie";[49] so that every aspect of social interaction has been progressively destroyed (Cantos XXIX and XXX).

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Ninth Circle (Treachery)

The ninth circle is ringed by classical and Biblical giants, who perhaps symbolize the pride and other spiritual flaws lying behind acts of treachery.[50] The giants are standing on a ledge above the ninth circle of Hell,[51] so that from the Malebolge they are visible from the waist up. They include Nimrod, as well as Ephialtes (who with his brother Otus tried to storm Olympus during the Gigantomachy), Briareus, Tityos, and Typhon. The giant Antaeus (being the only giant unbound with chains) lowers Dante and Virgil into the pit that forms the ninth circle of Hell (Canto XXXI). The traitors are distinguished from the "merely" fraudulent in that their acts involve betraying a special relationship of some kind. There are
Titans and giants, including Ephialtes on the left, in Gustave Dor's illustrations to Dante's Divine Comedy.

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four concentric zones (or "rounds") of traitors, corresponding, in order of seriousness, to betrayal of family ties, betrayal of community ties, betrayal of guests, and betrayal of liege lords. In contrast to the popular image of Hell as fiery, the traitors are frozen in a lake of ice known as Cocytus, with each group encased in ice to progressively greater depths. Round 1 is named Cana, after Cain, who killed his brother. Traitors to kindred are here immersed in the ice up to their faces "the place / where shame can show itself"[52] Mordred, who attacked his uncle/father King Arthur, is one of the traitors here: "him who, at one blow, had chest and shadow / shattered by Arthur's hand;"[53] (Canto XXXII).

Dante speaks to the traitors in the ice, Canto 32.

Round 2 is named Antenora, after Antenor of Troy, who according to medieval tradition, betrayed his city to the Greeks. Traitors to political entities, such as party, city, or country, are located here. Count Ugolino pauses from gnawing on the head of his former partner-in-crime Archbishop Ruggieri degli Ubaldini to describe how Ruggieri turned against him after an accidental death of Ruggieri's illegitimate son during a riot and had him imprisoned him along with his children condemning them to death by starvation. A number of correspondences, such as allusions to the same passage of the Aeneid, link this passage to the story of Paolo and Francesca in the second circle,[54] indicating that this icy hell of betrayal is the final result of consent to sin[54] (Cantos XXXII and XXXIII). Round 3 is named Ptolomaea, probably after Ptolemy, son of Abubus, who invited Simon Maccabaeus and his sons to a banquet and then killed them.[54] Traitors to their guests are punished here, lying supine in the ice, which covers them, except for their faces. They are punished more severely than the previous traitors, since the relationship to guests is an entirely voluntary one.[55] Fra Alberigo, who had armed soldiers kill his brother at a banquet, explains that sometimes a soul falls here before Atropos cuts the thread of life. Their bodies on Earth are immediately possessed by a demon, so what seems to be a walking man has reached the stage of being incapable of repentance (Canto XXXIII). Round 4 is named Judecca, after Judas Iscariot, Biblical betrayer of Christ. Here are the traitors to their lords and benefactors. All of the sinners punished within are completely encapsulated in ice, distorted in all conceivable positions. With no one to talk to here, Dante and Virgil quickly move on to the centre of Hell (Canto XXXIV). In the very centre of Hell, condemned for committing the ultimate sin (personal treachery against God), is Satan. Satan is described as a giant, terrifying beast with three faces, one red, one black, and one a pale yellow: he had three faces: one in front bloodred; and then another two that, just above the midpoint of each shoulder, joined the first; and at the crown, all three were reattached; the right looked somewhat yellow, somewhat white; the left in its appearance was like those who come from where the Nile, descending, flows.[56]

Satan is trapped in the frozen central zone in the Ninth Circle of Hell, Canto 34.

Satan is waist deep in ice, weeping tears from his six eyes, and beating his six wings as if trying to escape, although the icy wind that emanates only further ensures his imprisonment (as well as that of the others in the ring). Each face has a mouth that chews on a prominent traitor, with Brutus and Cassius feet-first in the left and right mouths respectively. These men were involved in the assassination of Julius Caesaran act which, to Dante, represented the

Inferno destruction of a unified Italy and the killing of the man who was divinely appointed to govern the world.[57] In the central, most vicious mouth is Judas Iscariotthe namesake of Judecca and the betrayer of Jesus. Judas is being administered the most horrifying torture of the three traitors, his head gnawed by Satan's mouth, and his back being forever skinned by Satan's claws. What is seen here is a perverted trinity: Satan is impotent, ignorant, and full of hate, in contrast to the all-powerful, all-knowing, and loving nature of God.[57] The two poets escape Hell by climbing down Satan's ragged fur, passing through the centre of the earth (with a consequent change in the direction of gravity, causing Dante to at first think they are returning to Hell), and they emerge in the other hemisphere (described in the Purgatorio) just before dawn on Easter Sunday, beneath a sky studded with stars (Canto XXXIV).

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Footnotes
[1] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on page 19. [2] Gloria Allaire, "New evidence towards identifying Dante's enigmatic lonza", 1997, notes the definition of a lonza as the result of an unnatural pairing between a leopard and a lioness in Andrea da Barberino Guerrino meschino. [3] Peter Brand and Lino Pertile, The Cambridge History of Italian Literature (http:/ / books. google. com. au/ books?id=3uq0bObScHMC& pg=PA63), 2nd ed, Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 0521666228, pp. 63-64. [4] There are many English translations of this famous line. Some examples include All hope abandon, ye who enter here - Henry Francis Cary (18051814) All hope abandon, ye who enter in! - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1882) Leave every hope, ye who enter! - Charles Eliot Norton (1891) Leave all hope, ye that enter - Carlyle-Wicksteed (1932) Lay down all hope, you that go in by me. - Dorothy L. Sayers (1949) Abandon every hope, you who enter. - Charles S. Singleton (1970) Abandon all hope, ye who enter here - John Ciardi (1977) No room for hope, when you enter this place - C. H. Sisson (1980) Abandon every hope, who enter here. - Allen Mandelbaum (1982) Abandon all hope, you who enter here. - Robert Pinsky (1993) Abandon every hope, all you who enter - Mark Musa (1995) Abandon every hope, you who enter. - Robert M. Durling (1996) Verbatim, the line translates as "Leave (lasciate) every (ogne) hope (speranza), ye (voi) that (ch') enter (intrate)." [5] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on page 75. [6] Inferno, Canto IV, line 36, Mandelbaum translation. [7] Inferno, Canto IV, line 123, Mandelbaum translation. [8] There is no general agreement on which animals represent the sins incontinence, violence, and fraud. Some see it as the she-wolf, lion, and leopard respectively, while others see it as the leopard, lion, and she-wolf respectively. [9] Inferno, Canto V, lines 3839, Longfellow translation. [10] John Keats, On a Dream (http:/ / ebooks. adelaide. edu. au/ k/ keats/ john/ poems/ on-a-dream. html). [11] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto VI. [12] John Ciardi, Inferno, introduction, p. xi. [13] Wallace Fowlie, A Reading of Dante's Inferno, University Of Chicago Press, 1981, pp. 5152. [14] Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, Ninth Day, Novel VIII. (http:/ / www. stg. brown. edu/ projects/ decameron/ engDecShowText. php?myID=nov0908) [15] Inferno, Canto VII, line 47, Mandelbaum translation. [16] Mandelbaum, note to his translation, p. 357 of the Bantam Dell edition, 2004, says that Dante may simply be preserving an ancient conflation of the two deities; Peter Bondanella in his note to the translation of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Inferno: Dante Alighieri (Barnes & Noble Classics, 2003), pp. 202203, thinks Plutus is meant, since Pluto is usually identified with Dis, and Dis is a distinct figure in the fifth circle. [17] Inferno, Canto VII, lines 2530, Mandelbaum translation. [18] Inferno, Canto VII, lines 7980, Mandelbaum translation. [19] Inferno, Canto VII, lines 54, Mandelbaum translation. [20] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto VII. [21] Inferno, Canto VIII, lines 3738, Mandelbaum translation. [22] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto VIII. [23] Inferno, Canto X, line 15, Mandelbaum translation. [24] Inferno, Canto X, lines 103108, Mandelbaum translation.

Inferno
[25] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XI. [26] Inferno, Canto XI, lines 106111, Mandelbaum translation. [27] The punishment of immersion was not typically ascribed in Dante's age to the violent, but the Visio attaches it to those who facere praelia et homicidia et rapinas pro cupiditate terrena ("make battle and murder and rapine because of worldly cupidity"). Theodore Silverstein (1936), "Inferno, XII, 100126, and the Visio Karoli Crassi," Modern Language Notes, 51:7, 449452, and Theodore Silverstein (1939), "The Throne of the Emperor Henry in Dante's Paradise and the Mediaeval Conception of Christian Kingship," Harvard Theological Review, 32:2, 115129, suggests that Dante's interest in contemporary politics would have attracted him to a piece like the Visio. Its popularity assures that Dante would have had access to it. Jacques Le Goff, Goldhammer, Arthur, tr. (1986), The Birth of Purgatory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0 226 47083 0), states definitively that ("we know [that]") Dante read it. [28] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XIII. [29] Wallace Fowlie, A Reading of Dante's Inferno, University Of Chicago Press, 1981, p. 224. [30] Inferno, Canto XV, lines 8587, Mandelbaum translation. [31] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XV. [32] Inferno, Canto XVII, line 57, Mandelbaum translation. [33] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XVII. [34] Wallace Fowlie, A Reading of Dante's Inferno, University Of Chicago Press, 1981, p. 117. [35] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XVIII. [36] Inferno, Canto XVIII, line 94, Mandelbaum translation. [37] Inferno, Canto XIX, lines 26, Mandelbaum translation: "Rapacious ones, who take the things of God, / that ought to be the brides of Righteousness, / and make them fornicate for gold and silver! / The time has come to let the trumpet sound / for you; ..." [38] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XIX. [39] Inferno, Canto XX, lines 1415, Mandelbaum translation. [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] [51] [52] [53] [54] [55] [56] [57] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XX. Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXI. Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXIII. Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXIV. Inferno, Canto XXV, lines 136138, Mandelbaum translation. Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXVI. Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXVII. Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXVIII. Wallace Fowlie, A Reading of Dante's Inferno, University Of Chicago Press, 1981, p. 178. Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXIX. Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXXI. Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXXII. Inferno, Canto XXXII, lines 3435, Mandelbaum translation. Inferno, Canto XXXII, lines 6162, Mandelbaum translation. Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXXIII. Wallace Fowlie, A Reading of Dante's Inferno, University Of Chicago Press, 1981, p. 209. Inferno, Canto XXXIV, lines 3945, Mandelbaum translation. Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XXXIV.

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External links
Texts
Dante's Divine Comedy (http://www.divinecomedy.org/) presented by the Electronic Literature Foundation (http://www.thegreatbooks.org/). Multiple editions, with Italian and English facing page and interpolated versions. Dante Dartmouth Project (http://dante.dartmouth.edu/): Full text of more than 70 Italian, Latin, and English commentaries on the Commedia, ranging in date from 1322 (Iacopo Alighieri) to the 2000s (Robert Hollander) World of Dante (http://www.worldofdante.org/) Multimedia website that offers Italian text of Divine Comedy, Allen Mandelbaum's translation, gallery, interactive maps, timeline, musical recordings, and searchable database for students and teachers by Deborah Parker and IATH (Institute for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities) of the University of Virginia Audiobooks: Public domain recordings from LibriVox ( in Italian (http://librivox.org/ la-divina-commedia-by-dante-alighieri/), Longfellow translation (http://librivox.org/

Inferno the-divine-comedy-by-dante-alighieri/)); some additional recordings (http://www.audiolibri.blogspot.com)

43

Secondary materials
On-line Concordance to the Divine Comedy (http://www.tsoules.com/Dante/Concordance/) Wikisummaries summary and analysis of "Inferno" (http://wikisummaries.org/Inferno) Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu), multimedia presentation of the Divine Comedy for students by Guy Raffa of the University of Texas Dante's Places (http://www.matteostarri.com/dante/): a map (still a prototype) of the places named by Dante in the Commedia, created with GoogleMaps. Explanatory PDF is available for download Dante's Inferno (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00f05zj) on In Our Time at the BBC. ( listen now (http:/ /www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00f05zj/In_Our_Time_Dante's_Inferno))

Purgatorio
Purgatorio (Italian for "Purgatory") is the second part of Dante's Divine Comedy, following the Inferno, and preceding the Paradiso. The poem was written in the early 14th century. It is an allegory telling of the climb of Dante up the Mount of Purgatory, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Purgatory is depicted as a mountain in the Southern Hemisphere, consisting of a bottom section (Ante-Purgatory), seven levels of suffering and spiritual growth (associated with the seven deadly sins), and finally the Earthly Paradise at the top. Allegorically, the poem represents the Christian life, and in describing the climb Dante discusses the nature of sin, examples of vice and virtue, and moral issues in politics and in the Church. The poem outlines a theory that all sin arises from love either perverted love directed towards others' harm, or deficient love, or the disordered love of good things.

Plan of Mount Purgatory. As with Paradise, the structure is of the form 2+7+1=9+1=10, with one of the ten regions different in nature from the other nine.

Purgatorio

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Introduction
Having survived the depths of Hell (described in the Inferno), Dante and Virgil ascend out of the undergloom, to the Mountain of Purgatory on the far side of the world. The mountain is an island, the only land in the Southern Hemisphere. Dante describes Hell as existing underneath Jerusalem, created by the impact of Satan's fall. Mount Purgatory, on exactly the opposite side of the world, was created by a displacement of rock, caused by the same event.[1] Dante announces his intention to describe Purgatory by invoking the mythical Muses, as he did in Canto II of the Inferno: "And of that second kingdom will I sing Wherein the human spirit doth purge itself, And to ascend to heaven becometh worthy. let dead Poesy here rise again, O holy Muses, since that I am yours,"[2] Allegorically, the Purgatorio represents the penitent Christian life.[3] In a contrast to Charon's ferry across the Acheron in the Inferno, Christian souls here arrive escorted by an angel, singing In exitu Israel de Aegypto[4] (Canto II). In his Letter to Cangrande, Dante explains that this reference to Israel leaving Egypt refers both to the redemption of Christ and to "the conversion of the soul from the sorrow and misery of sin to the state of grace."[5] Appropriately, therefore, it is Easter Sunday when Dante and Virgil arrive.[6] The Purgatorio is notable for demonstrating the medieval knowledge of a spherical Earth.[7] [8] During the poem, Dante discusses the different stars visible in the southern hemisphere, the altered position of the sun, and the various timezones of the Earth. At this stage it is, Dante says, sunset at Jerusalem, midnight on the River Ganges (with the constellation Libra overhead there), and dawn in Purgatory: "By now the sun was crossing the horizon of the meridian whose highest point covers Jerusalem; and from the Ganges, night, circling opposite the sun, was moving together with the Scales that, when the length of dark defeats the day, desert night's hands; so that, above the shore that I had reached, the fair Aurora's white and scarlet cheeks were, as Aurora aged, becoming orange."[9]
Dante begins the Purgatorio by invoking the Muses, Canto 1.

Christian souls arrive singing, escorted by an angel, Canto 2.

Purgatorio

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Ante-Purgatory
At the shores of Purgatory, Dante and Virgil meet Cato, a pagan who has been placed by God as the general guardian of the approach to the mountain (his symbolic significance has been much debated). On the lower slopes (designated as "Ante-Purgatory" by commentators), they also meet two main categories of souls whose penitent Christian life was delayed or deficient: the excommunicate and the late repentant. The former are detained here for a period thirty times as long as their period of contumacy. The latter includes those too lazy or too preoccupied to repent, and those who repented at the last minute without formally receiving last rites, as a result of violent deaths. These souls will be admitted to Purgatory thanks to their genuine repentance, but must wait outside for an amount of time equal to their lives on earth. The excommunicate include Manfred of Sicily (Canto III). The lazy include Belacqua, whom Dante is relieved to discover here, rather than in Hell (Canto IV): ".. From this time on, Belacqua, I need not grieve for you; .."[10] Those not receiving last rites include Pia de' Tolomei of Siena, who was murdered by her husband, Nello della Pietra of the Maremma (Canto V): "may you remember me, who am La Pia; Siena made, Maremma unmade me: he who, when we were wed, gave me his pledge and then, as nuptial ring, his gem, knows that."[11] Also in this category is the troubadour Sordello who, like Virgil, is from Mantua. When Sordello discovers the great poet's identity, he bows down to him in honour. This helps keep Virgil in the foreground of the poem, since (as a resident of Limbo) Virgil is less qualified as a guide here than he was in Hell.[3] As a resident of Purgatory, Sordello is able to explain the Rule of the Mountain: that after sunset souls are literally incapable of climbing any further. Allegorically, the sun represents God, meaning that progress in the penitent Christian life can only be made through Divine Grace[3] (Cantos VI to VII). Since the sun is setting, Dante and his companions stop for the night in a beautiful valley where they meet persons whose preoccupation with public and private duties hampered their spiritual progress, particularly deceased monarchs such as Rudolph, Ottokar, Philip the Bold, and Henry III (Cantos VII and VIII). Dante also speaks with the souls of contemporary Italian statesmen Currado Malaspina and Nino Visconti, the latter being a personal friend whom Dante rejoices at not having found among the damned. As night approaches, the souls sing the Compline hymns Salve Regina and Te lucis ante terminum. Dante's beautiful description of evening in this valley was the inspiration for a similar passage in Byron's Don Juan:[12]
Purgatorio, Canto VIII, 16 (Longfellow) Dante and Virgil meet Sordello, in a sculpture by Cesare Zocchi, Canto 7.

Pia de' Tolomei (La Pia) in a painting by Stefano Ussi, Canto 5.

The Gate of Purgatory, painted by William Blake, Canto 9.

Don Juan, Canto 3, CVIII, 16

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'twas now the hour that turneth back desire In those who sail the sea, and melts the heart, The day they've said to their sweet friends farewell, And the new pilgrim penetrates with love, If he doth hear from far away a bell That seemeth to deplore the dying day, Soft hour! which wakes the wish and melts the heart Of those who sail the seas, on the first day When they from their sweet friends are torn apart; Or fills with love the pilgrim on his way As the far bell of vesper makes him start, Seeming to weep the dying day's decay;

Waking from a dream, Dante finds that he has been carried up to the gate of Purgatory proper. This gate has three steps: polished white (reflecting the sinfulness of the penitent's true self), black (the colour of mourning; cracked in the shape of a Christian cross), and red (symbolising the blood of Christ and the restoration of true life)[13] [14] (Canto IX). The gate of Purgatory, Peter's Gate, is guarded by an angel who uses the point of his sword to draw the letter "P" (signifying peccatum, sin) seven times on Dante's forehead, bidding him "take heed that thou wash / These wounds, when thou shalt be within."[15] With the passage of each terrace and the corresponding purgation of his soul that the pilgrim receives, one of the "P"s is erased by the angel granting passage to the next terrace. The angel at Peter's Gate uses two keys, silver (remorse) and gold (reconciliation) to open the gate both are necessary for redemption and salvation.[13]

The seven terraces of Purgatory

From the gate of Purgatory, Virgil guides the pilgrim Dante through its seven terraces. These correspond to the seven deadly sins or "seven roots of sinfulness."[16] The classification of sin here is more psychological than that of the Inferno, being based on motives, rather than actions.[17] It is also drawn primarily from Christian theology, rather than from classical sources.[18] The core of the classification is based on love, with the first three terraces of Purgatory relating to perverted love directed towards actual harm of others. The fourth terrace relates to deficient love (i.e. sloth or acedia), while the last three terraces relate to excessive or disordered love of good things.[16] Each terrace purges a particular sin in an appropriate manner (those in Purgatory can leave their circle voluntarily, but will only do so when they have corrected the flaw within themselves that led to committing that sin). The structure of the poetic description of these terraces is more systematic than that of the Inferno,[19] and associated with each terrace are an appropriate prayer, a beatitude, and historical and mythological examples of the relevant deadly sin and of its opposite virtue.

Purgatorio

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First terrace (the proud)

The first three terraces of Purgatory relate to sins caused by a perverted love directed towards actual harm of others. The first of these is pride. On the terrace where proud souls purge their sin, Dante and Virgil see beautiful sculptures expressing humility, the opposite virtue. The first example is of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary, where she responds to the angel Gabriel with the words Ecce ancilla Dei ("Behold the handmaid of the Lord," Luke 1:38[20] ). An example of humility from classical history is the Emperor Trajan, who, according to a medieval legend, once stopped his journey to render justice to a poor widow (Canto X). Also associated with humility is an expanded version of the Lord's Prayer: Our Father, You who dwell within the heavens but are not circumscribed by them out of Your greater love for Your first works above, Praised be Your name and Your omnipotence, by every creature, just as it is seemly to offer thanks to Your sweet effluence. Your kingdom's peace come unto us, for if it does not come, then though we summon all our force, we cannot reach it of our selves. Just as Your angels, as they sing Hosanna, offer their wills to You as sacrifice, so may men offer up their wills to You. Give unto us this day the daily manna without which he who labors most to move ahead through this harsh wilderness falls back. Even as we forgive all who have done us injury, may You, benevolent, forgive, and do not judge us by our worth. Try not our strength, so easily subdued, against the ancient foe, but set it free from him who goads it to perversity."[21]

Dante's first example of humility is taken from the Annunciation. Relief in Auch Cathedral, Canto 10.

Building the Tower of Babel was, for Dante, an example of pride. Painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Canto 12.

After being introduced to humility, Dante and Virgil meet the souls of the proud, who are bent over by the weight of huge stones on their backs. As they walk around the terrace, they are able to profit from the sculpted examples of humility. The first of these souls is Omberto Aldobrandeschi, whose pride lies in his descent ("I was Italian, son of a great Tuscan: / my father was Guiglielmo Aldobrandesco"[22] ), although he is learning to be more humble[23] ("I / do not know if you have heard his name"[24] ). Oderisi of Gubbio is an example of pride in achievements he was a noted artist of illuminated manuscripts.[23] Provenzano Salvani, leader of the Tuscan Ghibellines, is an example of pride in dominating others[23] (Canto XI). In Canto XIII, Dante points out, with "frank self-awareness,"[25] that pride is also a serious flaw of his own: "I fear much more the punishment below; my soul is anxious, in suspense; already I feel the heavy weights of the first terrace"[26]

Purgatorio After his conversations with the proud, Dante notes further sculptures on the pavement below, this time illustrating pride itself. The sculptures show Satan (Lucifer), the building of the Tower of Babel, King Saul, Arachne, King Rehoboam, and others. As the poets ascend to the next terrace, an angel brushes Dante's forehead with his wings, erasing the letter "P" (peccatum) corresponding to the sin of pride, and Dante hears the beatitude Beati pauperes spiritu ("Blessed are the poor in spirit," Matthew 5:3[27] ) (Canto XII).

48

Second terrace (the envious)

Envy is the sin that "looks with grudging hatred upon other men's gifts and good fortune, taking every opportunity to run them down or deprive them of their happiness"[28] (in contrast to covetousness, the excessive desire to have things like money[16] ) As one of the envious souls on this terrace says: "My blood was so afire with envy that, when I had seen a man becoming happy, the lividness in me was plain to see."[29] On entering the terrace of the envious, Dante and Virgil first hear Dante's classical example of generosity is the friendship between Orestes and Pylades. voices on the air telling stories of generosity, the opposite virtue. There According to Cicero's De Amicitia, Pylades is, as in all the other terraces, an episode from the life of the Virgin pretended to be Orestes in order to save his friend Mary. This time, the scene from the Life of the Virgin is the Wedding from execution, Canto 13. at Cana, in which she expresses her joy for the newly married couple and encourages Christ to perform his first miracle. There is also a classical story (the friendship between Orestes and Pylades[28] ), and Jesus' saying "Love your enemies."[30] The souls of the envious wear penitential grey cloaks,[28] and have their eyes sewn shut, resembling the way a falconer sews shut the eyes of a falcon in order to train it[28] hence the need for audible, rather than visual, examples here (Canto XIII). The souls of the envious include Guido del Duca, who speaks bitterly about the ethics of people in towns along the River Arno: "That river starts its miserable course among foul hogs, more fit for acorns than for food devised to serve the needs of man. Then, as that stream descends, it comes on curs that, though their force is feeble, snap and snarl; scornful of them, it swerves its snout away. And, downward, it flows on; and when that ditch, ill-fated and accursed, grows wider, it finds, more and more, the dogs becoming wolves. Descending then through many dark ravines, it comes on foxes so full of deceit there is no trap that they cannot defeat."[31]

Cain's jealousy of his brother Abel is Dante's Biblical example of envy. Painting by James Tissot, Canto 14.

The voices on the air also include examples of envy. The classical example is Aglauros, who (according to Ovid) was turned to stone because she was jealous of Hermes' love for her sister Herse. The Biblical example is Cain,[32] mentioned here not for his act of fratricide, but for the jealousy that led to it (Canto XIV). As he is leaving the terrace, the dazzling light of the terrace's angel causes Dante to reveal his scientific knowledge, observing that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection[33] "as theory and experiment will show"[34] (Canto XV).

Purgatorio

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Third terrace (the wrathful)

On the terrace of the wrathful, examples of meekness, the opposite virtue, are given to Dante as visions in his mind. The scene from the Life of the Virgin in this terrace of purgation is the Finding in the Temple. Whereas most parents would be angry at their child for worrying them, Mary is loving and understanding of Christ's motives behind his three day disappearance. In a classical example, the wife of Peisistratos wanted a young man executed for embracing their daughter, to which The stoning of Saint Stephen provides an example of wrath, as well as of Peisistratos responded: "What shall we do to meekness, its opposite virtue. Painting by Rembrandt, Canto 15. one who'd injure us / if one who loves us earns our condemnation?"[35] Saint Stephen provides a Biblical example, drawn from Acts 7:5460[36] (Canto XV): Next I saw people whom the fire of wrath had kindled, as they stoned a youth and kept on shouting loudly to each other: Kill! Kill! Kill! I saw him now, weighed down by death, sink to the ground, although his eyes were bent always on Heaven: they were Heaven's gates, Praying to his high Lord, despite the torture, to pardon those who were his persecutors; his look was such that it unlocked compassion."[37] The souls of the wrathful walk around in acrid smoke, which symbolises the blinding effect of anger:[38] Darkness of Hell and of a night deprived of every planet, under meager skies, as overcast by clouds as sky can be, had never served to veil my eyes so thickly nor covered them with such rough-textured stuff as smoke that wrapped us there in Purgatory; my eyes could not endure remaining open;[39] Marco Lombardo discourses with Dante on free will a relevant topic, since there is no point being angry with someone who has no choice over his actions[38] (Canto XVI). Dante also sees visions with examples of wrath, such as Haman and Lavinia. The prayer for this terrace is the Agnus Dei: "Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.. dona nobis pacem." ("Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.. grant us peace.") (Canto XVII). At this point Virgil is able to explain to Dante the organization of Purgatory and its relationship to perverted, deficient, or misdirected love. The three terraces they have seen so far have purged the proud ("he who, through abasement of another, / hopes for supremacy"[40] ), the envious ("one who, when he is outdone, / fears his own loss of fame, power, honor, favor; / his sadness loves misfortune for his neighbor."[41] ), and the wrathful ("he who, over injury / received, resentful, for revenge grows greedy / and, angrily, seeks out another's harm."[42] ). Deficient and

Purgatorio misdirected loves are about to follow (Cantos XVII and XVIII).

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Fourth terrace (the slothful)

On the fourth terrace we find souls whose sin was that of deficient love that is, sloth or acedia. Since they had failed in life to act in pursuit of love, here they are engaged in ceaseless activity. The examples of sloth and of zeal, its opposite virtue, are called out by these souls as they run around the terrace. A scene from the life of the Virgin outlined in this terrace is the Visitation, with Mary going "in haste" to visit her cousin Elizabeth. These examples also include episodes from the lives Julius Caesar and Aeneas. This activity also replaces a verbal prayer for this terrace. Since the formerly slothful are now too busy to converse at length, this section of the poem is a short one. Allegorically, spiritual laziness and lack of caring lead to sadness,[43] and so the beatitude for this terrace is Beati qui lugent ("Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted," Matthew 5:4[44] ) (Canto XVIII and XIX). Night falls (for the second time) while the poets are on this terrace, and Dante dreams of a Siren (Canto XIX).

Fifth terrace (the covetous)

On the last three terraces are those who sinned by loving good things, but loving them in an excessive or disordered way. On the fifth terrace, excessive concern for earthly goods whether in the form of greed, ambition or extravagance is punished and purified, and the avaricious and prodigal lie face-down on the ground, unable to move. Their prayer is Adhaesit pavimento anima mea, taken from Psalm 119:25 ("My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word,"[45] ), which is a prayer expressing the desire to follow God's law (Canto XIX). Dante meets the shade of Pope Adrian V, an exemplar of desire for ecclesiastical power and prestige, who directs the poets on their way. Further down the terrace, Hugh the Great, personifying greed for worldly wealth and possessions, bemoans the way that, in contrast, avarice has motivated the actions of his successors, and "prophesies" events which occurred after the date in which the poem is set, but before the poem was written: "The other, who once left his ship as prisoner I see him sell his daughter, bargaining as pirates haggle over female slaves. O Avarice, my house is now your captive: it traffics in the flesh of its own children what more is left for you to do to us? That past and future evil may seem less, I see the fleur-de-lis enter Anagni and, in His vicar, Christ made prisoner. I see Him mocked a second time; I see the vinegar and gall renewed and He is slain between two thieves who're still alive. And I see the new Pilate, one so cruel that, still not sated, he, without decree, carries his greedy sails into the Temple."[47]

The souls on the fifth terrace lie face-downward, Canto 19.

Templars being burned for heresy at the instigation of Philip IV of France. In Dante's view, this was a political action motivated by [46] avarice, Canto 20.

These events include Charles II of Naples selling his daughter into marriage to an elderly and disreputable man,[48] and Philip IV of France ("the fleur-de-lis") arresting Pope Boniface VIII in 1303 (a pope destined for Hell, according

Purgatorio to the Inferno, but still, in Dante's view, the Vicar of Christ[48] ). Dante also refers to the suppression of the Knights Templar at Philip's instigation in 1307, which freed Philip from debts he owed to the order (Canto XX). In a scene which Dante links to the episode where Jesus meets two disciples on the road to Emmaus,[49] Dante and Virgil are overtaken by the poet Statius (ca. 45-96 AD), who Dante presents (on no obvious basis) as a convert to Christianity.[49] He has just finished his time of purgation in this circle, and, as a Christian, his guidance will be able to supplement Virgil's[49] (Canto XXI). The scene from the life of the Virgin, used here to counter the sin of avarice, is the humble birth of Christ.

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Sixth terrace (the gluttonous)

On the sixth terrace are purged the gluttonous, and more generally, those who over-emphasised food, drink, and bodily comforts.[50] In a scene reminiscent of the punishment of Tantalus, they are starved in The Battle of Centaurs and Lapiths is a classical example of gluttony. Painting by Piero di Cosimo, Canto 24. the presence of trees whose fruit is forever [50] out of reach. The examples here are given by voices in the trees. The Virgin Mary, who shared her Son's gifts with others at the Wedding at Cana, and John the Baptist, who lived on locusts and honey (Matthew 3:4[51] ), is an example of the virtue of temperance;.[50] A classical example of the opposite vice of gluttony is the drunkenness of the Centaurs that led to the Battle of Centaurs and Lapiths.[50] The prayer for this terrace is Labia mea Domine (Psalm 51:15: "O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise"[52] ) These are the opening words from the daily Liturgy of the Hours.[53] (the prayers for the fifth and seventh terraces are also taken from the Liturgy of the Hours) (Cantos XXII through XXIV). Here Dante also meets his friend Forese Donati and his poetic predecessor Bonagiunta Orbicciani. Bonagiunta has kind words for Dante's earlier poem, La Vita Nuova, describing it as the sweet new style, and quoting the line "Ladies that have intelligence of love,"[54] written in praise of Beatrice, who he will meet later in the Purgatorio: "Ladies that have intelligence of Love, I of my lady wish with you to speak; Not that I can believe to end her praise, But to discourse that I may ease my mind. I say that when I think upon her worth, So sweet doth Love make himself feel to me, That if I then should lose not hardihood, Speaking, I should enamour all mankind."[55] Climbing to the seventh terrace, Dante wonders how it is possible for bodiless souls to have the gaunt appearance of the souls being starved here. In explaining, Statius discourses on the nature of the soul and its relationship to the body (Canto XXV).

The prayers for the upper three terraces are taken from the Liturgy of the Hours, Cantos 19, 23, and 25.

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Seventh terrace (the lustful)

The terrace of the lustful has an immense wall of flame through which everyone must pass. Souls repenting of misdirected sexual desire (both heterosexual and homosexual) run through the flames calling out examples of lust (Sodom and Gomorrah and Pasipha) and of chastity and marital fidelity (the Virgin Mary's chastity). As a prayer, they sing the hymn Summae Deus Clementiae[56] (God of Supreme Clemency) from the Liturgy of the Hours (Cantos XXV and XXVI). As they circle the terrace, the two groups of penitents greet each other in a way Dante compares to ants: "There, on all sides, I can see every shade move quickly to embrace another shade, content they did not pause with their brief greeting, as ants, in their dark company, will touch their muzzles, each to each, perhaps to seek news of their fortunes and their journeyings."[57] Among the flames, which he dare not enter, are the poets of love Guido Guinizelli and Arnaut Daniel, with whom Dante speaks. By reminding Dante that Beatrice can be found in the Earthly Paradise on the other side, Virgil finally persuades Dante to pass through the intense fire (Cantos XXVI and XXVII). On the stairs to the Earthly Paradise, night falls for the third time, and Dante dreams of Leah and Rachel, symbols of the active (non-monastic) and contemplative (monastic) Christian lives, both of which are important[58] (Canto XXVII): ".. in my dream, I seemed to see a woman both young and fair; along a plain she gathered flowers, and even as she sang, she said: Whoever asks my name, know that I'm Leah, and I apply my lovely hands to fashion a garland of the flowers I have gathered. To find delight within this mirror I adorn myself; whereas my sister Rachel never deserts her mirror; there she sits all day; she longs to see her fair eyes gazing, as I, to see my hands adorning, long: she is content with seeing, I with labor."[59]

Virgil, Dante, and Statius beside the flames of the seventh terrace, Canto 25.

Dante dreams of Leah picking flowers, symbol of the active (non-monastic) Christian life, Canto 27.

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The Earthly Paradise

At the summit of Mount Purgatory is the Earthly Paradise or Garden of Eden.[60] Allegorically, it represents the state of innocence that existed before Adam and Eve fell from grace the state which Dante's journey up Mount Purgatory has been recapturing.[60] Here Dante meets Matilda, a woman whose literal and allegorical identity "is perhaps the most tantalizing problem in the Comedy."[60] However, Matilda clearly prepares Dante for his meeting with Beatrice,[60] the woman to whom (historically) Dante dedicated his previous poetry, the woman at whose request (in the story) Virgil was commissioned to bring Dante on his journey,[61] and the woman who (allegorically) symbolizes the path to God[62] (Canto XXVIII).

Beatrice Addressing Dante, by William Blake, showing the "chariot triumphal" bearing Beatrice and drawn by the Griffin, as well as four of the ladies representing virtues, Canto 29.

With Matilda, Dante witnesses a procession which forms an allegory within the allegory, somewhat like Shakespeare's play within a play. It has a very different style from the Purgatorio as a whole, having the form of a masque, where the characters are walking symbols rather than real people. The procession consists of (Canto XXIX): "twenty-four elders"[63] (a reference to Revelation 4:4[64] ), representing the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, as classified by Jerome[65] "four animals" with "six wings as plumage"[66] (a reference to Revelation 4:68[67] ), a traditional representation of the four Evangelists[65] "a chariot triumphal on two wheels,"[68] bearing Beatrice, which is drawn by.. a Griffin,[69] representing the conjoined divinity and humanity of Christ[65] "three circling women" coloured red, green, and white,[70] representing the three theological virtues: Love, Hope, and Faith, respectively[65] "four other women"[71] dressed in purple,[72] representing the four cardinal virtues: Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude[65] "two elders, different in their dress,"[73] representing the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline epistles[65] "four of humble aspect,"[74] representing the general epistles[65] "when all the rest had passed, a lone old man,"[75] representing the Book of Revelation[65]

Purgatorio The appearance of Beatrice,[76] and a dramatic reconciliation scene between Beatrice and Dante, in which she rebukes his sin (Cantos XXX and XXXI), help cover the disappearance of Virgil, who, as a symbol of non-Christian philosophy and humanities, can help him no further in his approach to God[77] (and in the rest of the Divine Comedy, Beatrice is Dante's guide): "But Virgil had deprived us of himself, Virgil, the gentlest father, Virgil, he to whom I gave my self for my salvation; and even all our ancient mother lost was not enough to keep my cheeks, though washed with dew, from darkening again with tears."[78]

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Dante and Beatrice, by John William Waterhouse, 1915.

Dante then passes through the River Lethe, which erases the memory of past sin (Canto XXXI),[79] and sees an allegory of Biblical and Church history, in which the chariot plays the role of the Church. This allegory includes a denunciation of the corrupt papacy of the time, and its ties to the French monarchy[80] (Canto XXXII): "Just like a fortress set on a steep slope, securely seated there, ungirt, a whore, whose eyes were quick to rove, appeared to me; and I saw at her side, erect, a giant, who seemed to serve as her custodian; and they again, again embraced each other."[81] Finally, Dante drinks from the River Euno, which restores good memories, and prepares him for his ascent to Heaven (described in the Paradiso). As with the other two parts of the Divine Comedy, the Purgatorio ends on the word "stars" (Canto XXXIII): "From that most holy wave I now returned to Beatrice; remade, as new trees are renewed when they bring forth new boughs, I was pure and prepared to climb unto the stars."[82]
Matilda helps Dante pass through the River Lethe, Canto 31.

The Purgatorio in the arts

The Divine Comedy has been a source of inspiration for countless artists for almost seven centuries. While references to the Inferno are the most common, there are also many references to the Purgatorio. Franz Liszt's Symphony to Dante's Divina Commedia (1856) has a "Purgatorio" movement, as does Robert W. Smith's The Divine Comedy (2006). Chaucer and others have referenced the Purgatorio in their writing. Many visual artists have depicted scenes from the Purgatorio, including Gustave Dor, John Flaxman, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John William Waterhouse, and William Blake.

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Footnotes
[1] Inferno, Canto 34, lines 121-126, Mandelbuam translation "This was the side on which he fell from Heaven; / for fear of him, the land that once loomed here / made of the sea a veil and rose into / our hemisphere; and that land which appears / upon this side perhaps to flee from him / left here this hollow space and hurried upward." [2] Purgatorio, Canto I, lines 48, Longfellow translation. [3] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on Canto VII. [4] Psalm 114 (Psalm 113 in the Latin Vulgate): "When Israel came out of Egypt" (NIV). (http:/ / www. biblegateway. com/ passage/ ?search=psalm 114& version=NIV) [5] "The Letter to Can Grande," in Literary Criticism of Dante Alighieri, translated and edited by Robert S. Haller (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1973), 99. [6] Robin Kirkpatrick, Purgatorio, notes on Canto I: "Thus behind all the references that the canto makes to regeneration and rebirth there is the realization that all life and all redemption depends upon Christ's Resurrection from the dead." [7] Richard H. Lansing and Teodolinda Barolini, The Dante Encyclopedia (http:/ / books. google. com. au/ books?id=vuW4Z7Y79zYC& pg=PA328), Taylor & Francis, 2000, ISBN 0815316593, pp. 328330 (EARTH, GLOBE). [8] John Brian Harley and David Woodward, The History of Cartography (http:/ / books. google. com. au/ books?id=uJaP4i7-_MIC& pg=PA321), Humana Press, ISBN 0226316335, p. 321. [9] Purgatorio, Canto II, lines 19, Mandelbaum translation. [10] Purgatorio, Canto IV, lines 123124, Mandelbaum translation. [11] Purgatorio, Canto V, lines 133136, Mandelbaum translation. [12] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on Canto VIII. [13] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on Canto IX. [14] Robin Kirkpatrick, Purgatorio, notes on Canto IX. [15] Purgatorio, Canto IX, lines 113114, Longfellow translation. [16] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, Introduction, pp. 6567 (Penguin, 1955). [17] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, Introduction, p. 15 (Penguin, 1955): "Hell is concerned with the fruits, but Purgatory with the roots, of sin." [18] Robin Kirkpatrick, Purgatorio, Introduction, p. xiv (Penguin, 2007). [19] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, Introduction, p. 61 (Penguin, 1955): "it is only to be expected that [Purgatory] should be more highly and more serenely organised than Hell." [20] Luke 1:38, KJV. (http:/ / www. biblegateway. com/ passage/ ?search=luke 1:38& version=KJV) [21] Purgatorio, Canto XI, lines 121, Mandelbaum translation. [22] Purgatorio, Canto XI, line 5859, Mandelbaum translation. [23] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on Canto XI. [24] Purgatorio, Canto XI, line 5960, Mandelbaum translation. [25] Guy P. Raffa, The Complete Danteworlds: A Reader's Guide to the Divine Comedy (http:/ / books. google. com. au/ books?id=ndVBh8BVb6UC& pg=PA164), University of Chicago Press, 2009, ISBN 0226702707, p. 164. [26] Purgatorio, Canto XIII, lines 136138, Mandelbaum translation. [27] Matthew 5:3 NIV. (http:/ / www. biblegateway. com/ passage/ ?search=Matthew+ 5:3& version=NIV) [28] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on Canto XIII. [29] Purgatorio, Canto XIV, lines 8284, Mandelbaum translation. [30] Matt 5:44, NIV. (http:/ / www. biblegateway. com/ passage/ ?search=matt 5:44& version=NIV) [31] Purgatorio, Canto XIV, lines 4354, Mandelbaum translation. [32] Purgatorio, Canto XIV, line 133, Mandelbaum translation: "Whoever captures me will slaughter me," cf Genesis 4:14 (NIV) (http:/ / www. biblegateway. com/ passage/ ?search=genesis 4:14& version=NIV): "whoever finds me will kill me." [33] Robin Kirkpatrick, Purgatorio, notes on Canto XV. [34] Purgatorio, Canto XV, line 21, Dorothy L. Sayers translation, 1955. [35] Purgatorio, Canto XV, lines 104105, Mandelbaum translation. [36] Acts 7:5460, NIV. (http:/ / www. biblegateway. com/ passage/ ?search=Acts 7:54-60& version=NIV) [37] Purgatorio, Canto XV, lines 106114, Mandelbaum translation. [38] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on Canto XVI. [39] 'Purgatorio, Canto XVI, lines 17, Mandelbaum translation. [40] Purgatorio, Canto XVII, lines 115116, Mandelbaum translation. [41] Purgatorio, Canto XVII, lines 118120, Mandelbaum translation. [42] Purgatorio, Canto XVII, lines 121123, Mandelbaum translation. [43] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on Cantos XVIII and XIX. [44] Matthew 5:4 NIV. (http:/ / www. biblegateway. com/ passage/ ?search=Matthew+ 5:4& version=NIV) [45] Psalm 119:25, KJV. (http:/ / www. biblegateway. com/ passage/ ?search=Psalm+ 119:25& version=KJV) In the Vulgate, this is Psalm 118:25.

Purgatorio
[46] Robin Kirkpatrick, Purgatorio, notes on Canto XX: "At every point in canto 20, avarice is identified as the driving force in the ambition of the Capetian dynasty." [47] Purgatorio, Canto XX, lines 7993, Mandelbaum translation. [48] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on Canto XX. [49] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on Canto XXI. [50] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on Canto XXII. [51] Matthew 3:4, NIV. (http:/ / www. biblegateway. com/ passage/ ?search=Matthew+ 3:4& version=NIV) [52] Psalm 51:15, NIV. (http:/ / www. biblegateway. com/ passage/ ?search=Psalm+ 51:15& version=NIV) In the Vulgate, this is Psalm 50:17. [53] Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Catholic Dictionary, 2nd ed., Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 2002, p. 415, ISBN 087973390X. [54] Purgatorio, Canto XXIV, line 51, Longfellow translation. [55] La Vita Nuova, Section XIX, lines 18, translated by Charles Eliot Norton. (http:/ / www. elfinspell. com/ DanteNewLife2. html) [56] Summae Deus Clementiae. (http:/ / www. preces-latinae. org/ thesaurus/ Hymni/ SummaeDeus. html) [57] Purgatorio, Canto XXVI, lines 3136, Mandelbaum translation. [58] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on Canto XXVII. [59] Purgatorio, Canto XXVII, lines 97108, Mandelbaum translation. [60] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on Canto XXVIII. [61] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto II. [62] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on Canto XXX. [63] Purgatorio, Canto XXIX, line 83, Mandelbaum translation. [64] Revelation 4:4, NIV. (http:/ / www. biblegateway. com/ passage/ ?search=Revelation+ 4:4& version=NIV) [65] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on Canto XXIX. [66] Purgatorio, Canto XXIX, lines 92105, Mandelbaum translation. [67] Revelation 4:4:68, NIV. (http:/ / www. biblegateway. com/ passage/ ?search=Revelation 4:6-8& version=NIV) [68] Purgatorio, Canto XXIX, line 107, Mandelbaum translation. [69] Purgatorio, Canto XXIX, lines 108114, Mandelbaum translation. [70] Purgatorio, Canto XXIX, lines 121129, Mandelbaum translation. [71] Purgatorio, Canto XXIX, line 130, Mandelbaum translation. [72] Purgatorio, Canto XXIX, line 131, Longfellow translation. [73] Purgatorio, Canto XXIX, lines 134141, Mandelbaum translation. [74] Purgatorio, Canto XXIX, line 142, Mandelbaum translation. [75] Purgatorio, Canto XXIX, lines 143144, Mandelbaum translation. [76] John Laskin, The Entrance of Beatrice in Dante's Purgatorio: Revelation, Duality and Identity (http:/ / www. escholarship. org/ uc/ item/ 9pp7614f), Carte Italiane, 1(14), 1994, p. 120: "Virgil slips unnoticed offstage while our attention is cleverly diverted to the visual splendor of the 'cloud of flowers' effect." [77] Robin Kirkpatrick, Purgatorio, notes on Canto XXX and XXXI. [78] Purgatorio, Canto XXX, lines 4954, Mandelbaum translation. [79] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, Introduction, p. 68 (Penguin, 1955). [80] Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on Canto XXXII. [81] Purgatorio, Canto XXXII, lines 148153, Mandelbaum translation. [82] Purgatorio, Canto XXXIII, lines 142145, Mandelbaum translation.

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External links
World of Dante (http://www.worldofdante.org/) Multimedia website that offers Italian text of Divine Comedy, Allen Mandelbaum's translation, gallery, interactive maps, timeline, musical recordings, and searchable database for students and teachers by Deborah Parker and IATH (Institute for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities) of the University of Virginia Princeton Dante Project (http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/index.html) Website that offers the complete text of the Divine Comedy (and Dante's other works) in Italian and English along with audio accompaniment in both languages. Includes historical and interpretive annotation. Dante Dartmouth Project (http://dante.dartmouth.edu/): Full text of more than 70 Italian, Latin, and English commentaries on the Commedia, ranging in date from 1322 (Iacopo Alighieri) to the 2000s (Robert Hollander) Dante's Divine Comedy (http://www.divinecomedy.org/) presented by the Electronic Literature Foundation (http://www.thegreatbooks.org/). Multiple editions, with Italian and English facing page and interpolated versions.

Purgatorio The Comedy in English: trans. Cary (with Dor's illustrations) (http://bulfinch.englishatheist.org/dante/hell/ hellindex.htm) (HTML), trans. Cary (with Dor's illustrations) (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8800) (zipped HTML downloadable from Project Gutenberg), Cary/Longfellow/Mandelbaum parallel edition (http://www. divinecomedy.org/divine_comedy.html) On-line Concordance to the Divine Comedy (http://www.tsoules.com/Dante/Concordance/) Audiobooks: Public domain recordings from LibriVox ( in Italian (http://librivox.org/ la-divina-commedia-by-dante-alighieri/), Longfellow translation (http://librivox.org/ the-divine-comedy-by-dante-alighieri/)); some additional recordings (http://www.audiolibri.blogspot.com) Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu), multimedia presentation of the Divine Comedy for students by Guy Raffa of the University of Texas Dante's Places (http://www.matteostarri.com/dante/): a map (still a prototype) of the places named by Dante in the Commedia, created with GoogleMaps. An explanatory PDF is available for download at the same page Gustave Dore - Purgatorio (http://gravures.ru/photo/gjustav_dore/bozhestvennaja_komedija_chistilishhe/31) Complete 42 hi-res pics album

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Paradiso
Paradiso (Italian for "Paradise" or "Heaven") is the third and final part of Dante's Divine Comedy, following the Inferno and the Purgatorio. It is an allegory telling of Dante's journey through Heaven, guided by Beatrice, who symbolises theology. In the poem, Paradise is depicted as a series of concentric spheres surrounding the earth, consisting of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed Stars, the Primum Mobile and finally, the Empyrean. It was written in the early 14th century. Allegorically, the poem represents the soul's ascent to God.

Dante and Beatrice speak to the teachers of wisdom Thomas Aquinas, Albertus Magnus, Peter Lombard and Sigier of Brabant in the Sphere of the Sun (fresco by Philipp Veit), Canto 10.

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Introduction
The Paradiso begins at the top of Mount Purgatory, at noon on the Wednesday after Easter. After ascending through the sphere of fire believed to exist in the earth's upper atmosphere (Canto I), Beatrice guides Dante through the nine celestial spheres of Heaven, to the Empyrean, which is the abode of God. The nine spheres are concentric, as in the standard medieval geocentric model of cosmology,[1] which was derived from Ptolemy. The Empyrean is non-material. As with his Purgatory, the structure of Dante's Heaven is therefore of the form 9+1=10, with one of the ten regions different in nature from the other nine. During the course of his journey, Dante meets and converses with several blessed souls. He is careful to say that these all actually live in bliss with God in the Empyrean: "But all those souls grace the Empyrean; and each of them has gentle life though some sense the Eternal Spirit more, some less."[2] However, for Dante's benefit (and the benefit of his readers), he is "as a sign"[3] shown various souls in planetary and stellar spheres that have some appropriate connotation. While the structures of the Inferno and Purgatorio were based around different classifications of sin, the structure of the Paradiso is based on the four cardinal virtues (Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude) and the three theological virtues (Faith, Hope, and Love).

The Paradiso assumes the medieval view of the Universe, with the Earth surrounded by concentric spheres containing planets and stars.

The Spheres of Heaven

Dante's nine spheres of Heaven are the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed Stars, and the Primum Mobile. These are associated by Dante with the nine levels of the angelic hierarchy. Dante also relies on traditional associations, such as the one between Venus and romantic love. The first three spheres (which fall within the shadow of the Earth) are associated with deficient forms of Fortitude, Justice, and Temperance. The next four are associated with positive examples of Prudence, Fortitude, Justice, and Temperance; while Faith, Hope, and Love appear together in the eighth sphere.

First Sphere (The Moon: The Inconstant)

On visiting the Moon, Beatrice explains to Dante the reasons for the markings on its surface, describing a simple scientific experiment in optics. She also praises the experimental method in general (Canto II): "Yet an experiment, were you to try it, could free you from your cavil, and the source of your arts' course springs from experiment."[4]

On visiting the Moon, Beatrice explains to Dante the reasons for its markings, Canto 2.

Paradiso The waxing and waning of the moon is associated with inconstancy.[5] Consequently, the sphere of the Moon is that of souls who abandoned their vows, and so were deficient in the virtue of fortitude (Canto II). Here Dante and Beatrice meet Piccarda, sister of Dante's friend Forese Donati, who died shortly after being forcibly removed from her convent. They also meet Constance of Sicily, who (Dante believes) was forcibly removed from a convent to marry Henry VI (Canto III).[6] Beatrice discourses on the freedom of the will, the sacredness of vows, and the importance of not collaborating with force (Canto IV): "for will, if it resists, is never spent, but acts as nature acts when fire ascends, though force a thousand times tries to compel. So that, when will has yielded much or little, it has abetted force as these souls did: they could have fled back to their holy shelter."[7]

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Dante and Beatrice speak to Piccarda and Constance (fresco by Philipp Veit), Canto 3.

Beatrice explains that a vow is a pact "drawn between a man / and God,"[8] in which a person freely offers up his free will as a gift to God. Vows should therefore not be taken lightly, and should be kept once given unless keeping the vow would be a greater evil, as with Jephthah's and Agamemnon's sacrifice of their daughters (Canto V).[9]

Second Sphere (Mercury: The Ambitious)

Because of its proximity to the sun, the planet Mercury is often difficult to see. Allegorically, the planet represents those who did good out of a desire for fame, but who, being ambitious, were deficient in the virtue of justice. Their earthly glory pales into insignificance beside the glory of God, just as Mercury pales into insignificance beside the sun.[9] Here Dante meets the Emperor Justinian, who introduces himself with the words "Caesar I was and am Justinian,"[10] indicating that his personality remains, but that his earthly status no longer exists in Heaven[11] (Canto V). Justinian recounts the history of the Roman Empire, mentioning, among others, Julius Caesar and Cleopatra; and bemoans the present state of Italy, given the conflict between Guelphs and Ghibellines, and the involvement of the "yellow lilies" of France[11] (Canto VI): "For some oppose the universal emblem with yellow lilies; others claim that emblem for party: it is hard to see who is worse. Let Ghibellines pursue their undertakings beneath another sign, for those who sever this sign and justice are bad followers."[12] By association, Beatrice discourses on the Incarnation and the Crucifixion of Christ, which occurred during Roman times (Canto VII).

Dante meets the Emperor Justinian in the Sphere of Mercury, Canto 5.

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Third Sphere (Venus: The Lovers)

The planet Venus (the Morning and Evening Star) is traditionally associated with the Goddess of Love, and so Dante makes this the planet of the lovers, who were deficient in the virtue of temperance (Canto VIII): "The world, when still in peril, thought that, wheeling, in the third epicycle, Cyprian the fair sent down her rays of frenzied love, .. and gave the name of her with whom I have begun this canto, to the planet that is courted by the sun, at times behind her and at times in front."[13] Dante meets Charles Martel of Anjou, who was known to him,[14] and who points out that a properly functioning society requires people of many different kinds. Such differences are illustrated by Cunizza da Romano (lover of Sordello), who is here in Heaven, while her brother Ezzelino III da Romano is in Hell, among the violent of the seventh circle.[15] The troubadour Folquet de Marseilles speaks of the temptations of love, and points out that (as was believed at the time) the cone of the Earth's shadow just touches the sphere of Venus. He condemns the city of Florence (planted, he says, by Satan) for producing that "damned flower" (the florin) which is responsible for the corruption of the Church, and he criticises the clergy for their focus on money, rather than on Scripture and the writings of the Church Fathers (Canto IX):

The florin, the "damned flower," Canto 9.

Folquet de Marseilles bemoans the corruption of the Church, with the clergy receiving money from Satan (miniature by Giovanni di Paolo), Canto 9.

"Your city, which was planted by that one who was the first to turn against his Maker, the one whose envy cost us many tears produces and distributes the damned flower that turns both sheep and lambs from the true course, for of the shepherd it has made a wolf. For this the Gospel and the great Church Fathers are set aside and only the Decretals are studied as their margins clearly show. On these the pope and cardinals are intent.

Paradiso Their thoughts are never bent on Nazareth, where Gabriel's open wings were reverent."[16]

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Fourth Sphere (The Sun: The Wise)

Beyond the shadow of the Earth, Dante deals with positive examples of Prudence, Justice, Temperance, and Fortitude. Within the Sun, which is the Earth's source of illumination, Dante meets the greatest examples of prudence: the souls of the wise, who help to illuminate the world intellectually[17] (Canto X). Initially, a circle of twelve bright lights dance around Dante and Beatrice. These are the souls of:[17] Thomas Aquinas Albertus Magnus Gratian Peter Lombard King Solomon

Dionysius the Areopagite, confused here with Pseudo-Dionysius Orosius Boethius Isidore of Seville Bede Richard of Saint Victor Sigier of Brabant

Dante and Beatrice meet twelve wise men in the Sphere of the Sun (miniature by Giovanni di Paolo), Canto 10.

This list includes philosophers, theologians and a king, and has representatives from across Europe. Thomas Aquinas recounts the life of St. Francis of Assisi, and his love for "Lady Poverty" (Canto XI): "Between Topino's stream and that which flows down from the hill the blessed Ubaldo chose, from a high peak there hangs a fertile slope; from there Perugia feels both heat and cold at Porta Sole, while behind it sorrow Nocera and Gualdo under their hard yoke. From this hillside, where it abates its rise, a sun was born into the world, much like this sun when it is climbing from the Ganges. Therefore let him who names this site not say Ascesi, which would be to say too little, but Orient, if he would name it rightly."[18]

Twelve new bright lights appear, one of which is St. Bonaventure, a Franciscan, who recounts the life of St. Dominic, founder of the order to which Aquinas belonged. The two orders were not always friendly on earth, and having members of one order praising the founder of the other shows the love present in Heaven[19] (Canto XII). The twenty-four bright lights revolve around Dante and Beatrice, singing of the Trinity, and Aquinas explains the surprising presence of King Solomon, who is placed here for kingly, rather than philosophical or mathematical wisdom (Cantos XIII and XIV): "My words did not prevent your seeing clearly that it was as a king that he had asked for wisdom that would serve his royal task and not to know the number of the angels

St. Francis, whose life is recounted by Aquinas (painting by Jusepe de Ribera), Canto 11.

Paradiso on high or, if combined with a contingent, necesse ever can produce necesse, or si est dare primum motum esse, or if, within a semicircle, one can draw a triangle with no right angle."[20]

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Fifth Sphere (Mars: The Warriors of the Faith)

The planet Mars is traditionally associated with the God of War, and so Dante makes this planet the home of the warriors of the Faith, who gave their lives for God, thereby displaying the virtue of fortitude.[21] The millions of sparks of light that are the souls of these warriors form a Greek cross on the planet Mars, and Dante compares this cross to the Milky Way (Canto XIV): "As, graced with lesser and with larger lights between the poles of the world, the Galaxy gleams so that even sages are perplexed; so, constellated in the depth of Mars, those rays described the venerable sign a circle's quadrants form where they are joined."[22]

The souls in the Fifth Sphere form a Greek cross, which Dante compares to the Milky Way, Canto 14.

Dante says that sages are "perplexed" by the nature of the Milky Way, but in his Convivio, he had described its nature fairly well: "What Aristotle said on this matter cannot be known with certainty.. In the Old Translation he says that the Galaxy is nothing but a multitude of fixed stars in that region, so small that we are unable to distinguish them from here below, though from them originates the appearance of that brightness which we call the Galaxy; this may be so, for the heaven in that region is denser, and therefore retains and throws back this light. Avicenna and Ptolemy seem to share this opinion with Aristotle."[23] Dante meets his ancestor Cacciaguida, who served in the Second Crusade.[24] Cacciaguida praises the twelfth-century Republic of Florence, and bemoans the way in which the city has declined since those days (Cantos XV and XVI). The setting of the Divine Comedy in the year 1300, before Dante's exile, has allowed characters in the poem to "foretell" bad things for Dante.[25] In response to a question from Dante, Cacciaguida speaks the truth bluntly. Dante will be exiled (Canto XVII): "You shall leave everything you love most dearly: this is the arrow that the bow of exile shoots first. You are to know the bitter taste of others' bread, how salt it is, and know how hard a path it is for one who goes descending and ascending others' stairs."[26] However, Cacciaguida also charges Dante to write and tell the world all that he has seen of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.[25] Finally, Dante sees some other warriors of the Faith, such as Joshua, Judas Maccabeus, Charlemagne, Roland, and Godfrey of Bouillon (Canto XVIII).

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Sixth Sphere (Jupiter: The Just Rulers)

The planet Jupiter is traditionally associated with the king of the gods, and so Dante makes this planet the home of the rulers who displayed justice.[27] The souls here spell out the Latin for "Love justice, ye that judge the earth", after which the final "M" of that sentence is transformed into the shape of a giant imperial eagle[27] (Canto XVIII): "DILIGITE IUSTITIAM were the verb and noun that first appeared in that depiction; QUI IUDICATIS TERRAM followed after. Then, having formed the M of the fifth word, those spirits kept their order; Jupiter's silver, at that point, seemed embossed with gold."[28]
An imperial eagle. The souls forming the final "M" of "TERRAM" transform themselves into this shape, Canto 18.

Present in this sphere are David, Hezekiah, Trajan (converted to Christianity according to a medieval legend), Constantine, William II of Sicily, and (Dante is amazed at this) Ripheus the Trojan, a pagan saved by the mercy of God.[29] The souls forming the imperial eagle speak with one voice, and tell of God's justice[30] (Cantos XIX and XX).

Seventh Sphere (Saturn: The Contemplatives)

The sphere of Saturn is that of the contemplatives, who embody temperance.[31] Dante here meets Peter Damian, and discusses with him monasticism, the doctrine of predestination, and the sad state of the Church[32] (Cantos XXI and XXII). Beatrice, who represents theology, becomes increasingly lovely here, indicating the contemplative's closer insight into the truth of God: "She did not smile. Instead her speech to me began: Were I to smile, then you would be like Semele when she was turned to ashes, because, as you have seen, my loveliness which, even as we climb Dante and Beatrice meet Peter Damien, who tells of his life, and discusses predestination the steps of this (miniature by Giovanni di Paolo), Canto 21. eternal palace, blazes with more brightness were it not tempered here, would be so brilliant that, as it flashed, your mortal faculty would seem a branch a lightning bolt has cracked."[33]

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Eighth Sphere (The Fixed Stars: Faith, Hope, and Love)

The sphere of the Fixed Stars is the sphere of the Church Triumphant.[34] From here (in fact, from the constellation Gemini, under which he was born), Dante looks back on the seven spheres he has visited, and on the Earth (Canto XXII): "My eyes returned through all the seven spheres and saw this globe in such a way that I smiled at its scrawny image: I approve that judgment as the best, which holds this earth to be the least; and he whose thoughts are set elsewhere, can truly be called virtuous."[35] Here, Dante sees the Virgin Mary and other saints (Canto XXIII). St Peter tests Dante on faith, asking what it is, and whether Dante has it. In response to Dante's reply, St. Peter asks Dante how he knows that the Bible is true, and (in an argument attributed to Augustine[36] ) Dante cites the miracle of the Church's growth from such humble beginnings (Canto XXIV): "Say, who assures you that those works were real? came the reply. The very thing that needs proof no thing else attests these works to you. I said: If without miracles the world was turned to Christianity, that is so great a miracle that, all the rest are not its hundredth part: for you were poor and hungry when you found the field and sowed the good plant once a vine and now a thorn."[37] St. James[38] questions Dante on hope, and Beatrice vouches for his possession of it (Canto XXV): "There is no child of the Church Militant who has more hope than he has, as is written within the Sun whose rays reach all our ranks: thus it is granted him to come from Egypt into Jerusalem that he have vision of it, before his term of warring ends."[39] Finally, St. John questions Dante on love. In his reply, Dante refers back to the concept of "twisted love" discussed in the Purgatorio[40] (Canto XXVI): "Thus I began again: My charity results from all those things whose bite can bring the heart to turn to God; the world's existence and mine, the death that He sustained that I might live, and that which is the hope of all believers, as it is my hope, together with living knowledge I have spoken of these drew me from the sea of twisted love
Looking down from the Sphere of the Fixed Stars, Dante sees the humble planet that is the Earth, Canto 22.

St. James, who questions Dante on hope (painting by Rembrandt), Canto 25.

Paradiso and set me on the shore of the right love. The leaves enleaving all the garden of the Everlasting Gardener, I love according to the good He gave to them."[41] St. Peter then denounces Pope Boniface VIII in very strong terms, and says that, in his eyes, the Papal See stands empty (Canto XXVII).

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Ninth Sphere (The Primum Mobile: The Angels)

The Primum Mobile ("first moved" sphere) is the last sphere of the physical universe. It is moved directly by God, and its motion causes all the spheres it encloses to move[42] (Canto XXVII): "This heaven has no other where than this: the mind of God, in which are kindled both the love that turns it and the force it rains. As in a circle, light and love enclose it, as it surrounds the rest and that enclosing, only He who encloses understands. No other heaven measures this sphere's motion, but it serves as the measure for the rest, even as half and fifth determine ten;"[43]

The Primum Mobile is the abode of angels, and here Dante sees God as an intensely bright point of light surrounded by nine rings of angels (Canto XXVIII). Beatrice explains the creation of the universe, and the role of the angels, ending with a forceful criticism of the preachers of the day (Canto XXIX): "Christ did not say to his first company: 'Go, and preach idle stories to the world; but he gave them the teaching that is truth, and truth alone was sounded when they spoke; and thus, to battle to enkindle faith, Beatrice criticises the preachers of the day, suggesting that a sinister "bird" (a winged the Gospels served them demon) nests in the preacher's cowl (miniature by Giovanni di Paolo), Canto 29. as both shield and lance. But now men go to preach with jests and jeers, and just as long as they can raise a laugh, the cowl puffs up, and nothing more is asked. But such a bird nests in that cowl, that if the people saw it, they would recognize as lies the pardons in which they confide."[44]

Dante and Beatrice see God as a point of light surrounded by angels (illustration by Gustave Dor), Canto 28.

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The Empyrean
From the Primum Mobile, Dante ascends to a region beyond physical existence, the Empyrean, which is the abode of God. Beatrice, representing theology,[45] is here transformed to be more beautiful than ever before, and Dante becomes enveloped in light, rendering him fit to see God[45] (Canto XXX): "Like sudden lightning scattering the spirits of sight so that the eye is then too weak to act on other things it would perceive, such was the living light encircling me, leaving me so enveloped by its veil of radiance that I could see no thing. The Love that calms this heaven always welcomes into Itself with such a salutation, to make the candle ready for its flame."[46] Dante sees an enormous rose, symbolising divine love,[45] the petals of which are the enthroned souls of the faithful (both those of the Old Testament and those of the New). All the souls he has met in Heaven, including Beatrice, have their home in this rose.[45] Angels fly around the rose like bees, distributing peace and love. Beatrice now returns to her place in the rose, signifying that Dante has passed beyond theology in directly contemplating God,[47] and St. Bernard, as a mystical contemplative, now guides Dante further (Canto XXXI). St. Bernard further explains predestination, and prays to the Virgin Mary on Dante's behalf. Finally, Dante comes face-to-face with God Himself (Cantos XXXII and XXXIII). God appears as three equally large circles occupying the same space, representing the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit[48] : "but through my sight, which as I gazed grew stronger, that sole appearance, even as I altered, seemed to be changing. In the deep and bright essence of that exalted Light, three circles appeared to me; they had three different colors, but all of them were of the same dimension; one circle seemed reflected by the second, as rainbow is by rainbow, and the third seemed fire breathed equally by those two circles."[49]

The three circles of the Trinity (illustration by John Flaxman), Canto 33.

Within these circles Dante can discern the human form of Christ. The Divine Comedy ends with Dante trying to understand how the circles fit together, and how the humanity of Christ relates to the divinity of the Son but, as Dante puts it, "that was not a flight for my wings."[50] In a flash of understanding, which he cannot express, Dante does finally see this, and his soul becomes aligned with God's love:[48] "But already my desire and my will were being turned like a wheel, all at one speed, by the Love which moves the sun and the other stars."[51]

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Footnotes
[1] C. S. Lewis, The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature, Chapter V, Cambridge University Press, 1964. [2] Paradiso, Canto IV, lines 3436, Mandelbaum translation. [3] Paradiso, Canto IV, line 38, Mandelbaum translation. [4] Paradiso, Canto II, lines 9496, Mandelbaum translation. [5] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto II. [6] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto III. [7] Paradiso, Canto IV, lines 7681, Mandelbaum translation. [8] Paradiso, Canto V, lines 2829, Mandelbaum translation. [9] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto V. [10] Paradiso, Canto VI, line 10, Mandelbaum translation. [11] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto VI. [12] Paradiso, Canto VI, lines 7681, Mandelbaum translation. [13] Paradiso, Canto VIII, lines 13, 912, Mandelbaum translation. [14] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto VIII. [15] Inferno, Canto XII, line 109, Mandelbaum translation: "That brow with hair so black is Ezzelino." [16] Paradiso, Canto IX, lines 127138, Mandelbaum translation. [17] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto X. [18] Paradiso, Canto XI, lines 4354, Mandelbaum translation. [19] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XI. [20] Paradiso, Canto XIII, lines 94102, Mandelbaum translation. [21] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XIV. [22] Paradiso, Canto XIV, lines 97102, Mandelbaum translation. [23] Dante Alighieri, Convivio, Book II, Chapter 14 (http:/ / dante. ilt. columbia. edu/ books/ convivi/ convivio2. html), Richard Lansing translation. [24] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XV. [25] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XVII. [26] Paradiso, Canto XVII, lines 5560, Mandelbaum translation. [27] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XVIII. [28] Paradiso, Canto XVIII, lines 9196, Mandelbaum translation. [29] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XX. [30] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XIX. [31] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXI. [32] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXII. [33] Paradiso, Canto XXI, lines 412, Mandelbaum translation. [34] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXIII. [35] Paradiso, Canto XXII, lines 133138, Mandelbaum translation. [36] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXIV. [37] Paradiso, Canto XXIV, lines 103111, Mandelbaum translation. [38] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXV. [39] Paradiso, Canto XXV, lines 5257, Mandelbaum translation. [40] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXVI. [41] Paradiso, Canto XXVI, lines 5556, Mandelbaum translation. [42] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXVII. [43] Paradiso, Canto XXVII, lines 109117, Mandelbaum translation. [44] Paradiso, Canto XXIX, lines 109120, Mandelbaum translation. [45] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXX. [46] Paradiso, Canto XXX, lines 4654, Mandelbaum translation. [47] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXXI. [48] Dorothy L. Sayers, Paradise, notes on Canto XXXIII. [49] Paradiso, Canto XXXIII, lines 112120, Mandelbaum translation. [50] Paradiso, Canto XXXIII, line 139, C. H. Sisson translation. [51] Paradiso, Canto XXXIII, lines 142-145, C. H. Sisson translation.

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External links
World of Dante (http://www.worldofdante.org/) Multimedia website that offers Italian text of Divine Comedy, Allen Mandelbaum's translation, gallery, interactive maps, timeline, musical recordings, and searchable database for students and teachers by Deborah Parker and IATH (Institute for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities) of the University of Virginia Princeton Dante Project (http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/index.html) Website that offers the complete text of the Divine Comedy (and Dante's other works) in Italian and English along with audio accompaniment in both languages. Includes historical and interpretive annotation. Dante Dartmouth Project (http://dante.dartmouth.edu/): Full text of more than 70 Italian, Latin, and English commentaries on the Commedia, ranging in date from 1322 (Iacopo Alighieri) to the 2000s (Robert Hollander) Dante's Divine Comedy (http://www.divinecomedy.org/) presented by the Electronic Literature Foundation (http://www.thegreatbooks.org/). Multiple editions, with Italian and English facing page and interpolated versions. The Comedy in English: trans. Cary (with Dor's illustrations) (http://bulfinch.englishatheist.org/dante/hell/ hellindex.htm) (HTML), trans. Cary (with Dor's illustrations) (http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8800) (zipped HTML downloadable from Project Gutenberg), Cary/Longfellow/Mandelbaum parallel edition (http://www. divinecomedy.org/divine_comedy.html) On-line Concordance to the Divine Comedy (http://www.tsoules.com/Dante/Concordance/) Audiobooks: Public domain recordings from LibriVox ( in Italian (http://librivox.org/ la-divina-commedia-by-dante-alighieri/), Longfellow translation (http://librivox.org/ the-divine-comedy-by-dante-alighieri/)); some additional recordings (http://www.audiolibri.blogspot.com) Danteworlds (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu), multimedia presentation of the Divine Comedy for students by Guy Raffa of the University of Texas Dante's Places (http://www.matteostarri.com/dante/): a map (still a prototype) of the places named by Dante in the Commedia, created with GoogleMaps. An explanatory PDF is available for download at the same page Gustave Dore - Paradiso (http://gravures.ru/photo/gjustav_dore/bozhestvennaja_komedija_raj/32) Complete 18 hi-res pics album

69

Verses from the Divine Commedy

Pap Satn, pap Satn aleppe
This article is partially translated from the Italian Wikipedia. Pap Satn, pap Satn aleppe is the opening line of Canto VII of Dante Alighieri's Inferno. The line, consisting of three words, is famous for the uncertainty of its meaning, and there have been many attempts to interpret it. Modern commentators on the Inferno view it as some kind of demonic invocation to Satan.[1] [2]

Text
The line is a shout by Pluto. Pluto (also identified with Plutus and Hades) was originally the Roman god of wealth and the underground, but in the Inferno, Dante has made Pluto into a repulsive demon who guards the Plutus in Divine Commedia, portrayed by Gustave Dor fourth circle, where souls are punished who have abused their wealth through greed or improvidence.[3] Here is the full strophe, plus the following four, which describes Dante's and Virgil's entire meeting and confrontation with Pluto:
Original Italian text: "Pape Satn, pape Satn aleppe!", cominci Pluto con la voce chioccia; e quel savio gentil, che tutto seppe, One translation into English reads: "Pape Satan, Pape Satan, Aleppe!" Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began; And that benignant Sage, who all things knew,

disse per confortarmi: "Non ti noccia Said, to encourage me: "Let not thy fear la tua paura; ch, poder ch'elli abbia, non ci torr lo scender questa Harm thee; for any power that he may have roccia." Shall not prevent thy going down this crag." Poi si rivolse a quella 'nfiata labbia, e disse: "Taci, maladetto lupo! consuma dentro te con la tua rabbia. Non sanza cagion l'andare al cupo: vuolsi ne l'alto, l dove Michele f la vendetta del superbo strupo." Quali dal vento le gonfiate vele caggiono avvolte, poi che l'alber fiacca, [4] tal cadde a terra la fiera crudele. Then he turned round unto that bloated lip, And said: "Be silent, thou accursed wolf; Consume within thyself with thine own rage. Not causeless is this journey to the abyss; Thus is it willed on high, where Michael wrought Vengeance upon the proud adultery." Even as the sails inflated by the wind Involved together fall when snaps the mast, [5] So fell the cruel monster to the earth.

The scant information that can be gleaned from the text is this: 1. Virgil understands the meaning ("And that benignant Sage, who all things knew..."), and is replying. 2. That the line is just the beginning of something else ("Thus Plutus with his clucking voice began...). 3. It is an expression of anger ("And said: "Be silent, thou accursed wolf / Consume within thyself with thine own rage.").

Pap Satn, pap Satn aleppe 4. That it has the effect of a threat to Dante (And that benignant Sage, who all things knew, / Said, to encourage me: "Let not thy fear / Harm thee; for any power that he may have / Shall not prevent thy going down this crag.").

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Possible explanations
The earliest interpretations
Some interpretations from the earliest commentators on the Divine Comedy include: The word "pap" (or pape) might be a rendering from Latin's papae, or from Greek's (papa). Both words are interjections of anger or surprise, attested in ancient authors (comparable to the English "damn!", or just "oh!").[6] [7] The word "aleppe" could be an Italian version as the word for the Hebrew letter ( A), alef (compare Alep in the Phoenician language and Alpha in the Greek) The consonant shift here is comparable to that in Giuseppe, the Italian version of the name Joseph. In Hebrew, Alef also means "number one" or "the origin that contains everything". It may also be interpreted as a metaphor for the head, "the first and foremost". This was an attribute for God in late medieval expressions, the meaning was like "the majesty" (of God). "Alef" was also a medieval interjection (like "Oh God!").[6] [7] The word "satan" comes from the Hebrew word ( ha-Satan), which directly translated means "adversary". The meaning of the words then becomes, "Oh (pap), our foremost (aleppe) enemy of God/demon (ha-Satan), as aleppe is the first letter of the alphabet (aleppe)!", which is "Oh, Satan, o Satan, god, king!". So the sentence would be a mixture of Greek and Latin/Greek.[7]

The prayer theory

The word "pap" might come from Latin's Pape, which is an old roman term for "emperor", or "father". The double mention of "pap" together with "Satan" (here interpreted as the fallen angel Satan) and the break (the comma) in the hendecasyllable, gives it a tone of a prayer or an invocation to Satan (although there is no verb traceable). Another version is that it might be an invocation to the evil against/within the intruders.

Domenico Geurri's theory

Domenico Guerri made a thorough research in medieval glossaries in 1908, and interpreted it as "Oh Satan, oh Satan, God," which he wrote was meant as an invocation against travellers.[8]

Abboud Rashid's theory

Abboud Abu Rashid, the first Arabic translator of the Divine Comedy (19301933), interpreted this verse as a phonetic translation of spoken Arabic, Bab Al-Shaytan, Bab Al-Shaytan, Ahlibu!. This means "The door of Satan, the door of Satan, proceed downward!". According to some scholars, although Dante did not speak Arabic, he could have drawn some inspiration from Islamic sources [9] (see also the relevant article on Islamic philosophy in the Divine Comedy). Doubts arise, however, because the meaning of this interpretation does not really match the reaction of Dante and Virgil (anger and fear), nor Virgil's answer.

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The Hebrew theory

Some commentators claim that the sentence is phoenetic Hebrew, "Bab-e-sciatan, bab-e-sciatan, alep!". This would be the opposite to the sentence that Jesus spoke in the Gospel according to St Matthew (xvi, 18:"...and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it"). The meaning would be to signify that Hell (Satan) has conquered.[7] * Pape also means pope

The French theories

There are also two interesting suggestions of translations from French. The first reads: "Pas paix Satan, pas paix Satan, l'pe" ("No peace Satan, no peace Satan, to the sword"). The second is: "Paix, paix, Satan, paix, paix, Satan, allez, paix!" ("Peace, peace, Satan, peace, peace, go, peace!"). The latter phrase can be interpreted as "Satan, make peace!".[7] Benvenuto Cellini, in his autobiography, reports hearing the phrase in Paris, transliterating it as "Phe phe, Satan, phe phe, Satan, al, phe" and interpreting it as "Be quiet! Be quiet Satan, get out of here and be quiet."[10]

Sources
[1] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell: notes on Canto VII, Penguin, 1949, ISBN 0-14-044006-2. [2] Mark Musa, Inferno: notes on Canto VII, Penguin, 2002, ISBN 0-14-243722-0. [3] (in Swedish) Den gudomliga komedin (Divine Comedy), comments by Ingvar Bjrkesson. Levande Litteratur. www.nok.se. p.425. ISBN9789127114685. [4] Italian text from Princeton Dante Project. (http:/ / etcweb. princeton. edu/ dante/ pdp/ ) [5] Longfellow translation from Wikisource. [6] Vittorio Sermonti, Inferno, Rizzoli 2001, p. 134. [7] Berthe M. Marti, "A Crux in Dante's Inferno," Speculum, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Jan 1952), pp. 67-70. (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ pss/ 2855294) [8] Domenico Guerri, Di alcuni versi dotti nella "Divina Commedia", Citt di Castello, 1908 [9] Philip K. Hitti, "Recent Publications in Arabic or Dealing with the Arabic World," Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Dec 1934), pp. 435-438. (http:/ / www. jstor. org/ pss/ 594549) [10] Benvenuto Cellini (tr. Julia Conaway Bondanella and Peter E. Bondanella), My Life (http:/ / books. google. com. au/ books?id=hLpOLhECbeIC& pg=PA262), Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-19-282849-5, p. 262 and note on p. 438.

External links
The full Divine Comedy at Wikisource Pictures from Divine Comedy by Gustave Dor (http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index. php?title=Special:Search&search=divine+comedy+dor&go=Go)

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Raphl ma amche zab almi

Raphl ma amche zab almi is a verse written by Dante Alighieri in Canto XXXI, line 67, in his epic poem Divine Comedy. The verse is shouted out by Nimrod, who is a giant in the epic poem, but not one in Biblical texts. He is portrayed as one due to the similarities between him and the Giant's revolt, punished and banished to the Giants' Well.[1] Some internet sources regard the verse as a mixture of Hebrew and Arabic.[2] The strophe with the verse and the following five, in original Italian and English reads:
"Raphl ma amcche zab almi," cominci a gridar la fiera bocca, cui non si convenia pi dolci salmi. E 'l duca mio ver' lui: "Anima sciocca, tienti col corno, e con quel ti disfoga quand' ira o altra passon ti tocca! Crcati al collo, e troverai la soga che 'l tien legato, o anima confusa, e vedi lui che 'l gran petto ti doga." Poi disse a me: "Elli stessi s'accusa; questi Nembrotto per lo cui mal coto pur un linguaggio nel mondo non s'usa. "Raphl ma amcche zab almi," the savage mouth, for which no sweeter psalms were fit, began to shout. And, in response, my leader: 'You muddled soul, stick to your horn! Vent yourself with that when rage or other passion takes you. "Search at your neck, you creature of confusion, and you will find the rope that holds the horn aslant your mammoth chest.' Then he to me: 'He is his own accuser. This is Nimrod, because of whose vile plan the world no longer speaks a single tongue.

Lascinlo stare e non parliamo a vto; ch cos a lui ciascun linguaggio [3] come 'l suo ad altrui, ch'a nullo noto." "Let us leave him and not waste our speech, for every language is to him as his [3] to others, and his is understood by none."

Note the similarity to Pap Satn, pap Satn aleppe. Both verses are exclamations of anger ("when rage or other passion takes you.") and both are shouted out by demons.

References
[1] (in Swedish) Den gudomliga komedin (Divine Comedy), comments by Ingvar Bjrkesson. Levande Litteratur. www.nok.se. p.425. ISBN9789127114685. [2] http:/ / www. englishdante. com/ Chapters/ conto31. htm [3] http:/ / etcweb. princeton. edu/ dante/ pdp/

73

Characters in the Divine Commedy

Alichino
Alichino is one of the devils in the Inferno of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Alichino is member of the Malebranche, whose mission is to guard Bolgia Five in the Eighth Circle, the Malebolge. Alichino's name is commonly regarded as a garbled version of the Italian word for harlequin, Arlecchino, perhaps for his flying try to caught Bonturo Dati in his escape (see picture). His most, and only, significant contribution to the plot is when he persuades the other devils to leave Bonturo Dati alone. Bonturo is supposed to summon other sinners from the lake of boiling pitch (that don't dare to appear when the devils are near), on request by Dante (who wants to speak with them). But Bonturo doesn't Alichino trying to catch the escaping sinner Bonturo Dati call at his friends, instead he fools the devils and escape back to the lake, and Alichino tryes in vain to catch him. This causes a fight between Alichino and Calcabrina, which makes them to fall into the lake. The other devils puts however the blame on Virgil and Dante and hunt them vexed. The following strophes depict when Bonturo fools the devils:
"If you desire either to see or hear," The terror-stricken recommenced thereon, "Tuscans or Lombards, I will make them come. But let the Malebranche cease a little, So that these may not their revenges fear, And I, down sitting in this very place, For one that I am will make seven come, When I shall whistle, as our custom is To do whenever one of us comes out." Alichino held not in, but running counter Unto the rest, said to him: "If thou dive, I will not follow thee upon the gallop, But I will beat my wings above the pitch; The height be left, and be the bank a shield To see if thou alone dost countervail us." O thou who readest, thou shalt hear new sport! Each to the other side his eyes averted; He first, who most reluctant was to do it.

Cagnazzo at these words his muzzle lifted, The Navarrese selected well his time; Shaking his head, and said: "Just hear the trick Planted his feet on land, and in a moment Which he has thought of, down to throw himself!" Leaped, and released himself from their design. Whence he, who snares in great abundance had, Responded: "I by far too cunning am, When I procure for mine a greater sadness." Whereat each one was suddenly stung with shame, But he most who was cause of the defeat; Therefore he moved, and cried: "Thou art o'ertakern." But little it availed, for wings could not Outstrip the fear; the other one went under, [1] And, flying, upward he his breast directed;

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References
[1] http:/ / en. wikisource. org/ wiki/ The_Divine_Comedy/ Inferno/ Canto_XXII

External links
Read everything about Alichino and Malebranche in Divine Comedy at Wikisource, canto XXII and XXIII

Barbariccia
Barbariccia is one of the demons in the Inferno of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Barbariccia is member of the Malebranche, whose mission is to guard Bolgia Five in the Eighth Circle, the Malebolge. Barbariccia's name means "curly beard" in Italian (from barba=beard, and riccia=curly). It is possible that Dante also alludes to a historical person. Barbariccia seems to be the most important devil after Malacoda as he becomes the "provost" of nine other devils, when Malacoda commands them to escort Dante and Virgil, which can be read out of the following text (the speaker is Malacoda): "I send in that direction some of mine To see if any one doth air himself; Go ye with them; for they will not be vicious. Step forward, Alichino and Calcabrina," Began he to cry out, "and thou, Cagnazzo; And Barbariccia, do thou guide the ten. Come forward, Libicocco and Draghignazzo, And tusked Ciriatto and Graffiacane, And Farfarello and mad Rubicante; Search ye all round about the boiling pitch; Let these be safe as far as the next crag, That all unbroken passes o'er the dens."[1] (Inferno, Canto XXI, Line 115-126) Barbariccia seems also to have a specificity among the other nine devils, according to: Thus sometimes, to alleviate his pain, One of the sinners would display his back, And in less time conceal it than it lightens. As on the brink of water in a ditch The frogs stand only with their muzzles out, So that they hide their feet and other bulk, So upon every side the sinners stood; But ever as Barbariccia near them came, Thus underneath the boiling they withdrew.[2] (Inferno, Canto XXII, Line 22-30) He is also the most serious and dutiful of the devils, since he allows Danta and Virgil to speak to the sinner (Bonturo Dati) that Graffiacane caught, and order the devils to save Alichino and Calcabrina when they fall into the lake of boiling pitch:

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And Ciriatto, from whose mouth projected, On either side, a tusk, as in a boar, Caused him to feel how one of them could rip. Among malicious cats the mouse (the sinner) had come; But Barbariccia clasped him in his arms, And said: "Stand ye aside, while I enfork him." And to my Master he turned round his head; "Ask him again," he said, "if more thou wish [2] To know from him, before some one destroy him." (Inferno, Canto XXII, Line 55-63)

But sooth the other was a doughty sparhawk To clapperclaw him well; and both of them Fell in the middle of the boiling pond. A sudden intercessor was the heat; But ne'ertheless of rising there was naught, To such degree they had their wings belimed. Lamenting with the others, Barbariccia Made four of them fly to the other side With all their gaffs, and very speedily This side and that they to their posts descended; They stretched their hooks towards the pitch-ensnared, Who were already baked within the crust, [2] And in this manner busied did we leave them. (Inferno, Canto XXII, Line 139-151)

References
[1] http:/ / en. wikisource. org/ wiki/ The_Divine_Comedy/ Inferno/ Canto_XXI [2] http:/ / en. wikisource. org/ wiki/ The_Divine_Comedy/ Inferno/ Canto_XXII

Ciampolo
Ciampolo (also Giampolo, "John Paul") is the accepted name of a character in Dante's Divine Comedy. Ciampolo appears in Canto XXII of the Inferno, where he is a grafter in the fifth ditch of the eighth circle. Ciampolo is hooked by the devils (the Malebanche, "Evil Claws") that patrol that ditch, and pulled out of the boiling pitch where the grafters are immersed, which represent their sticky fingers and corrupt deals. Threatened by the devils, Ciampolo tells Dante the identity of some of the other grafters punished there. Ciampolo eventually tricks the devils, and makes his escape back to the boiling pitch.

Ciampolo escapes back into the pitch

Dante does not identify Ciampolo by name, but his name was provided by early commentators. Nothing else is really known about him other that the information provided by Dante: that he was born in Navarre, that his father was a wastrel, and that he served King Theobald II of Navarre.

External links
Original text and commentaries across centuries [1] of Canto 22, line 48 and following, from Dartmouth Dante Project.

References
[1] http:/ / dante. dartmouth. edu/ search_view. php?query=& cmd=Search& commentary%5B%5D=0& language=any& cantica=1& canto=22& line=48

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Cocytus
Cocytus or Kokytos, meaning "the river of wailing" (from the Greek , "lamentation"), is a river in the underworld in Greek mythology. Cocytus flows into the river Acheron, across which dwells the underworld, the mythological abode of the dead. There are five rivers encircling Hades. The River Styx is perhaps the most famous; the other rivers are Phlegethon, Lethe, and Acheron.

In literature
The Cocytus river was one of the rivers that surrounded Hades. Cocytus, along with the other rivers related to the underworld, was a common topic for ancient authors. Of the ancient authors, Cocytus was mentioned by Homer, Cicero, Aeschylus and Plato, among others.[1] Cocytus also makes an appearance in John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost. In Book Two, Milton speaks of "Cocytus, named of lamentation loud / Heard on the rueful stream"[2]

In The Divine Comedy

In Inferno, the first cantica of Dante's Divine Comedy, Cocytus is the ninth and lowest circle of Hell. Dante and Virgil are placed there by the giant Anataeus, there are other Giants around the rim chained, however Anateus is unchained as he died before the Gigantomachy. Cocytus is referred to as a frozen lake rather than a river, although it originates from the same source as the other infernal rivers, the tears of a statue called The Old Man of Crete which represents the sins of humanity. Dante describes Cocytus as being the home of traitors and those who committed acts of complex fraud. Depending on the form of their treachery, victims are buried in ice to a varying degree, anywhere from neck-high to completely submerged in ice. Cocytus is divided

Dante's Cocytus, as illustrated by Gustave Dor (1832-1883).

into four descending "rounds," or sections: Caina, after the Biblical Cain; traitors to blood relatives. Antenora, after Antenor from the Iliad; traitors to country. Ptolomea, after Ptolemy, governor of Jericho, who murdered his guests (1 Maccabees); traitors to guests. Here it is said that sometimes the soul of a traitor falls to Hell before Atropos cuts the thread, and their body is taken over by a fiend. Judecca, after Judas Iscariot; traitors to masters and benefactors. Dante's Satan is at the center of the circle buried waist-high in ice. He is depicted with three faces and mouths. The central mouth gnaws Judas. Judas is chewed head foremost with his feet protruding and Satan's claws tearing his back while those gnawed in the side mouths, Brutus and Cassius, leading assassins of Julius Caesar, are both chewed feet foremost with their heads protruding. Under each chin Satan flaps a pair of wings, which only serve to increase the cold winds in Cocytus and further imprison him and other traitors. Dante and his guide Virgil proceed then to climb down Satan's back and into Purgatory, though Dante is at first confused at their turning round, but Virgil

Cocytus explains it is due to the change in forces as they pass through the centre of the Earth.

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References
[1] "KOKYTOS" (http:/ / www. theoi. com/ Khthonios/ PotamosKokytos. html). Theoi Project. . Retrieved 2009-12-08. [2] Milton, John (2005). Paradise Lost. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. p.591.

Corso Donati
Corso Donati was a leader of the Black Guelph faction in 13th- and early 14th- century Florence.

Bologna and Pistoia

In the late thirteenth century, power in Florence and the other Tuscan cities was divided between the Podest, an outsider who served as chief magistrate, and the guildmasters; Corso served as Podest of Bologna in 1283 and 1288, and of Pistoia in 1289. In 1289, as captain of the people in Pistoia, he led a group of 60 soldiers in the Battle of Campaldino, in which the Guelphs defeated the Ghibellines and cemented their control over Florence.

Leader of the Black Guelphs

In 1293, the merchants of Florence, led by Giano della Bella, prevented the nobility from taking the office of guildmaster; Corso led the noble faction which aligned with the working class against the merchants. In 1294 Corso was acquitted of killing a man in a fight; an angry mob came to della Bella seeking justice after the acquittal, but he sent them away whereupon they rioted and della Bella was exiled as having caused the riot. At that time, the Cerchi family, leaders of the merchant faction who had long feuded with the Donati, became allied with the White Guelphs while the Donati allied with the Black Guelphs, similar factions which had arisen in Pistoia. The leaders of both Guelph factions, including Corso, were exiled by the merchants in 1300, but the White Guelphs were soon allowed to return. Corso and the Black Guelphs petitioned Pope Boniface VIII for aid, and returned to Florence with Charles of Valois in November 1301, killing or exiling many White Guelphs. One of the exiled was the famous poet Dante Alighieri, who by marrying Gemma Donati had become a distant relative of Corso.

Plots against the Black Guelphs

Beginning in February 1303, Corso broke with the other Black Guelphs and joined the Cavalcanti, a family of White Guelphs, in calling for the examination of the finances of his former allies. This led to a new eruption of fighting in which forces from Lucca temporarily controlled Florence. Donati was one of twelve prominent Florentine citizens summoned by Pope Benedict XI in 1304 in an attempt to bring peace to the city; the White Guelphs and some Ghibellines were restored, although the Ghibellines were expelled again in 1306. In 1308 Corso was accused of plotting to overthrow the Florentine commune and take power as lord of the city with the aid of his father-in-law Uguccione della Faggiuola, a Ghibelline, and was condemned as a rebel and a traitor; he died on October 6, 1308 while attempting to flee the city after having been besieged in his house by an angry mob.[1]
[2] [3] [4]

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In literature
He is discussed prominently in several contemporary histories: Niccol Machiavelli's History of Florence, the Nuova Cronica of Giovanni Villani, and the Cronica delle cose occorrenti ne' tempi suoi of Dino Compagni. Dante's Divine Comedy, which was written after Donati's death but set prior to it in 1300, includes a scene in which Corso's brother Forese indirectly describes Corso as the one who bears the greatest blame for the downfall of Florence and foresees him being dragged by a beast into hell.[5] In the Divine Comedy, Corso's sister Piccarda is the first person Dante meets in Paradise. Corso Donati is also the subject of a play by nineteenth-century writer Carlo Marenco, who was inspired by Dante's works.

Buildings
Two buildings owned by and named after Corso, the torri Corso Donati or towers of Corso Donati, still stand in Piazza San Pier Maggiore in Florence.

References
[1] Machiavelli, Niccol (1901), History of Florence and of the Affairs of Italy (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=eGBJAAAAMAAJ), M. W. Dunne, . English translation by Hugo Albert Rennert, Dunne, 1901. Chapter V. [2] Nuova Cronica VIII. See especially section 8: How the great man of the people, Giano della Bella, was driven out of Florence, and section 96: How Corso Donati, the Great and Noble Citizen of Florence, Died. The two towers of Corso Donati

[3] Catholic Encyclopedia: Florence (http:/ / www. newadvent. org/ cathen/ 06105c. htm). [4] Toynbee, Paget Jackson (1898), A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante, The Clarendon Press, p.176. [5] Purgatorio XXIV 7987. The canto does not mention Corso by name, but he is stated to be the subject in the summaries of the canto from both The Princeton Dante Project (http:/ / etcweb. princeton. edu/ dante/ pdp/ ) and the Harvard Classics edition of Dante (http:/ / www. bartleby. com/ 20/ 224. html).

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Dis
In Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy, the City of Dis (in Italian, la citt ch'ha nome Dite, "the city whose name is Dis")[1] encompasses the sixth through the ninth circles of Hell.[2] The most serious sins are punished here, in lower Hell. Dis is extremely hot, and contains areas more closely resembling the common modern conception of Hell than the upper levels. The walls of Dis are guarded by fallen angels and the Erinyes (Furies). Dante emphasizes the character of the place as a city by describing its architectural features: towers, gates, walls, ramparts, bridges, and moats. It is thus an antithesis to the heavenly city, as for instance described by St. Augustine in his City of God.[3] Among these structures are mosques, "the worship places of the most dangerous enemies of medieval Christendom."[4] In Dante's schematics of Hell, Muslims and Jews are placed among the heretics (Jews are relegated to the cerchio di Giuda, the "Judas-circle"[5] ).[6] The presence of mosques probably also recalls the reality of Jerusalem in Dante's own time, where gilded domes dominated the skyline.[7]

Punished within Dis are those whose lives were marked by active (rather than passive) sins: heretics, murderers, suicides, blasphemers, usurpers, sodomites, panderers, seducers, flatterers, Simoniacs, sorcerers, barrators, hypocrites, thieves, false counsellors, schismatics, falsifiers and traitors. Sinners unable to control their passions offend God less than these, whose lives were driven by malizia ("malice, wicked intent"): Of every malice (malizia) gaining the hatred of Heaven, injustice is the goal; and every such goal injures someone either with force or fraud.[8] There is perhaps a distinction between malizia as the characteristic of circles seven and eight, and the matta bestialitade, "inhuman wickedness," of circle nine, which punishes those who threaten "the most basic civic, familial, and religious foundations of happiness."[9] In ancient Roman mythology, Dis Pater ("Father Dis") is the ruler of the underworld and is named as such in the sixth book of Vergil's "Aeneid", one of the principal influences on Dante in his depiction of hell. (The god was also known as Pluto, a name not used by Vergil in the Aeneid.) The hero Aeneas enters the "desolate halls and vacant realm of Dis"[10] with his guide, the Sibyl, who correspond in The Divine Comedy to "Dante" as the speaker of the poem and his guide, Vergil. James Blish uses the name Dis for the city of Hell which emerges in Death Valley in his novel The Day After Judgment.

Lower Hell, inside the walls of Dis, in an illustration by Stradanus. There is a drop from the sixth circle to the three rings of the seventh circle, then again to the ten rings of the eighth circle, and, at the bottom, to the icy ninth circle.

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References
[1] Inferno 8.68. Citations from The Divine Comedy, unless otherwise noted, are those of H. Wayne Storey, entry on "Dis," in The Dante Encyclopedia (Routledge, 2010), pp. 306307. [2] Inferno 9.106 to 34.81. [3] Storey, The Dante Encyclopedia, p. 306. [4] Peter Bondanella, The Inferno: Dante Alighieri, note to the translation of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Fine Creative Media, 2003), pp. 206207. [5] Inferno 9.27. [6] Sylvia Tomasch, "Judecca, Dante's Satan, and the Dis-placed Jew," in Text and Territory: Geographical Imagination in the European Middle Ages (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998), p. 253. [7] Anthony K. Cassell, "The Tomb, the Tower and the Pit: Dante's Satan," in Dante: Dante and Interpretation (Routledge, 2003), p. 204. [8] VV. 2224, as cited by Storey, The Dante Encyclopedia, p. 307. [9] Storey, The Dante Encyclopedia, p. 307. [10] Domos Ditis uacuas et inania regna (Aeneid 6.269).

Eunoe
Eunoe is a feature of Dante's Commedia created by Dante as the fifth river of the dead (taking into consideration that Cocytus was described as a lake rather than a river). Penitents reaching the Garden of Eden at the top of Mount Purgatory are first washed in the waters of the river Lethe in order to forget the memories of their mortal sins. They then pass through Eunoe to have the memories of their good deeds in life strengthened. Upon completing his or her sentence in Purgatory, a soul is washed in the rivers Lethe and Eunoe (in that order) by Matelda. It is unclear who Matelda was in real life, but, nonetheless, her function is to cause the penitent to forget his or her sins (now that these sins have been purgated) and then sip from the waters of Eunoe so that the soul may enter heaven full of the strength of his or her life's good deeds. Dante makes particular reference to the dolce ber or "sweet drink/draught" of Eunoe at the end of Purgatorio when he explains that he wished he had greater space to write of the water that "never would have sated me." (trans. C.S. Singleton) The word "eunoe" is one of Dante's many neologisms presumably derived from Greek "eu-," meaning "good" and "noe," meaning "mind."

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Forese Donati
Forese Donati (died 1296) Forese Donati, brother of Corso and Piccarda Donati, was a childhood friend of Dante Alighieri. In their youth, Forese and Dante exchanged a series of playful sonnets called tenzone, which take the form of a series of exchanged insults. In the Divine Comedy Dante encounters Forese on the sixth terrace of Purgatory, where the gluttonous are punished by being forced to starve for food and drink while passing past them, similar to the punishment of Tantalous. Dante barely recognizes Forese's emaciated face and his friend's state causes him great grief. He expresses surprise at Forese's salvation - he had died five years before - and at his quick advancement through the terraces of Purgatory. Forese praises his wife Nella, whose prayers have allowed him to pass quickly through Purgatory. Forese maligns the provocatively-dressed Florentine women and predicts that more restrictive dress codes will soon be enforced in Florence. Dante tells Forese of his journey through Hell and Purgatory, accompanied by Virgil, and asks about Forese's sister Piccarda. Forese informs Dante that Piccarda is now in Heaven, and goes on to identify other prominent personages on the terrace of the gluttons. Before leaving Dante, Forese predicts the coming death of his brother Corso and his descent into Hell.

References
Alighieri, Dante. Purgatorio. Trans. Robert Hollander and Jean Hollander. New York: Anchor Books, 2003. Terrace 6: Gluttony. Danteworlds from the University of Texas at Austin. Accessed 29 March 2008 < (http:// danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/purgatory/08gluttony.html)>.

Malacoda
Malacoda is a character in Dante Alighieri's Inferno, part of the Divine Comedy. He is the leader of the Malebranche, the nine demons who guard Bolgia Five of Malebolge, the eighth circle of Hell. The name Malacoda is roughly equivalent to "bad tail" or "evil tail" in Italian. Unlike other characters such as Geryon, which are based on mythical characters, Malacoda was invented by Dante and is not a mythological reference. Malacoda is mentioned in Bolgia five in Dante Alighieri's Inferno. He with his fiends guard the grafters, caught in boiling pitch to represent their sticky-fingered deals, torturing with grappling hooks whoever they can reach. Dante and Virgil gain a safe conduct from him (Malacoda) and he allows the poets to cross to the next Bolgia. However, Malacoda lies to the poets about the existence of bridges over the sixth Bolgia, making him less a help and more an impediment. In the Inferno it does not state whether or not Malacoda chases the poets after his demons Grizzly(Barbariccia) and Hellken(Alichino) fall into the boiling pit of pitch. All the Inferno states is that the poets were being chased by the fiends before they

Malacoda and his squadron of Malebranche threaten Virgil and Dante in the fifth Bolgia

Malacoda escaped by sliding down down a bank to the next Bolgia. Malacoda and his fiends cannot leave the fifth Bolgia of the grafters. It is said in the Inferno "For the providence that gave them (the fiends) the fifth pit to govern as the ministers of its will takes from their souls the power of leaving it". Malacoda also gives the reader the time by telling how long time it was since Bolgia Six passages collapsed; And then to us: 'You can't continue farther down this ridge, for the sixth arch lies broken into pieces at the bottom. "If you desire to continue on, then make your way along this rocky ledge. Nearby's another crag that yields a passage. "Yesterday, at a time five hours from now, it was a thousand two hundred sixty-six years since the road down here was broken. "I'm sending some men of mine along that way to see if anyone is out to take the air. Go with them -- they won't hurt you."[1] (Inferno, Canto XXI, 106-117.) Dante assumes that the crucifixion of Jesus took place in year 34, when a great earthshake came. It happened 12 o'clock am (midnight). according to the Gospel of Luke, and that means that the time for Dante would be approxiomately 7 o'clock am in the Holy Saturday.[2] Dante compares the demons to a Frog who tried to drown a mouse in Asoep.

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References
[1] http:/ / etcweb. princeton. edu/ cgi-bin/ dante/ campuscgi/ mpb/ GetCantoSection. pl [2] (in Swedish) Den gudomliga komedin (Divine Comedy), comments by Ingvar Bjrkesson. Levande Litteratur. www.nok.se. p.425. ISBN9789127114685.

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Malebranche
The Malebranche ("Evil Claws"[1] ) are the demons in the Inferno of Dante's Divine Comedy who guard Bolgia Five of the Eighth Circle (Malebolge). They figure in Cantos XXI, XXII, and XXIII. Vulgar and quarrelsome, their duty is to force the corrupt politicians (barrators) to stay under the surface of a boiling lake of pitch.

In the Divine Comedy

When Dante and Virgil meet them, the leader of the Malebranche, Malacoda ("Evil Tail"[1] ), assigns a troop to escort the poets safely to the next bridge, many The Malebranche threaten Virgil and Dante, portrayed by Gustave of the bridges were destroyed in the earthquake that Dor. happened at the death of Christ, which Malacoda describes, enabling the time this takes place to be calculated. The troop hook and torment one of the barrators (identified by early commentators as Ciampolo), who names some Italian grafters and then tricks the Malebranche in order to escape back into the pitch. The demons are dishonest and malicious: the promise of safe conduct the poets have received turns out to have limited value (and there is no "next bridge"), so that Dante and Virgil are forced to escape from them. Within the Inferno, the demons provide some moments of satirical black comedy. There are twelve Malebranche named in the poem: Alichino (derived from Arlecchino, the harlequin) Barbariccia ("Curly Beard") Cagnazzo ("Nasty Dog"[2] ) Calcabrina (possibly "Grace Stomper"[2] ) Ciriatto ("Wild Hog"[2] ) Draghignazzo ("Big Nasty Dragon"[2] ) Farfarello (possibly "Goblin"[2] ) Graffiacane ("Dog Scratcher"[2] ) Libicocco (possibly "Libyan Hothead"[2] ) Malacoda, the leader ("Evil Tail"[1] ) Rubicante (possibly "Red-faced Terror"[2] ) Scarmiglione (possibly "Trouble Maker"[2] ) The last of these, for example, is introduced by Dante in lines 100105 of Canto XXI: "They bent their hooks and shouted to each other: And shall I give it to him on the rump? And all of them replied, Yes, let him have it! But Malacoda, still in conversation
Dante (blue) and Virgil (red) in three scenes with the Malebranche, portrayed by Giovanni di Paolo.

Malebranche with my good guide, turned quickly to his squadron and said: Be still, Scarmiglione, still!"[3] It is common among commentators on the Inferno to interpret these names as garbled versions of the names of officials contemporary to Dante.[1] [4] For example, Barbariccia may suggest the Ricci family of Florence, or the Barbarasi of Cremona.[2]

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External links
Dante's meeting with them at Wikisource, canto XXI and XXII.

References
[1] [2] [3] [4] Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell: notes on Cantos XXI and XXII, Penguin, 1949, ISBN 0-14-044006-2. Richard H. Lansing and Teodolinda Barolini, The Dante Encyclopedia: Devils, pp. 301303, Taylor & Francis, 2000, ISBN 0-8153-1659-3. Inferno, Canto XXI, lines 100105, Mandelbaum translation. (in Swedish) Den gudomliga komedin (Divine Comedy), comments by Ingvar Bjrkesson. Levande Litteratur. www.nok.se. p.425. ISBN9789127114685.

Malebolge
In Dante Alighieri's Inferno, part of the Divine Comedy, Malebolge is the eighth circle of Hell. Roughly translated from Italian, Malebolge means "evil ditches". Malebolge is a large, funnel-shaped cavern, itself divided into ten concentric circular trenches or ditches. Each trench is called a bolgia (Italian for "pouch" or "ditch"). Long causeway bridges run from the outer circumference of Malebolge to its center, pictured as spokes on a wheel. At the center of Malebolge is the ninth and final circle of hell. In Dantes version of hell, categories of sin are punished in different circles, with the depth of the circle (and placement within that circle) symbolic of the amount of punishment to be inflicted. Sinners placed in the upper circles of hell are given relatively minor punishments, while sinners in the depths of hell endure far greater torments. As the eighth of nine circles, Malebolge is one of the worst places in hell to be. In it, sinners guilty of "simple" fraud are punished (that is, fraud that is committed without particularly malicious intent, whereas Malicious or "compound" fraud fraud that goes against bond of love, blood, honor, or the bond of hospitality would be punished in the ninth circle). Sinners of this category include counterfeiters, hypocrites, grafters, seducers, sorcerers and simonists. Dante and his guide, Virgil, make their way into Malebolge by riding on the back of the monster Geryon, the personification of fraud, who possesses the face of an honest man 'good of cheer,' but the tail of a scorpion, who flies them down through the yawning chasm that separates the eighth circle from the seventh circle, where the violent are punished. Dante and Virgil plan on crossing Malebolge by way of the system of bridges, but find their path disturbed by many broken ledges and collapsed bridges that were destroyed during the Harrowing of Hell. They must then cross some of the bolgias on foot and even rely on demons to guide them. Eventually, they make it to the inner ledge where after a brief look at the giants, the babbling Nimrod to the hostile Ephialtes and heavily chained Briareus, Virgil convinces the giant Antaeus to lower them down to the ninth circle's frozen lake, Cocytus.

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The Malebranche
Thirteen demons known as the Malebranche, "Evil Claws", guard the fifth bolgia of the Malebolge. Their leader is Malacoda ("evil tail"), while the others are Scarmiglione ("ruffle-haired"), Barbariccia ("curly beard"), Alichino (derived from Arlecchino, the harlequin), Calcabrina ("one who walks on brine"), Cagnazzo ("bad dog"), Libicocco (a possible mix of libeccio and sirocco), Draghignazzo (maybe from drago, "dragon", and sghignazzo, "guffaw"), Ciriatto (possibly "little pork"), Graffiacane ("scratch dog"), Farfarello (possibly "goblin") and Rubicante (possibly "red" or "rabid"). One of the thirteen was thus not named. They try and trick Virgil and Dante by telling them of a path which does not really exist.

The Malebranche threaten Virgil and Dante in the fifth Bolgia

The Ten Bolgias

The ten ditches of the Malebolge, in descending order, are listed thus: Bolgia One: Panderers and Seducers are punished here. They are forced to march, single file around the circumference of their circle, constantly lashed by horned demons. Bolgia Two: Sinners guilty of excessive flattery are punished in this bolgia, immersed forever in a river of human excrement, like what their flatteries were. Bolgia Three: Simonists (sinners guilty of selling church offices for personal gain) are punished here. They are turned upside down in large baptismal fonts cut into the rock, with their feet set ablaze by oily fires. The heat of the flames burns according to the guilt of the sinner. Bolgia Four: Astrologists, seers, sorcerers and others who attempted to pervert Gods laws to divine the future are punished here. Their heads have been twisted around to face backwards, and thus they are forced to walk backwards around the circumference of their circle for all of time. Bolgia Five: Grafters (peculators, extortionists, blackmailers and unscrupulous businessmen: sinners who used their positions in life to gain personal wealth or other advantages for themselves) are punished by being thrown into a river of boiling pitch and tar. In addition, should any of the grafters try to escape the pitch, a horde of demons ("Malebranche", meaning "evil claws") armed with grappling hooks and barbs stands guard over them, ready to tear them to pieces. Bolgia Six: Hypocrites are punished in this circle. They are forced to wear heavy lead robes as they walk around the circumference of their circle. The robes are golden and resemble a monks cowl but are lined with heavy lead, symbolically representing hypocrisy. Also, Caiphas, the Pharisee who insisted on the execution of Jesus, is crucified in this circle, staked to the ground so that the ranks of the lead-weighted hypocrites march across him. Bolgia Seven: This bolgia houses the souls of thieves. The bolgia is also filled with serpents, dragons and other vengeful reptiles that torture the thieves endlessly. The bites of some of the snakes cause the thieves to spontaneously combust, only to regenerate their bodies for further torment in a few moments. They are pursued by the monstrous fiery Cacus. Other thieves are denied human forms and appear as reptiles themselves, and can only assume their true shape if they steal a human shape from another sinner; this involves a very painful transformation for both souls involved. Bolgia Eight: In this trench, the souls of Deceivers who gave false or corrupted advice to others for personal benefit are punished. They are constantly ablaze, appearing as nothing so much as living, speaking tongues of flame.

Malebolge Bolgia Nine: Sinners who, in life, promoted scandals, schism, and discord are punished here; particularly those who caused schism within the church or within politics. They are forced to walk around the circumference of the circle bearing horrible, disfiguring wounds inflicted on them by a great demon with a sword. The nature of the wound mirrors the sins of the particular soul; while some only have gashes, or fingers and toes cut off, others are decapitated, cut in half (as schismatics), or are completely disemboweled. In the Inferno, Muslim prophet Muhammad is tortured in this ditch. Bolgia Ten: Falsifiers, those who attempted to alter things through lies or alchemy, or those who tried to pass off false things as real things, such as counterfeiters of coins, are punished here. This bolgia has four subdivisions where specific classes of falsifiers (alchemists, impostors, counterfeiters, and liars) endure different degrees of punishment based on horrible, consumptive diseases such as rashes, dropsy, leprosy and consumption. The lower edge of Malebolge is guarded by a ring of titans and earth giants, many of whom are chained in place as punishment for their rebellion against the gods. Beyond and below the giants lies Cocytus, hell's final depth.

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Sources and external links

Allen Mandelbaum's translation of the Inferno, published by the University of California Press in 1980 "Dante's Inferno: Circle 8" [1] summary at the University of Texas

References
[1] http:/ / danteworlds. laits. utexas. edu/ circle8a. html

Piccarda
Piccarda Donati was a 13th century Italian noblewoman. She appears as a character in Dante's classic Divine Comedy. Piccarda, sister of Corso Donati and of Dante's friend Forese Donati, is the first character Dante encounters in Paradise. She is on the Sphere of the Moon, the lowest sphere of Heaven. Piccarda explains to Dante that her placement is due to "vows neglected and, in part, no longer valid." When she was alive, Piccarda, a nun, was forcibly removed from her convent by her brother Corso, in order to marry her to a Florentine man and further her family's political interests. She died soon after her wedding. In her acquiescence to her brother's wishes, though forced, she neglected her vows to God. Through Dante's encounter with Piccarda, we first begin to learn about the nature of Heaven. For example, we learn that souls in Heaven become much more Dante and Beatrice speak to Piccarda and Constance in Paradiso, Canto 3. beautiful than they were on Earth; in fact, it takes Dante a while to actually recognize Piccarda as the woman he knew. In higher spheres, souls become so beautiful they cease to resemble their earthly selves. Piccarda is the only person Dante will recognize, unaided, in Heaven. Dante asks Piccarda if she does not long to be placed higher in Heaven. Her answer (she does not wish to be higher) highlights another important point. According to Piccarda, blessed souls long only for what they have, and so their wills are entirely in agreement with that of God. If they desired to be higher in heaven, then their wish would differ from God's will, which is an impossibility. Though they know there are others in higher spheres of Heaven, they rejoice in their placement.

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References
Alighieri, Dante. Paradiso. Trans. Robert Hollander and Jean Hollander. New York: Doubleday, 2007. ISBN 0385506783

Satan
In Dantes Inferno, Satan is portrayed as a giant beast, frozen mid-breast in ice at the center of Hell. Satan has three heads and affixed under each chin are pairs of bat-like wings. As Satan beats his wings, he creates a cold wind which continues to freeze the ice surrounding him, and the other sinners in the Ninth Circle. The winds he creates are felt throughout the other circles of Hell. Each of his three mouths chew on Judas, Brutus, and Cassius. Scholars consider Satan to be a once splendid being (indeed the most perfect of Gods creatures) from whom all personality has now drained away. [1] Satan, also known as Lucifer, was formerly the Angel of Light and once tried to usurp the power of God. As punishment, God banishes Satan out of Heaven to an eternity in Hell as the ultimate sinner. Dante illustrates a less powerful Satan than most standard depictions; he is slobbering, wordless, and receives the same punishments in Hell as the rest of the sinners. In the text, Dante vividly illustrates Satans grotesque physical attributes. The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous / From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice; /And better with a giant I compare / Than do the giants with those arms of his; / Consider now how great must be that whole, / Which unto such a part conforms itself. / Were he as fair once, as he now is foul, / And lifted up his brow against his Maker, / Well may proceed from him all tribulation. / O, what a marvel it appeared to me, / When I beheld three faces on his head! / The one in front, and that vermilion was;[2]

Description of the Ninth Circle

Satan is trapped in the frozen central zone in the Ninth Circle of Hell, Inferno, Canto 34.

Dantes Hell is divided into nine circles, the ninth circle being divided further into four rings, their boundaries only marked by the depth of their sinners' immersion in the ice; Satan sits in the last ring, Judecca. It is in the ninth circle where the worst sinners, the betrayers to their benefactors, are punished. Here, these condemned souls, frozen into the ice, are completely unable to move or speak and contorted into all sorts of fantastical shapes as a part of their punishment. Unlike many other circles of Dantes Hell, these sinners remain unnamed. Even Dante is afraid to enter this last circle, as he nervously proclaimed, "I drew behind my leaders back again. Uncharacteristically of Dante, he remains silent in Satans presence. Dante examines the sinners who are covered wholly by ice/, showing like straw in glass- some lying prone/, and some erect, some with the head towards us/, the others with the bottoms of the feet; another like a bow bent feet to face. This circle of Hell is a complete separation from any life and for Dante, the deepest isolation is to suffer separation from the source of all light and life and warmth. <ref name="Jacoff, pg. 143" people think that the devil can get out of his place but that's wrong.

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Contrapasso: The Poetic Justice of Satan

The reason for Satans eternal punishment was his desire to be as powerful as the Divine. When Satan was cast out of Heaven, he excavated the underworld cosmos in which the damned are held."[3] Satan's punishment is the opposite of what he was trying to achieve, power and a voice over God. Satan also is in many ways, the antithesis of Virgil; for he conveys at its sharpest the ultimate and universal pain of Hell; isolation."[1] It is Virgil, Dante's guide through hell, who tells Dante that the inhabitants of the infernal region are those who have lost the good of intellect; the substance of evil, the loss of humanity, intelligence, good will, and the capacity to love."[4] Satan stands at the center because he is the epitome of Dantes Hell. He wept with all six eyes, and the tears fell over his three chins mingled with bloody foam. The teeth of each mouth held a sinner, kept as by a flax rake: thus he held three of them in agony."

Religious Significance
An interesting irony throughout Dantes Inferno, but especially prevalent in his description of Satan, is the fact that he strays so far from classic and widely accepted descriptions of Satan in the Bible. It is a common mistake, however, to assume Dantes version of the Devil is the same as the Christian one, even though the Inferno is, in essence, a Christian story. The qualities Satan possesses in the ninth circle do not represent the traditional beliefs of Christianity. The Bible describes Satan thus: Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour[5] The Bible also refers to Satan as a serpent,"[6] and a dragon[7] among other descriptions. Contrary to these depictions, though, Dante creates a large, lumbering Devil who is immobile and doomed to a frozen pit and to have a bad taste in his mouth for eternity. Before Dante, Christian doctrine viewed Satan as a frightening, quick, intelligent beast that will attack the moment one lets his guard down, and Dante chooses to elect a different depiction of Satan. Despite all the Biblical disagreements, Dantes Satan remains a common image in popular portrayals. The answer to the question of how Satan wound up in the bottom of the pit in Dantes Inferno, lies in Christian theological history. Some interpretations of the book of Isaiah, combined with apocryphal texts, explain that Satan was cast from Heaven, and fell to earth.[8] Satan, the angel, was caught up in his own beauty, power, and pride, and attempted to usurp Gods divine throne I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of assembly on the heights of Zaphon; I will ascend to the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.[9] This immediately backfired on Satan for he was no match for God. God sentenced him as a betrayer and banished him from Heaven. Dante uses this idea to create a physical place Satan created after his impact with the earth. According to Dante, the pit the Pilgrim climbs down to reach the center of Hell is literally the hole that Satan made when he fell to earth. The extra earth formed Mount Purgatory on the other side of the earth. As in his descriptions of Satan, Dante draws from the Bible, but adds much of his imagination to the text. He creates a fantastic story that is often construed as Christian doctrine, but differs in several fundamental ways.

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Effects of Dantes Satan on the Renaissance

When looking at the way Dante portrays Satan in comparison with early Renaissance depictions, it can be seen how unique his idea was and how much of an effect it had during the time. As opposed to the popular conception of the era, which viewed Satan as an all dominating beast of Hell, Dante gives the portrayal of Satan as just another victim of Hell's tortures. He places Satan trapped within the ice, stripped of voice and power and thus sets forth a new conception of who and what Satan is. With the understanding that during the time of the Renaissance many messages of the society were depicted through the art work (the art work reflected the society and the society reflected the art work) it can easily be seen how much of an effect Dantes literary image of Satan had on the Society. The demonstration of this effect can be seen in the comparison of three paintings done during the Renaissance era. The first is the work of Giotto di Bondone (12671337), the Last Judgment found in the Arena Chapel in Padua, and the other two are the works of William Blake (17571827) and Nardo di Cione (13501357). Giotto gives Satan a very dominant role 2. William Blake depicting Dante's Satan in Hell and portrays him to be most violent and gruesome. His depiction of Satan is representative of the popular conception before Dante and is in great contrast with the other two images of Satan. In both Blake and Cione's work it can be seen that Satan is given three heads, each of which are consuming a body, just as Dante expressed in the Inferno. The other characteristics that these two artists draw from Dante's Satan is that Satans lower body portion is strictly confined and he is given less power than he is in Giottos Last Judgment. A clear depiction of Dante's nine circles of Hell is also found in Cione's work, represented in the Cappella Strozzi of the Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Through this art-work and others of the Renaissance period, one can discover how much of an influence Dante had in the understanding of Satan and Christian theology.

In popular culture
In The Satan Pit, a 2006 episode of Doctor Who, The Doctor encounters an enormous, demonic creature known only as The Beast, chained at the core of a planet orbiting a Black Hole. The creature claims to be the original Satan but is wordless and demented by rage. Nevertheless he is significantly more powerful than Dante's Satan and highly intelligent. He is capable of possessing people to do his bidding and communicating with people telepathically. He is mindless as his mind is in another human, in which form he can survive in a vacuam and break glass from afar. The Beast also has the power to read minds and play chilling psychological games to break his enemies mentally. The character of the Crimson King from The Dark Tower series by Stephen King is similar to Dante's depiction of Satan. While built up to be the ultimate personification of evil, when the main character, Roland Deschain finally encounters the King, imprisoned at the centre of the universe, he is revealed to be gibbering, powerless, incapable of communication and ultimately pathetic. He is still terrifying however and Roland perceives him as "Hell incarnate". In the 2010 Visceral games video game adaptation of Dante's Inferno, Lucifer is the main antagonist. He is much the same but rather than being a mindless beast, he is a cunning mastermind with a sardonic sense of humour. Depicted as a colossal, shadowy, three-headed beast frozen in Cocytus, he manipulates the events of the game with the intent of freeing himself from Hell and taking revenge on God. Ultimately his true form is revealed to be an emaciated fallen angel with ragged wings who bursts from the stomach of the colossus after Dante mortally

Satan injures him. In Demon Lord Dante, Dante's Satan is depicted as the former ruler of Sodom who refused to sacrifice his people to God's selfish idea of using Sodom and Gomorrah's population as human avatars. He seals himself in ice and is later freed by Medusa/Saeko Kodai and assumes the form of a young blonde man with six chiropteran wings. This version of Dante's Satan is shown as a wise, benevolent leader with a strong sense of freedom and justice. In the manga series Devilman, Ryo Asuka mentions the depiction of Dante's Satan when describing the existence of demons to his childhood friend Akira Fudo. Ironically, Ryo Asuka is soon revealed to be an avatar for the real Satan, who appears as a beautiful twelve winged angel who refused to kill the demon population off because of their ugliness when ordered by God to do so there is also Zenon who has a similar look to The Divine Comedy Version being a demon with 3 faces and in The Devil Lady Manga he is traped in the Ninth Circle of Hell just like the Devine Comedy Satan. The main antagonist of Devil May Cry known as Mundus appears to be a homage to Dante's Satan as his three eyes represent the three heads Lucifer was depicted with in the Divine Comedy. The story of Dante has also been depicted by the metal band "Iced Earth" in their album "Burnt Offerings", which clearly outlines Satan as Dante did.

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Footnotes
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Jacoff, pg. 143 Dante canto XXXIV in the translation by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.. Cunningham, pg. 2 Cunningham, pg 2 The Holy Bible Revised Standard Edition, 1 Peter 5:8. The Holy Bible Revised Standard Edition, Genesis 3:4. The Holy Bible Revised Standard Edition, Revelation 20:2 Pagels, Elaine. The Origin of Satan. Vintage. 1996. The Holy Bible Revised Standard Edition, Isaiah 14:13-14

Works cited
Alighieri, Dante. The Inferno of Dante. Trans. Robert Pinsky. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1994. Cassell, Anthony K. "The Tomb, the Tower, and the Pit: Dante's Satan." Italica 56.4 (1979): 331-351. JSTOR. 27 Jan. 2007 <http://www.jstor.org>. " Circle 9, Cantos 31-34 (http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/circle9.html#lucifer)." Dante's Worlds. University of Texas at Austin. 27 Jan. 2007. Cunningham, Mawrence S. "Satan: a Theological Meditation." Theology Today 51 (1994). 27 Jan. 2007. Foster, Micheal, comp. Sandro Botticelli, the Drawings for the Divine Comedy. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2000. Freccero, John. "The Sign of Satan." MLN 80 (1965): 11-26. JSTOR. 27 Jan. 2007. Gilbert, Allan. Dante and His Comedy. New York, NY: New York University P, 1963. Jacoff, Rachel, ed. Dante. Cambridge UP, 1963. Klonsky, Milton, comp. Blake's Dante, the Complete Illustrations to the Divine Comedy. New York, NY: Harmony Books, 1980. Korchak, Michael. " Portrayal of Heaven and Hell Through Art (http://www2.bc.edu/~korchakm/Artwork. html)." Boston College. 27 Jan. 2007. Paolucci, Anne. "Dante's Satan and Milton's "Byronic Hero"" Italica 41 (1965): 139-149. JSTOR. 27 Jan. 2007. " Satan: an Instrument for Dante and Milton (http://personal.monm.edu/disrud_rebecca/milton.htm)." 27 Jan. 2007. Scott, John A. Understanding Dante. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame P, 2004. The Holy Bible Revised Standard Edition. 1962. World Publishing Company. Cleveland.

Satan Vittorini, Domenico. The Age of Dante. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse UP, 1957.

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Scarmiglione
Scarmiglione is one of the twelve named Malebranche in the 8th Circle of Hell's 5th Gulf, where corrupt politicians are immersed in burning pitch, the Malebolge, from the Inferno of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.

In popular culture
Final Fantasy In the Dawn of Souls and 20th anniversary remakes of Final Fantasy I, Scarmiglione is the name of an optional boss. In Final Fantasy IV, Scarmiglione is the name of the Fiend of Earth In Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, Scarmiglione is again a boss. In Dissidia, Scarmiglione is a summon.

External links
Dante's Inferno Information at Brainstorm-Services.com [1] Dante's Inferno -- more information @ Geocities.com [2]

References
[1] http:/ / brainstorm-services. com/ wcu-2004/ inferno-malebolge. html [2] http:/ / www. webcitation. org/ query?url=http:/ / www. geocities. com/ tengoku_mimizuku/ lastchaos/ dantecantos. html& date=2009-10-25+ 22:44:21

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Insights the Divine Commedy

Contrapasso
Contrapasso (or, in modern italian,[1] contrappasso) refers to the punishment of souls in Dante's Inferno, "by a process either resembling or contrasting with the sin itself."[2] A similar process, though a penitential one, occurs in the Purgatorio.[2] One of many examples of contrapasso occurs in the 4th Bolgia (Inferno, Canto XX), where the sorcerers, astrologers, and false prophets have their heads twisted around on their bodies backward, so that they "found it necessary to walk backward, / because they could not see ahead of them."[3] While referring primarily to attempts to see into the future by forbidden means, this also symbolises the twisted nature of magic in general.[4] Such a contrapasso "functions not merely as a form of divine revenge, but rather as the fulfilment of a destiny freely chosen by each soul during his or her life."[5] The word contrapasso can be found in Canto XXVIII of the Inferno, in The contrapasso of the sorcerers, astrologers, and which the decapitated Bertran de Born declares: "Cos s'osserva in me false prophets, illustrated by Stradanus. [6] lo contrapasso" (XXVIII, 142) which Longfellow translates: "Thus is observed in me the counterpoise"[7] De Born is in the 9th Bolgia of schismatics, for (Dante believes) causing the rebellion of Henry the Young King against his father, Henry II of England.[8] He is decapitated there as a contrapasso for his (supposed) act of political decapitation in undermining a rightful head of state.[8] Dante inherited the idea and the name of contrapasso from theological (Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica) and literary (Medieval "visions", such as Visio Pauli, Visio Alberici, and Visio Tungdali) sources.[1]

Notes
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Enciclopedia Dantesca, Biblioteca Treccani, 2005, vol. 7, article Contrapasso. Mark Musa, commentary notes in The Divine Comedy. Volume 1: Inferno. Penguin Classics: 1984, pp. 37-38. Inferno, Canto XX, lines 1415, Mandelbaum translation. Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XX. Peter Brand and Lino Pertile, The Cambridge History of Italian Literature (http:/ / books. google. com. au/ books?id=3uq0bObScHMC& pg=PA63), 2nd ed, Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 0521666228, pp. 63-64. [6] http:/ / etcweb. princeton. edu/ dante/ pdp/ [7] http:/ / www. everypoet. com/ Archive/ poetry/ dante/ dante_contents. htm [8] Mark Musa, commentary notes in The Divine Comedy. Volume 1: Inferno. Indiana University Press, 1996, ISBN 025332968X, p. 380.

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy

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List of cultural references in Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is a long allegorical poem in three parts (or canticas): the Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise), and 100 cantos, with the Inferno having 34, Purgatorio having 33, and Paradiso having 33 cantos. Set at Easter 1300, the poem describes the living poet's journey through hell, purgatory, and paradise. Throughout the poem, Dante refers to people and events from Classical and Biblical history and mythology, the history of Christianity, and the Europe of the Medieval period up to and including his own day. A knowledge of at least the most important of these references can aid in understanding the poem fully.

Dante, poised between the mountain of purgatory and the city of Florence, a detail of a painting by Domenico di Michelino, Florence 1465.

For ease of reference, the cantica names are abbreviated to Inf., Purg., and Par. Roman numerals are used to identify cantos and Arabic numerals to identify lines. This means that Inf. X, 123 refers to line 123 in Canto X (or 10) of the Inferno and Par. XXV, 27 refers to line 27 in Canto XXV (or 25) of the Paradiso. The line numbers refer to the original Italian text. Boldface links indicate that the word or phrase has an entry in the list. Following that link will present that entry.
: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z References

A
Abbagliato: See Spendthrift Club. Abel: Biblical second son of Adam and brother of Cain. Raised by Jesus from Limbo into Paradise. Inf. IV, 56. Abraham the Patriarch: Important biblical figure. Raised by Jesus from Limbo into Paradise. Inf. IV, 58. Absalom and Ahitophel: Absalom was the rebellious son of King David who was incited by Ahitophel, the king's councilor. Bertran de Born compares his fomenting with the "malicious urgings" of Ahitophel. Inf. XXVIII, 1368. Acheron: The mythological Greek underworld river over which Charon ferried souls of the newly dead into Hades. The "melancholy shore" encountered. Inf. III, 718. Formed from the tears of the statue of the Old Man of Crete. Inf. XIV, 94116.

Abraham Sacrificing Isaac by Laurent de La Hyre, 1650

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Achilles: The greatest Greek hero in the Trojan War. Although Homer has him die in battle after killing Hector, another account well known in the Middle Ages has him killed by Paris after having been lured with the promise of Priam's daughter Polyxena. Found amongst the sexual sinners. Inf. V, 65. Remembered by Virgil for having been educated by Chiron. Inf. XII, 71. His abadonment of Deidamia and his only son, at the urging of Ulysses, to go to the war against Troy. Inf. XXVI, 612. Acre: Ancient city in Western Galilee, it was the last Christian possession in the Holy Land, finally lost in 1291. Inf. XXVII, 86. Adam: According to the Bible, the first man created by God. His "evil seed". Inf. III, 1157. Our "first parent", raised by Jesus from Limbo into Paradise. Inf. IV, 55. Adam of Brescia: See Master Adam. Aegina: A Greek island between Attica and Argolis in the Saronic Gulf. According to tradition it was named by its ruler Aeacus son of Zeus and Aegina, daughter of the river-god Asopus after his mother. In Ovid's Metamorphoses (VII, 501660), Aeacus, tells of a terrible plague inflicted by a jealous Juno (Hera), killing everyone on the island but Aeacus; and how he begged Jupiter (Zeus) to give him back his people or take his life as well. Jupiter then turned the islands ants into a race of men called the Myrmidons, some of whom Achilles ultimately led to war against Troy. " all Aegina's people sick when the air was so infected received their health again through seed of ants.", compared with "the spirits languishing in scattered heaps" of the tenth Malebolge. Inf. XXIX, 5865. Aeneas: Hero of Virgil's epic poem Aeneid, his descent into hell is a primary source for Dante's own journey. Son of Anchises, fled the fall of Troy. Inf. I, 745. "Father of Sylvius", journey to Hades, founder of Rome. Inf. II, 1327. When Dante doubts he has the qualities for his great voyage, he tells Virgil "I am no Aeneas, no Paul". Inf. II, 32 Seen in Limbo. Inf. IV, 122. "Rome's noble seed". Inf. XXVI. 60. Founder of Gaeta. Inf. XXVI, 93. Aesop: A semi-legendary Greek fabulist of whom little reliable is known. A famous corpus of fables is traditionally assigned to him. His fable of the Frog and the mouse is mentioned. Inf. XXIII, 46. Ahitophel: See Absalom. Cited as his own analogy by Bertran de Born. Inf. XXVIII, 137. Alardo: See Tagliacozzo.
Aeneas flees burning Troy, Federico Barocci, 1598 Galleria Borghese, Rome

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List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Alberto da Casalodi: Guelph count of Brescia, he was Signore of Mantua during the feuding between Guelphs and Ghibellins. He was ousted in 1273 by his advisor Pinamonte dei Bonacolsi. His foolishness ("la mattia da Casalodi") in trusting Pinamonte. Inf. XX, 956. Alberto da Siena: See Griffolino of Arezzo. Albertus Magnus (c.11971280): Dominican friar, scholar, and teacher of Thomas Aquinas. Standing to the right of Thomas Aquinas in the sphere of the Sun. Par. X, 98-9. Tegghiaio Aldobrandi: Florentine son of the famous Aldobrando degli Adimari, he was podest of Arezzo in 1256 and fought at the battle of Montaperti in 1260, where his warnings against attacking the Senese forces went unheeded, and the Florentines were annihilated. One of a group of famous political Florentines, "who were so worthy whose minds bent toward the good", asked about by Dante of Ciacco. Inf. VI, 7781. One of a group of three Florentine sodomites who approach Dante, and are much esteemed by him (see Jacopo Rusticucci). Inf. XVI, 190. Cryptically described as he, "la cui voce nel mondo s dovria esser gradita" ("whose voice the world above should have valued"), probably an allusion to his councils at Montaperti. Inf. XVI, 402. Alecto: see Erinyes. Alexander the Great: King of Macedon (336 BCE323 BCE) and the most successful military commander of ancient history
Alexander the Great, mosaic detail, The National Archaeological Museum of Naples, 1st century BC

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Albertus Magnus (fresco, 1352, Treviso, Italy) by Tommaso da Modena (13261379)

Probably the tyrant pointed out by Nessus. Inf. XII, 107. Apocryphal story of his adventures in India provide a simile for the punishment of the violent against god in Inf. XIV, 3136. Ali: Cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, and one of his first followers. Disputes over Ali's succession as leader of Islam led to the split of Islam into the sects of Sunni and Shi'a. He "walks and weeps" in front of Muhammed. Inf. XXVIII, 313. Amphiaraus: Mythical king of Argos and seer, who although he had foreseen his death, was persuaded to join the Seven against Thebes expedition. He was killed while fleeing from pursuers, when Zeus threw a thunderbolt, and the earth opened up and swallowed him. The story of his death is told. Inf. XX, 319. Pope Anastasius II: Pope who Dante perhaps mistakenly identified with the emperor Anastasius I and thus condemned to hell as a heretic. Anastasius I was a supporter of Monophysitism, a heresy which denied the dual

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy divine/human nature of Jesus. Dante and Virgil take shelter behind Anastasius' tomb and discuss matters of theology. Inf XI, 4111. Anaxagoras (c. 500 BCE428 BCE): Greek philosopher. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 137. Anchises: Father of Aeneas by Aphrodite. In the Aeneid he is shown as dying in Sicily. Father of Aeneas. Inf. I, 74. Loderingo Andal (c. 12101293): Of a prominent Ghibelline family, he held many civic positions. In 1261 he founded the Knights of Saint Mary or Jovial Friars, a religious order recognized by Pope Clement IV. Its mission was to promote peace between warring municipal factions, but its members soon succumbed to self interest. Together with Catalano dei Malavolti, he shared the position of governor of Florence. Loderingo is extolled for his fortitude in dying by his friend, the poet Guittone d'Arezzo. Among the hypocrites. Inf. XXIII, 1039. Andrea de' Mozzi: Chaplain of the popes Alexander IV and Gregory IX, he was made bishop of Florence in 1287 and there remained till 1295, when he was moved to Vicenza, only to die shortly after. One of a group of sodomites identified by Brunetto Latini to Dante. Brunetto (i.e. Dante) blasts him with particular harshness, calling him "tigna". Inf. XV, 1104. Angiolello di Carignano: See Malatestino. Annas: The father-in-law of Caiaphas, he also is called High-Priest. He appears to have been president of the Sanhedrin before which Jesus is said to have been brought. Among the hypocrites, he suffers the same punishment as Caiaphas. Inf. XXIII, 1212. Antiochus IV Epiphanes (c. 215163 BCE): Last powerful Seleucid king, he is famous principally for his war against the Maccabees. Just as he "sold" the High Priesthood to Jason, Philip IV of France "sold" the papacy to Clement V. Inf. XIX, 867. Apulia: A region in southeastern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Otranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south. In the Middle Ages, it referred to all of southern Italy. The barons of Apulia broke their promise to defend the strategic pass at Ceperano for Manfred of Sicily the son of Frederick II, and allowed Charles of Anjou to pass freely into Naples. Manfred was subsequently killed (1266) at the Battle of Benevento, a crucial blow to the Ghibelline cause. Its "fateful land" as battleground, and Apulia's betrayal. Inf. XXVIII, 721. Aquarius: The eleventh sign of the zodiac. When the sun is in Aquarius (between January 21 and February 21), the days start to visibly grow longer and day and night begin to approach equal length. Inf. XXIV, 13.

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Thomas Aquinas: Dominican theologian considered to be one of the greatest scholars of the Church. He introduces wise men in the sphere of the Sun. Par. X, 98138. He eulogises St. Francis. Par. XI, 37117. He condemns Dominicans who have strayed from the true Dominican charism. Par. XI, 12439. Arachne: In Greek mythology, a weaver who challenged Athena to a contest of skill. She hanged herself as a result of shame at her own presumptuousness. Arcolano of Siena: A member of the Maconi family, he was a member of the notorious Sienese Spendthrift Club. He fought in the battle of Pieve al Toppo in 1288, where according to Giovanni Boccaccio, he preferred to die in battle rather than live in poverty. Probably "Lano", one of two spendthrifts (the other being Jacomo da Sant' Andrea) whose punishment consists of being hunted by female hounds. Inf. XIII, 11529. Arethusa: In Greek mythology she was a nymph daughter of Nereus. Running away from a suitor, Alpheus, she was transformed by Artemis into a fountain.
St. Thomas Aquinas from the Demidoff Altarpiece by Carlo Crivelli

Her transformation, as described in Ovid's Metamophoses (V, 572641), is compared to the fate of the thieves. Inf. XXV, 979. Geryon's adornments, compared to her weavings. Inf. XVII, 148. Filippo Argenti: A Black Guelph and member of the Adimari family, who were enemies of Dante. Inf. VIII, 3166. Ariadne: Daughter of Minos, king of Crete, who helped Theseus kill the Minotaur, the offspring of Ariadne's mother Pasipha and a bull. Referred to as the sister of the Minotaur. Inf. XII, 20. Aristotle: 4th century BCE Greek philosopher whose writings were a major influence on medieval Christian scholastic philosophy and theology, particularly on the works of Thomas Aquinas. As "il maestro di color che sanno" ("the master of those who know") he is among those encountered by Dante in Limbo Inf. IV, 131. His Nicomachean Ethics quoted by Virgil. Inf. XI, 7984. His Physics, referred to by Virgil. Inf. XI, 1014. Argives: People of Argos, or more generally all Greeks Inf. XXVIII, 84. Arles: City in the south of France and supposed location of the tombs of Charlemagne's soldiers who fell in the battle of Roncesvalles. Simile for the tombs in the sixth circle. Inf. IX, 112. Aruns: In Lucan's epic poem Pharsalia, he is the Etruscan seer who prophesies the Civil war, Caesar's victory over Pompey, and its ending in 48 BCE.

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Seen among the seers. Dante mentions his cave, which he locates (erroneously) near Luni. Inf. XX, 4651. Asdente: See Mastro Benvenuto. Athamas: See Hera. Attila the Hun (c. 406453): King of the Huns, known in Western tradition as the "Scourge of God". Pointed out by Nessus. Inf. XII, 1334. Confused by Dante with Totila who destroyed Florence in 542. Inf. XIII, 149. Augustus (63 BCE14 CE): The Roman Emperor under whom Virgil found fame as a poet. Called "the good Augustus" by Virgil. Inf. I, 71. Averroes (1126December 10, 1198): Andalusian-Arab philosopher, physician, and famous commentator ("il gran comento") on Aristotle. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 144. Avicenna (9801037): Persian physician, philosopher, and scientist. He wrote commentaries on Aristotle and Galen. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 143. Azzo VIII: Lord of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio from 1293 until his death in 1308. He was rumoured to have murdered his father Obizzo II d'Este. The "figliastro" who killed Obizzo. Inf. XII, 112.

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Attila meeting Pope Leo from the Chronicon Pictum, c. 1360.

B
Bacchus: The Roman name of the Greek god Dionysus, protector of wine. Born in the Thebes. Inf. XX, 59. Barrators: Those who have committed the sin of barratry. The barrators, are found in the fifth pouch in a lake of boiling pitch guarded by the Malebranche. Inf. XXIXXII. Barratry: The sin of selling or paying for offices or positions in the public service or officialdom (cf. simony). One of the sins of ordinary fraud punished in the eighth circle. Inf. XXI, 60.

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Beatrice (12661290): Dante's idealised childhood love, Beatrice Portinari. In the poem, she awaits the poet in Paradise. She symbolised Heavenly Wisdom. The "worthier spirit" who Virgil says will act as Dante's guide in Paradise. Inf. I, 1213. Asks Virgil to rescue Dante and bring him on his journey. Inf. II, 5374. Asked by Lucia to help Dante. Inf. II, 10314. When Dante appears upset by Farinata's prophecy on his future exile, Virgil intervenes and explains to him that Beatrice, "quella il cui The meeting of Dante and Beatrice, Henry Holiday bell' occhio tutto vede" ("one whose gracious eyes see everything"), will eventually clarify all. Inf. X, 1302. Virgil, speaking with Chiron, alludes to Beatrice as she who has entrusted Dante to him. Inf. XII, 88. Speaking with Brunetto Latini Dante alludes to her as the woman who shall fully explain the sense of Brunetto's prophecy regarding his exile from Florence. Inf. XV, 90. Saint Bede: English monk, and scholar, whose best-known work, Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People) gained him the title "The father of English history". Encountered in the Fourth Sphere of Heaven (The sun). Par. X, 1301. Mastro Benvenuto: Nicknamed Asdente ("toothless"), he was a late 13th century Parma shoemaker, famous for his prophecies against Frederick II. Dante also mentions him with contempt in his Convivio, as does Salimbene in his Cronica, though with a very different tone. Among the soothsayers. Inf. XX, 118120. Gualdrada Berti: Daughter of Bellincione Berti dei Ravignani, from about 1180 wife to Guido the Elder of the great Guidi family, and grandmother of Guido Guerra. The 14th century Florentine chronicler Giovanni Villani remembers her as a model of ancient Florentine virtue. "The good Gualdrada". Inf. XVI, 37. Bertran de Born (c. 1140c. 1215): French soldier and troubadour poet, and viscount of Hautefort, he fomented trouble between Henry II of England and his sons. Among the sowers of discord, where he carries his severed head (although he died a natural death). Inf. XXVIII, 118142. "The lord of Hautefort." Inf. XXIX, 29. Guido Bonatti: A prominent 13th century astrologer, and a staunch Ghibelline, he is famous for having boasted of being responsible for the Senese victory at Montaperti in 1260. Among the soothsayers. Inf. XX, 118. Bonaventure: Franciscan theologian. He eulogised St. Dominic. Par. XII, 31105.

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Pope Boniface VIII (c. 12351303): Elected in 1294 upon the abdication of Celestine V, whom he promptly imprisoned. He supported the Black Guelphs against Dante's party the White Guelphs (see Guelphs and Ghibellines). He was in conflict with the powerful Colonna family, who contested the legitimacy of Celestine's abdication, and thus Boniface's papacy. Wishing to capture the impregnable Colonna stronghold of Palestrina, he sought advice from Guido da Montefeltro, offering in advance papal absolution for any sin his advice might entail. He advised Boniface to promise the Colonnas amnesty, then break it. As a result the Collonas surrendered the fortress and it was razed to the ground. "One who tacks his sails". Inf. VI, 68. Referred to ironically using one of the official papal titles "servo de' servi" (Servant of His servants"). Inf. XV, 112 Accused of avarice, deceit and violating the "lovely Lady" (the church). Inf. XIX, 527. Pope Nicholas III prophesies his eternal damnation among the Simoniacs. Inf. XIX, 767. The "highest priest may he be damned!". Inf. XXVII, 70. The "prince of the new Pharisees". Inf. XXVII, 85. His feud with the Colonna family and the advice of Guido da Montefeltro. Inf. XXVII, 85111. Guglielmo Borsiere, a pursemaker accused of sodomy (see Sodom), who made a joke that was the subject of the Decameron (i, 8). A sodomite mentioned in the seventh circle, round 3 by Jacopo Rusticucci as having spoken to him and his companions of the moral decline of Florence, generating great anguish and inducing Rusticucci to ask Dante for corroboration. Inf. XVI 6772. Martin Bottario: A cooper of Lucca who held various positions in the government of his city. He died in 1300, the year of Dante's travel. Probably the "elder of Saint Zita" who is plunged into a lake of boiling pitch with the other barrators by a Malebranche. Inf. XXI, 3554. Agnello Brunelleschi: From the noble Florentine Brunelleschi family, he sided first with the White Guelphs, then the Blacks. A famous thief, he was said to steal in disguise. Among the thieves, he merges with Cianfa Donati to form a bigger serpent. Inf. XXV, 68. Brutus, Lucius Junius: Traditionally viewed as the founder of the Roman Republic, because of his role in overthrowing Tarquin, the last Roman king. Seen in Limbo. Inf. IV, 127. Brutus, Marcus Junius (d. 43 BCE): One of the assassins of Julius Caesar, with whom he had close ties. His betrayal of Caesar was famous ("Et tu Brute") and along with Cassius and Judas, was one of the three betrayer/suicides who, for those sins, were eternally chewed by one of the three mouths of Satan. Inf. XXXIV, 5367.

Pope Boniface VIII, fresco by Giotto di Bondone

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Bulicame: Spring near Viterbo renowned for its reddish colour and sulphurous water. Part of its water was reserved for the use of prostitutes. Inf. XIV, 7983.

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C
Caccia d'Asciano: See Spendthrift Club. Venedico and Ghisolabella Caccianemico: Venedico (c. 1228c. 1302) was head of the Guelph faction in Bologna, he was exiled three times for his relationship with the marquess of Ferrara, Obizzo II d'Este. Found among the panders, he confesses that he prostituted his sister Ghisolabella to Obizzo. Inf. XVIII, 4066. Cacus: A mythological monster son of Hephaestus, he was killed by Heracles for stealing part of the cattle the hero had taken from Geryon. Dante, like other medieval writers, erroneously believes him to be a Centaur. According to Virgil he lived on the Aventine. As guardian of the thieves he punishes Vanni Fucci. Inf. XXV, 1733. Cadmus: Mythical son of the Phoenician king Agenor and brother of Europa, and legendary founder of Thebes. Cadmus and his wife Harmonia are ultimately transformed into serpents. (See also Hera.) His transformation in Ovid's Metamophoses (IV, 562603) is compared to the fate of the thieves. Inf. XXV, 979. Cahors: Town in France that was notorious for the high level of usury that took place there and became a synonym for that sin. Mentioned as being punished in the last circle. Inf. XI, 50. Cain: The son of Adam and brother of Abel. An allusion to a popular tradition that identified the Moon's spots with him. Inf. XX, 126.
Cadmus fighting the dragon. Side A of a red-figured calix-krater found in Sant'Agata de' Goti (Campania), ca. 350340 BC. From Paestum.

Caiaphas: The Jewish High Priest during the governorship of Pontius Pilate of the Roman province of Judea, who according to the Gospels had an important role in the crucifixion of Jesus.

Among the hypocrites, his punishment is to be crucified to the ground while the full rank of the sinners tramples him. Inf. XXIII, 11020. Calchas: Mythical Greek seer at the time of the Trojan war, who as augur at Aulis, determined the most propitious time for the Greek fleet to depart for Troy. With Eurypylus, he "set the time to cut the cables". Inf. XX, 1101. Camilla: Figure from Roman mythology and Virgil's Aeneid (VII, 803; XI), was the warrior-daughter of King Metabus of the Volsci, and ally of Turnus, king of the Rutuli, against Aeneas and the Trojans, and was killed in that war. One of those who "died for Italy". Inf. I, 1068. Seen in Limbo. Inf. IV, 124. Cangrande della Scala (12901329): Ghibelline ruler of Verona and most probable figure behind the image of the "hound" ("il Veltro"). Inf. I, 101111.

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Capaneus: In Greek mythology, in the story of the Seven Against Thebes he defied Zeus who then killed him with a thunderbolt in punishment. Found amongst the violent against God. Inf. XIV, 4672. His pride is compared with that of Vanni Fucci. Inf. XXV, 15. Capocchio: Burned at the stake for alchemy in 1293. Among the "falsifiers" of metal (alchemists), sitting with Griffolino of Arezzo, propping each other up, as they frantically scratch at the scabs covering their bodies. Inf. XXIX, 7399. Agrees with Dante about the vanity of the Sienese, giving as examples four of the members of the Sienese Spendthrift Club, then identifies himself. Inf. XXIX, 124139. He is dragged, with his belly scraped along the ground, by the tusks of Schicchi. Inf. XXX, 2830. Caprona: Fortress on the Arno near Pisa, in 1289, it was besieged by a Tuscan Guelph army. The Ghibellines surrendered, and were allowed, under truce, to leave the castle, passing through (with trepidation) the enemy ranks. Caprona's fall along with the Guelph victory in the same year at Campaldino represented the final defeat of the Ghibellines. Dante's reference to Caprona in the Inferno, is used to infer that he took part in the siege. Dante's fear for his safe passage through threatening devils, is compared to the fear of the surrendering solidiers at Caprona. Inf. XXI, 8896. Cassius: The most senior of Julius Caesar's assassins, Gaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman politician and soldier. Along with Brutus and Judas, he was one of the three betrayer/suicides who, for those sins, were eternally chewed by one of the three mouths of Satan. Inf. XXXIV, 5367. Castel Sant'Angelo: A Papal castle in Rome with bridge attached. Inf. XVIII, 2833. Catalano dei Malavolti (c. 12101285): From a powerful Guelph family of Bologna, he was podest in several towns, including Florence, and governor of his city. He was commander of the infantry in the Battle of Fossalta in 1249, when the Ghibellines suffered a crushing defeat. He later became a member of the Knights of St. Mary, founded by Loderingo degli Andal. Among the hypocrites. Inf. XXIII, 76144. Catiline: a Roman politician of the 1st century BC who is best known for the "Catiline conspiracy", an attempt to overthrow the Roman Republic, and in particular the power of the aristocratic Senate. Probably Pistoia's "seed", which Pistoia surpasses in "wickedness". Inf. XXV, 12. Cato the Younger (95 BCE46 BCE) : Politician and statesman in the late Roman Republic, and a Stoic. His crossing of the Libyan desert in 47 BCE provides a simile for the hot sands of the seventh circle. Inf. XIV, 145. Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti: (died c. 1280) Father of Guido Cavalcanti, his shade appears to Dante, alongside the shade of Farinata degli Uberti. Inf. X 5272. Guido Cavalcanti (c. 12551300): First Florentine poet of Dolce Stil Novo, close friend of Dante and son of Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti. Inf. X, 5663, Purg. XI, 978. Francesco de' Cavalcanti: Nicknamed Guercio ("one-eyed" or "squinter"), he was murdered for unknown reasons by the inhabitants of the village of Gaville, near Florence. Reportedly his death started a bloody feud between his family and the villagers, leaving most of the inhabitants of Galville dead. Among the thieves, as a "blazing little serpent", he attacks the soul of Buoso Donati, causing it to transform into a serpent, and himself to transform back into human form. Inf. XXV, 82151. Cecina: See Maremma. Pope Celestine V: A hermit named Pietro da Morrone, he abdicated the Papacy in 1294 after only five months. His successor, Boniface VIII, immediately jailed him and two years later apparently murdered him. Is perhaps the person whose shade Dante meets in the Ante-Inferno, where those who lived "sanza 'nfamia e sanza lodo" (without praise and blame) dwelt, and referred to as the one, "Che fece per viltate il gran rifiuto"

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List of cultural references in Divine Comedy (who made, through cowardice, the great refusal). Inf. III, 60. Of whom Boniface says, "I possess the power to lock and unlock Heaven; for the keys my predecessor did not prise are two". 'Inf. XXVII, 105. Centaurs: In Greek mythology, a race part Man and part horse, with a horse's body and a human head and torso. Supervising the punishment of the violent. Their leader Chiron appoints one of their number, Nessus, to guide the poets. Inf. XII, 55139. The only one not with the violent is Cacus, who supervises the thieves. Inf. XXV, 2830. Ceperano: See Apulia. Cerberus: In Greek mythology, he was the three-headed dog who guarded the gate to Hades. In the Aeneid, Virgil has the Sibyl throw a drugged honey cake into Cerberus' mouths; in the Inferno, Dante has Virgil throw dirt instead. Encountered In the third circle. Inf. VI, 1333. Example of divine punishment. Inf. IX, 98. Cesena: City on the Savio River during Dante's time, though free, its politics were controlled by Guido da Montefeltro's cousin Galasso da Montefeltro. Inf. XXVII, 5254. Charles of Anjou (also Charles I of Sicily) (12271285): Son of Louis VIII of France, he was one of the most powerful rulers of his age and the undisputed head of the Guelph faction in Italy. His dream of building a Mediterranean Empire was wrecked by the Sicilian Vespers. Dante probably alludes to the Byzantine money that it was believed Nicholas III had taken with the promise to hinder Charles' plans against Constantinople. Inf. XIX, 989. Charybdis: In Greek mythology, a sea monster who swallows huge amounts of water three times a day and then spouts it back out again, forming an enormous whirlpool. Mentioned frequently by classical writers. Used in a simile to describe the punishment of the greedy and prodigal in the fourth circle. Inf. VII, 22. Charon: The mythological Greek figure who ferried souls of the newly dead into Hades over the underworld river Acheron. Inf. III, 82129. Chiron: Leader of the centaurs, legendary tutor of Achilles. Inf. XII, 65. Ciacco ("pig"): Nickname, for a Florentine contemporary of Dante, perhaps well known as a glutton, and probably the same who appears in Boccaccio's Decameron (IX, 8). Central figure of canto VI, he voices the first of many prophecies concerning Florence. Inf. VI, 3799. Ciampolo di Navarra: Utterly unknown to sources other than Dante, this Ciampolo (i.e. Jean Paul) appears to have been in the service of Theobald II, king of Navarre. Among the barrators. Inf. XXII, 31129. Cicero, Marcus Tullius (c. 106 BCEc. 43 BCE): Roman statesman and author. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 141. Circe: Mythical daughter of Helios, god of the Sun, and sister of Aeetis, king of Colchis. She was an enchantress who lived near the Gulf of Gaeta, who turned the crew of Odysseus into pigs on their journey home from the Trojan war. But Odysseus, with the help of Hermes, forced her to release his men from her spell (Ovid, Met. XIV, 43540). She fell in love with Odysseus and he stayed with her for another year and in some accounts, she had a son Telegonus with Odysseus, who was to accidentally kill him. It is said, by Ulysses (Odysseus), that she "beguiled" him. Inf. XXVI, 902.
Cerberus, picture by William Blake (18th cent.)

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List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Pope Clement V (12641314): Born in France as Bertran de Goth, he was made archbishop of Bordeaux by Pope Boniface VIII. He was elected pope in 1305 and was remarkable for his dissolution of the Templars and his de facto move of the Papal See from Rome to Avignon (See Avignon Papacy). He was thought to have negotiated with Philip IV of France for his papacy, becoming a puppet of the French monarchy. "One uglier in deeds a lawless shepherd from the west", whose damnation among the Simoniacs is foretold by Pope Nicholas III. Inf. XIX, 7987. Cleopatra (6930 BCE): Queen of Egypt, lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Like Dido, she "killed herself for love". Found amongst the sexual sinners. Inf. V, 63. Cluny: A Benedictine monastery founded in 909, in Burgundy. The elegant robes of the Cluniacs are described with irony in a letter of Saint Bernard, a Cistercian, to his nephew Robert, who had left the Cistercians to join the Cluniacs. The "cloaks and cowls" of the hypocrites are compared to the Cluniac robes. Inf. XXIII, 613.
The Death of Cleopatra by Reginald Arthur, Roy Miles Gallery, London

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Cocytus: "The river of lamentation", in Greek mythology, it was the river on whose banks the dead who could not pay Charon wandered. It flowed into the river Acheron, across which lay Hades. In the Inferno it is a frozen lake forming the ninth circle and the bottom of Hell. Formed from the tears of the statue of the Old Man of Crete. Inf. XIV, 94120. Is shut in by cold. Inf. XXXI, 1212. Described. Inf. XXXII, 2239. Frozen by flapping of the wings of Dis. Inf. XXXIV, 4652.

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(mosaic in Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, c. 1000)]] Constantine the Great (272337): The famous Roman Emperor who passed the Edict of Milan in 313 and converted to Christianity. According to medieval legend, Constantine was inflicted with leprosy because of his persecution of Christians, and in a dream was told to seek out Pope Silvester on Mount Soracte, who baptised and cured him. According to the forged document, the Donation of Constantine, Constantine gave to the Pope the power to rule over Rome and the Western Roman Empire, which Dante sees as the source of the corruption of the Papacy. Blamed for "the dower that you bestowed upon the first rich father!", Inf. XIX, 115117. Guido da Montefeltro compares Silvester being sought by Constantine to cure his leprosy, with himself being sought by Boniface to "ease the fever of his arrogance". Inf. XXVII, 945. Cornelia Africana (c. 190 BCE 100 BCE): daughter of Scipio Africanus Major, and mother of Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 128. Corneto: See Maremma. Cronus: In Greek mythology, King of Crete during the Golden Age. He had several children by Rhea, but swallowed them at birth because he had learned from his parents Gaia and Uranus, that he was destined to be overthrown by a son. However, Rhea managed to save Zeus who eventually fulfilled that prophecy. Under his rule, the world lived chastely". Inf. XIV, 96. Rhea protects Zeus from him. Inf. XIV, 1002 Cunizza da Romano (1198c. 1279): sister of Ezzelino III da Romano. Par. IX, 1366. Gaius Scribonius Curio: A distinguished orator, and supporter of Pompey the Great, he switched his support to Julius Caesar after Caesar paid his debts. Lucan (Phars I 270290) has Curio urge Caesar persuasively, to quickly cross the Rubicon and invade Rome. Amoing the sowers of discord, he is pointed out by Pier da Medincina, his tongue having been slit, "who once was so audacious in his talk!". Inf. XXVIII, 91111. Cyclops: Children of Uranus and Gaia, they were giants with a single eye in the middle of their forehead. In Roman mythology, they helped Vulcan make thunderbolts for Zeus. The "others" who Zeus "may tire" making thunderbolts. Inf. XIV, 55.
Constantine the Great

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D
Daedalus: In Greek mythology, he was a legendary inventor and craftsman. He designed the Labyrinth, and fashioned wings for himself and his son Icarus, enabling them to fly. Mentioned by Griffolino of Arezzo. Inf. XXIX, 116. Bonturo Dati (d. 1324): Head of the popular faction in Lucca, he expelled his enemies in 1308 assuming the government of the city, boasting he would put an end to barratry. He is famous for provoking with his jeers in 1313 a war with Pisa, that has been remembered in Faida di Comune by Giosu Carducci. Sarcastically and ironically said that all Luccans but he are guilty of barratry. Inf. XXI, 41. King David: Biblical king of the Jews. His counselor Ahitophel, incited David's son Absalom against him. Raised by Jesus from Limbo into Paradise. Inf. IV, 58. His son's rebellion, and the urgings of Ahitophel is compared by Bertran de Born to his own urgings of Prince Henry against his father Henry II of England. Inf. XXVIII, 1348. Deianira: Wife of Heracles, she was abducted by the centaur Nessus, but Heracles shot him with a poisoned arrow. She was tricked by the dying Nessus into believing that a love potion could be made from his blood, which she later gives to Heracles poisoning him. Inf. XII, 68.

The Death of Dido by Joshua Reynolds 1781

Diogenes, Detail of Rafaello Santi's The School of Athens (1510), Vatican collection

Deidamia: Mythical daughter of Lycomedes, king of Scyros, she gave birth to Achilles' only son, Pyrrhus Neoptolemus, but died of grief when, because of the urgings of Odysseus (Ulysses), Achilles left her to go to the war against Troy. Even dead she laments Achilles still. Inf. XXVI, 612 Democritus (c. 460 BCE370 BCE): Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. Encountered by Dante in Limbo, "che 'l mondo a caso pone" ("who ascribes the world to chance"). Inf. IV, 136.

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Dido: Queen of Carthage. In Virgil's Aeneid, she becomes the lover of Aeneas despite a vow of eternal fidelity to her dead husband Sichaeus. Consequently, as "colei, che s' ancise amorosa" (she who killed herself from love"), Dante places her amongst the sexual sinners. Inf. V, 612. Diogenes of Sinope (c. 412 BCE323 BCE): Greek philosopher. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 137. Diomedes: Mythical king of Argus, he participated in the expedition against Troy, where his prowess is extolled in the Iliad. A great friend of Odysseus (Ulysses), he was his companion in many feats, most notably the theft of Troy's Palladium and the ruse of the Trojan Horse. Among the advisors of fraud, he is punished with Ulysses for the sins they both committed at Troy. Inf. XXVI, 5263. Dionysius the Areopagite (fl. c. 50): Athenian judge who was converted to Christianity and became a bishop of Athens. As was common in the Middle Ages, Dante has confused him with Pseudo-Dionysius, the anonymous fifth-century author of Celestial Hierarchy. Identified in the Heaven of the Sun by Thomas Aquinas. Par. X, 1157. Dionysius the Elder: Tyrant of Syracuse (405 BCE367 BCE. Pointed out by Nessus. Inf. XI, 1078. Pedanius Dioscorides (c. 40c. 90): Greek physician and author of a work on the medicinal properties of plants, hence Dante's description of him as "il buono accoglitor del quale"/"the good collector of the qualities". Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 139140. Dis: Another name for Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld, used by Dante as both the name of Satan and his realm. First glimpse of the "crimson" city. Inf VIII, 6775. Dante refused entry. Inf VIII, 76130. The city dolente (of sorrowing). Inf IX, 32. Entrance. Inf IX, 73133. Spoils taken from by Jesus. Inf. XII, 3839. Pointed out by Virgil. Inf. XXXIV, 20. Fra Dolcino: In 1300 he headed the Apostolic Brothers, a reformist order which, inspired by the example of St. Francis renounced all worldly possessions. He and his followers were condemned as heretics by Clement V, and fled into the hills near Novara. Facing starvation they surrendered and Dolcino was burned at the stake in 1307. Among the "sowers of dissension", Muhammad, says to Dante: "tell Fra Dolcino to provide himself with food, if he has no desire to join me here quickly". Inf. XXVIII, 2263. Saint Dominic: Founder of the Dominican Order. He is eulogised by Bonaventure. Par. XII, 31105.
Saint Dominic presiding over an auto de fe, Pedro Berruguete, 1475

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List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Buoso Donati: Of the noble Florentine Black Guelph Donati family, he was one of those who accepted the peace between the factions proposed by Cardinal Latino in 1280 . He died around 1285. Among the thieves, he is transformed into a serpent by Francesco de' Cavalcanti. Inf. XXV, 82151. His impersonation by Gianni Schicchi described. Inf. XXX, 4345. Cianfa Donati: Of the Donati family, he is known to have acted as advisor to the Capitano del popolo in 1281. In 1289 he is reported as already dead. Among the thieves, he appears as a six-footed serpent, attacks and melds with Agnello Brunelleschi. Inf. XXV, 4378. Forese Donati (?-1296): A Florentine poet, friend of Dante, and relative of Dante's wife, Gemma Alighieri. Among the gluttons, he predicts disaster for Florence and for his brother, Corso Donati. Purg. XXIII, 42 XXIV, 99.

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E
Electra: Mother of Dardanus founder of Troy and ancestor of Aeneas. Seen in Limbo with "her many comrades". Inf. IV, 1218. Elijah and Elisha: Elijah was an Old Testament Biblical Prophet who ascends into heaven in a chariot of fire, and Elisha was his disciple and chosen successor who witnessed Elijah's ascent. Elisha curses some youths for ridiculing him, who are then eaten by bears (2 KIngs 2:2324; 112) Elijah's fiery ascent, as witnessed by "he who was avenged by bears" (Elisha), is described. Inf. XXVI, 349. Empedocles (c. 490 BCEc. 430 BCE): Greek Presocratic philosopher. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 138. Epicurus was an Ancient Greek philosopher who was the founder of Epicureanism, one of the most popular schools of Hellenistic Philosophy, which had many followers among Florentine Guibellines. His teaching that the greatest pleasure is merely the absence of pain was viewed as heresy in Dante's day because this greatest good could be attained without reference to a god or an afterlife. Epicurean heretics and their punishment. Inf. X. Erard de Valry: See Tagliacozzo. Erichtho: According to a story in Lucan's Pharsalia, she was a sorceress sent to the underworld by Sextus Pompeius to divine the outcome of the upcoming battle of Pharsalia between his father, Pompey the Great, and Julius Caesar. She sent Virgil to the innermost circle of hell not long after his death. Inf. IX, 2229. Erinyes: (also known as the Furies). In Greek mythology, they were Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, three female personifications of vengeance. They appear and threaten Dante with the head of the Medusa. Inf. IX, 3472. Eteocles and Polynices: Mythical sons of Oedipus and Jocasta, they succeeded their father as kings of Thebes. Eteocles' refusal to share the throne led to the war of the Seven against Thebes, in which the two brothers killed
The Furies hector Orestes, in Orestes Pursued by the Furies by William-Adolphe Bouguereau 1862

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy each other. Their enmity in life was such that Statius (Thebais XII, 429 ff.) says even the flames of their shared funeral pyre were divided. The separateness of the flames of Ulysses and Diomedes are compared to their funeral flames. Inf. XXVI, 524. Euclid (c. 365 BCE275 BCE): Greek mathematician, now known as "the father of geometry". Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 142. Euryalus: Friend of Nisus, he is a Roman mythological who appears in the Aeneidone of those who "died for Italy". Inf. I, 1068 Eurypylus: Mythical son of Telephus, he was a member of the Greek army that conquered Troy. It is told that while the fleet was at Aulis he was sent to the Delphic Sibyl to ask for a favourable wind. Seen among the seers, with Calchas, he "set the time to cut the cables". Inf. XX, 10613. Ezzelino da Romano III (11941259): Leader of the Ghibellines in Northern Italy, known for his cruelties against the citizens of Padua. Pointed out by Nessus. Inf. XII, 109.

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Farinata degli Uberti (d. 1264): Leader of the Florentine Ghibellines famous for his defeat of the Guelphs (Dante's faction), at the Battle of Montaperti in 1260, causing the Guelphs to be exiled from Florence, though he was able to argue successfully against the destruction of the city. Farinata was posthumously condemned as a heretic during the Franciscan inquisition of 1283. To make peace between the Black and White Guelphs, Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, let his son Guido Cavalcanti, the future poet, marry Farinata's daughter. One of a group of famous political Florentines, "who were so worthy whose minds bent toward the good", asked about by Dante of Ciacco. Inf. VI, 7781. Found among the Epicurean heretics. Inf. X, 2251, 73123. Predicts Dante's difficulty in returning to Florence after his exile. Inf. X, 7981. Explains that the damned can see the future but not the present. Inf. X, 97108. Fiumicello: Tributary of Phlegethon. Inf. XIV, 77. Folquet de Marseilles (c.11651231):Troubadour, then Cistercian monk, and later Bishop of Toulouse. Pointed out by Cunizza da Romano. Par. IX, 3742. Speaks to Dante and points out Rahab. Par. IX, 67142. Rampino Foresi: See Vanni Fucci. Forl: City in Romagna. In 1282, under Guido da Montefeltro, it withstood a combined siege by French and Guelph forces, dealing the French a crushing defeat. After 1300 it was ruled by the Ordelaffi.
Farinata degli Uberti, as depicted by Andrea del Castagno. Villa Carducci, Florence.

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy "The city that stood long trial". Inf. XXVI, 435. Fortuna: In Dante's cosmology, a power created by god to "guide the destinies of man on earth" (H. Oelsner, P.H. Wicksteed and T. Okey The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, Vol I, p.79). Inf. VII, 6196, XV, 916. Francesca da Rimini: See Paolo and Francesca. Francesco d'Accorso: Eminent jurist of Bologna who taught law at the universities of Bologna and Oxford. Son of the great Florentine jurist Accorsio da Bagnolo, author of the Glossa Ordinaria on the Corpus Iuris Civilis. One of a group of sodomites identified by Brunetto Latini to Dante. Inf. XV, 110. Saint Francis of Assisi (11821226): Son of a wealthy merchant, he spurned his father's riches and founded the Franciscan Order, formally recognized by Pope Honorius III in 1223. Arrives to bring Guido da Montefeltro into Heaven, but is forestalled. Inf. XXVII, 1124. Eulogised by Thomas Aquinas. Par. XI, 37117. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor: Was renowned for his Epicurean lifestyle, and alleged to have punished traitors by cloaking them in leaden capes and placing them into boiling cauldrons. Among the Epicurean heretics. Inf. X, 119. His capes compared to those of the hypocrites. Inf. XXIII, 66. Vanni Fucci: Nicknamed Bestia, for his brutality, he was the Illegitimate son of Fuccio de' Lazzari. He took part in the vicious struggles that divided his city Pistoia, siding with the Black Guelphs, repeatedly sacked the houses of his political enemies. In 1293, he stole the reliquary of San Jacopo from the sacristy of the Cathedral of Pistoia, for which crime the innocent Rampino Foresi was arrested and nearly executed, before the guilt of Fucci and his accomplices was discovered. Among the thieves, like the mythical phoenix, he is burned to ashes and restored. Inf. XXIV, 97118. Refers to himself as a "mule" meaning "bastard" ("mul ch'i' fui"). Inf. XXIV, 125. Prophesies the triumph in Florence of the Black Guelphs over the Whites. Inf. XXIV, 143151. Swears against God while performing an obscene gesture (a "fig", the insertion of a thumb between the first and second fingers of a closed fist). Inf. XXV, 118. Furies: see Erinyes.

110

Francis of Assisi, late 13th century

G
Galen (131201): Ancient Greek physician. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 143. Geri del Bello: A second cousin of Dante. Apparently he was killed by the Sacchetti family and avenged by the Alegheri in 1310, with the feud continuing utill 1342. Of whom Dante says "a spirit born of my own blood his death by violence for which he still is not avenged". Inf, XXIX, 1836.

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111

Geryon: In Greek mythology, son of Chrysaor and Callirhoe, was a winged giant. The tenth labour of Herakles was to steal his cattle. In Medieval times, he was viewed as an example of treacherous deception, which may explain Dante's choice of him as an emblem of fraud. Guardian of the eighth circle, summoned by Virgil, he is encountered in close association with the usurers. Inf. XVI, 10636. "La fiera con la coda aguzza, che passa i monti, e rompe i muri e l'armi! ... colei che tutto 'l mondo appuzza!" ("The beast who bears the pointed tail, who crosses mountains, shatters weapons, walls! the one whose stench fills all the worlds!"). Inf. XVII, 127. Carries Virgil and Dante on his back. Inf. XVII, 79136. Sets down Virgil and Dante in the eighth circle. Inf. XVIII, 1920. Giovanni di Buiamonte dei Becchi: Florentine banker, he had held several important offices which earned him a knighthood.
Geryon in a Gustave Dor wood engraving of for The Divine Comedy.

The "sovereign cavalier", whose future damnation as a usurers is alluded to by Reginaldo Scrovegni. Inf. XVII, 723. Fra Gomita: Chancellor of Nino Visconti and Governor of the giudicato of Gallura, in Sardinia at the time a possion of Pisa. He accepted a bribe to let escape a group of Visconti's enemies who were in his custody. For this he was hanged. Among the barrators with Michel Zanche, "a dir di Sardigna le lingue lor non si sentono stanche" ("their tongues are never too tired to speak of their Sardinia"). Inf. XXII, 8190. Gratian: Twelfth-century canon lawyer and Camaldolese monk. Pointed out by Thomas Aquinas in the sphere of the Sun. Par. X, 104. Griffolino of Arezzo: He duped Alberto da Siena saying, that for money, he would teach him to fly. As a result Griffolino was burned at the stake for heresy by the Bishop of Siena, who favored Alberto, who was perhaps the Bishop's illegitimate son. Among the "falsifiers" of metal (alchemists), sitting with Capocchio, propping each other up, as they frantically scratch at the scabs covering their bodies. Inf. XXIX, 7399. He introduces himself. Inf. XXIX, 10920. Referred to as "the Aretine", he identifies Schicchi and Myrrha. Inf. XXX, 3145. Guelphs and Ghibellines: Factions supporting, respectively, the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire in Italy during the 12th and 13th centuries. After the Guelphs finally defeated the Ghibellines in 1289 at Campaldino and Caprona, (Dante apparently fought for the Guelphs at both), they began to fight among themselves. By 1300, Dante's city, Florence, was "divided" between the Black Guelphs who continued to support the Papacy and Dante's party, the White Guelphs. That year the Whites defeated the Blacks and forced them out of Florence, however, in 1302, the Blacks, with the help of Pope Boniface VIII, were victorious and the Whites, including Dante, were banished from Florence. Inf. VI, 6072.

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Florence the divided city. Inf. VI, 61. White Guelphs, party of the woods. Inf. VI, 65. Black Guelphs, prevail with help of Boniface. Inf. VI, 689. Rivalry. Inf X. Black and White Guelphs, one after the other, will "hunger" after Dante. Inf. XV, 7172. The expulsion of the White Guelphs from Florence is prophesied: "Fiorenza rinnova gente e modi". Inf. XXIV, 14350. Guido Guerra (c. 12201272): Member of one of the greatest Tuscan families, he was one of the leaders of the Guelph faction in Florence, under whose banners he fought the disastrous battle of Montaperti in 1260. Exiled following the triumph of the Ghibellines, he returned to Florence in 1267 when the Guelphs retook control of the city. One of a group of three Florentine sodomites who approach Dante, and are much esteemed by him (see Jacopo Rusticucci). Inf. XVI, 190. "In sua vita fece col senno assai e con la spada" ("In his life he did much with the senses and the sword"). Inf. XVI, 379. Guido da Montefeltro (12231298): Renowned leader of the Ghibellines of Romagna. As ruler of Forl, in 1282, he defeated a French force, which was besieging the city. In 1296 he retired from military life and entered the Franciscan order. Pope Boniface VIII, in 1297, asked his advice on how to capture Palestrina, the impegnable stronghold of the Colonna family, offering in advance papal absolution for any sin his advice might entail. He advised Boniface to promise the Colonnas amnesty, then break it. As a result the Collonas surrendered the fortress and it was razed to the ground. Dante also mentions him in the Convivio, where he curiously extols his piety and sanctity. Among the fraudulent counsellors. Inf. XXVII, 4132. He "made a bloody heap out of the French". Inf. XXVII, 435. Guido da Polenta: The powerful aristocratic ruler of Ravenna and Cervia, the former town taken by him in 1275 and the latter shortly after. He was father of Francesca da Rimini, and grandfather of Guido Novello da Ravenna, who was to give Dante hospitality in his last years. The coat of arms of his family contained an eagle. "The eagle of Polenta". Inf. XXVII, 402. Guido del Cassero: See Malatestino. Robert Guiscard (c. 10151085): One of the most remarkable of the Norman adventurers who conquered Southern Italy and Sicily. He was count (10571059) and then duke (10591085) of Apulia and Calabria after his brother Humphrey's death. His warring in Apulia. Inf. XXVIII, 134. Guy de Montfort: Son of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester (1208 August 4, 1265) who was leader of the baronial opposition to king Henry III of England. Simon was killed at the battle of Evesham and Guy revenged his death by killing the king's nephew, another Henry, in a church in Viterbo. Pointed out by Nessus. Inf. XII, 11820.

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H
Harpies: Monsters from Greek mythology with human female faces on the bodies of birds. Tormentors of the suicides in the seventh circle, round 2. Their description is derived from Virgil (Aeneid iii, 209 on), which tells how they drove the Trojans from the Strophades. Inf. XII, 1015 & 101. Hector: The greatest Trojan warrior, in the Trojan War. Seen in Limbo. Inf. IV, 1218.
A medieval depiction of a Harpy. Hecuba: Wife of Priam king of Troy, mother of Hector, Paris, Polyxena and Polydorus. Captured after the fall of Troy, she went mad after seeing her daughter Polyxena, sacrificed on the tomb of Achilles and the corpse of her son Polydorus, murdered by Polymestor, King of Thrace (Euripides, Hecuba, Ovid Metamorphoses XIII, 429575). According to Ovid she growled and barked like a mad dog.

Her "fury" at the deaths of Polyxena and Polydorus. Inf, XXX, 1321. Helen: Wife of the Spartan king Menelaus and lover of the Trojan Paris, her abduction caused the Trojan War. Found amongst the sexual sinners. Inf. V, 645. Heliotrope stone: Also called bloodstone, is dark green with spots of red. In the Middle Ages the red spots were thought to be the blood of Jesus, and it was believed to have miraculous powers, including making its wearer invisible. Boccaccio writes about it in his Decameron (VIII, 3). Inf. XXIV, 93. Heraclitus (c. 535 BCEc. 475 BCE): Greek Presocratic philosopher. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 138. Hera (Juno in Roman mythology): Greek goddess, she is the wife of Zeus (Jupiter). A jealous goddess, Helen, detail from an Attic red-figure krater, ca. 450440 BC, Louvre (G 424) she often sought revenge against Zeus' many lovers. One of those was Semele, who was the daughter of Cadmus, King of Thebes and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus. One of Hera's many acts of revenge against Semele, was to cause Athamas, husband of Semele's sister Ino, to be driven mad. Mistaking Ino, holding their two infant sons Learchus and Melicertes, for a lioness and her cubs, he killed Learchus, and Ino still holding Melicertes jumped off a cliff into the sea. (Ovid, Metamorphoses IV, 416542). Another lover of Zeus, and victim of Hera was Aegina, daughter of the river-god Asopus (see Aegina above). Her revenge against "Aegina's people". Inf. XXIX, 5865. Her (Juno's) revenge against Semeles' "Theban family". Inf. XXX, 112. Heracles (Latin: Hercules): Son of Zeus and Alcmene, he is probably the most famous Hero of Greek mythology. Of his many achievements, the most famous are the Twelve Labours. His victory over Cacus. Inf. XXV, 2933.

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Ulysses recounts his passing the Pillars of Hercules at the Strait of Gibraltar, where "Hercules set up his boundary stones that men might heed and never reach beyond". Inf. XXVI, 1089. Hippocrates (c. 460 BCE380 BCE): Ancient Greek physician, often called "the father of medicine.". Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 143. Homer: Greek poet credited with the authorship of the epic poems the Iliad, which tells the story of the Trojan War, and the Odyssey, which tells the story of the Greek hero Odysseus' adventures returning from that war. Encountered in Limbo, leading, "as lord", the three Latin poets Horace, Ovid and Lucan. Inf. IV, 8390. "The lord of song incomparable who like an eagle soars above the rest." Inf. IV, 956. The poets ask Dante "to join their ranks", Inf. IV, 100102. Dante and Virgil leave the company of the poets. Inf IV, 148. Horace: Latin lyric poet. One of a group of classical poets (see Homer) encountered in Limbo. Inf. IV, 89. Hypsipyle: Queen of Lemnos, she was seduced and abandoned by Jason while in route to the Colchis with the Argonauts. Pitied by Virgil for Jason's actions. Inf. XVIII, 8895.
Homer flanked by Dante (left) and Virgil. Detail of fresco, by Raffael, in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican Palace, 1511.

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I
Icarus: In Greek mythology, the son of the inventor Daedalus. They escaped from imprisonment in Crete using wings of feathers and wax invented by Daedalus. However, Icarus flew too near the sun, the wax melted, and he fell to his death. Used as a simile for fear in Inf. XVII, 10911. Ilium: See Troy. Ino: See Hera. Alessio Interminelli: Member of a White Guelph noble family of Lucca. He probably died in 1295. Found among the flatterers. Inf. XVIII, 11526. Isidore of Seville: Archbishop of Seville, and one of the great scholars of the early Middle Ages. Encountered in the Fourth Sphere of Heaven (The sun). Par. X, 1301.
Icarus and Daedalus by Charles Paul Landon

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Israel: One name given to the biblical patriarch Jacob. Raised by Jesus from Limbo into Paradise. Inf. IV, 59. Isaac: The biblical father of the patriarch Israel. Raised by Jesus from Limbo into Paradise. Inf. IV, 59.

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J
Jacopo da Santo Andrea: Notorious spendthrift from Padua. He may have been executed by Ezzelino da Romano in 1239. One of two spendthrifts (the other called "Lano" is probably Arcolano of Siena) whose punishment consists of being hunted by female hounds. Inf. XIII, 11529. Jason: Greek mythological hero who led the Argonauts to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece. Found among the Seducers, for his seduction and abandonment of Hypsipyle and Medea. Inf. XVIII, 8399. Jason: Brother of the High Priest of Israel Onias III, he succeeded his brother in c. 175 BCE. According to 2 Maccabees he obtained his office by bribing the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Pope Clement V is compared to him. Inf. XIX, 857. Jesus: Central figure of Christianity. According to Christian legend, in what is called the Harrowing of Hell, he descended into Hell after his death and rescued certain souls from Limbo. Virgil describes witnessing his descent into Hell. Inf. IV, 5263. Took spoils from Dis. Inf. XII, 3839. He asked no gold from Saint Peter. Inf. XIX, 903. John the Baptist: The desert prophet, who baptised Jesus. He became the patron saint of Florence, displacing the Roman Mars, and his image was stamped on the cities gold coin, the florin. "The first patron gave way" to him. Inf. XIII, 1434. "The currency which bears" his seal. Inf. XXX, 74. John the Evangelist: The name used to refer to the author of the Gospel of John. He is also traditionally identified with John the Apostle and the author of the Book of Revelation. Dante interprets a passage of John's Revelations (17:13) as a prophecy on the future corruption of the Roman Curia. Inf. XIX, 1068. Jove: See Zeus. Jubilee: The first Jubilee of the Roman Catholic church took place in 1300. Inf. XVIII, 2833. Judas Iscariot: Disciple who betrayed Jesus. Virgil's visit to "Judas' circle". Inf. IX, 2527. "The transgressing soul" replaced by Saint Matthias. Inf. XIX 946. Along with Brutus and Cassius, one of the three betrayer/suicides who, for those sins, were eternally chewed by one of the three mouths of Satan. Inf. XXXIV, 5367 Julia : Daughter of Julius Caesar and wife of Pompey. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 128. Julius Caesar (10044 BCE): The celebrated Roman dictator and military commander. Virgil's remembers him (erroneously) as ruler of Rome at his birth. Inf. I, 70. Juno: See Hera. Justinian: Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus, an emperor of Byzantium, known as "the last Roman emperor". A saintly man respected for his law reforms. His "mending [Italy's] bridle". Purg. VI, 8893.

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Encountered in the Second Sphere: Mercury, as an unnamed "holy form [concealed] within his rays". Par. V, 11539. His discourse on the history of Rome. Par. VI, 1111. His description of the souls in Mercury. Par. VI, 11242.

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Laertes: Mythical father of Odysseus (Ulysses), he was one of the Argonauts. In the Odyssey he takes part in the massacre of Penelope's suitors. Not even Ulysses' love for his father (and wife and son) was enough to overrule his desire "to gain experience of the world and of the vices and the worth of men". Inf. XXVI, 949. Lancelot: Central figure of the Arthurian legend. Reading tales of his amorous adventures led Paulo and Francesca astray. Inf. V, 128. Lano: See Arcolano of Siena. Brunetto Latini: Famous Florentine Guelph politician and writer, friend and teacher of Dante till his death in 1294. Encountered by Dante among the sodomites in the seventh circle. The meeting between Dante and Brunetto is one of the most important in the Inferno, as Brunetto is given the key role of prophesying the future exile of Dante. Dante extols his encyclopaedia, Li Livres dou Tresor, of which Dante has Brunetto say: "Sieti raccomandato il mio Tesoro, nel qual io vivo ancora". Inf. XV, 22124. Lateran Palace: The principle papal residence, from the beginning of the 4th century, until the beginning of Avignon Papacy, in 1305. Used by Dante to allude to Boniface's warring against Christians, rather than "Jews" or "Saracens". Inf. XXVII, 86. Latinus: The "Latian king" and one of a group of figures associated with the history of Troy, Virgil's Aeneid, and the history of Rome encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 1218. Lavinia: Daughter of Latinus and one of a group of figures associated with the history of Troy, Virgil's Aeneid, and the history of Rome encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 1218. Learchus: See Hera. Lethe: One of the rivers of Hades in Greek mythology. To drink its waters is to forget everything.

Its location is asked about and given. Inf. XIV, 1308. Probably the little stream. Inf. XXXIV 1302. Passage of. Purg. XXX, 1425. Limbo: The first circle of Dante's Hell and the scene of Inf. IV. It is a kind of antechamber in which the souls of the good who died before Jesus spend eternity with no punishment other than the lack of the divine presence. In Dante's version, figures from Classical antiquity significantly outnumber those from the Old Testament. Linus: Mythical son of Apollo who taught music to Orpheus. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 141. Livy (c. 59 BCE17 CE): The famous Roman historian author of the monumental Ab Urbe Condita, telling the history of Rome from the origins down to his own times. The historian "who does not err". Inf. XXVIII, 12. Peter Lombard (c.10901160): Theologian and Bishop; author of The Sentences, a famous medieval textbook of theology. Pointed out by Thomas Aquinas in the sphere of the Sun. Par. X, 107.

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Lucan (3965): Latin poet, whose Pharsalia, an epic poem on the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey, is an important source for Dante. Like Seneca he was forced to commit suicide by Nero for his participation in the Pisonian conspiracy. One of a group of classical poets (see Homer) encountered in Limbo. Inf. IV, 90. The serpents in the Malebolge comes from his Pharsalia (IX, 710 ff). Inf. XXIV, 8590. His description in Pharsalia (IX, 761804) of the deaths and "transformations" of Sabellus and Nasidiusis is compared with the transformations of the thieves and sinners in the Malebolge. Inf. XXV, 946. Lucca: A Tuscan city of considerable importance in the Middle Ages; generally Guelph, it was traditionally an ally of Florence and an enemy of Pisa. Dante, through the words of a devil, accuses its magistrates of being all corrupt: "torno ... a quella terra, che n' ben fornita: ogn'uom v' barattier, ... del no, per li denar, vi si fa ita" Inf. XXI, 3942. Lucia of Syracuse: 4th century martyr saint associated with light and those, like Dante, who suffered from poor eyesight. She symbolises Illuminating Grace in the poem. Serves as an intermediary between the "gentle lady" (see Mary) and Beatrice. Inf. II, 97108. Lucretia: Mythical figure in the history of the Roman Republic, whose rape by the son of Tarquinius Superbus was revenged by Brutus by the overthrowing of that king. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 128.

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M
Paolo Malatesta: See Paolo and Francesca. Malatesta da Verucchio: Founder of the powerful Malatesta family, he and his son Malatestino, were Guelph rulers of Rimini from 1295, who killed the chief members of the rival Ghibelline family, the Parcitati, including their leader Montagna de' Parcitati. Malatesta had two other sons Giovanni, who married Guido da Polenta's daughter Francesca, and Paolo who became her lover (see Paolo and Francesca). The old mastiff of Verucchio". Inf. XXVII, 468. Malatestino: Son of Malatesta da Verrucchio, after his father's death in 1312, he became Signore of Rimini. He had two nobles of Fano, Guido del Cassero and Angiolello di Carignano, drowned, after he had summoned them to a parley at Cattolica. The new mastiff of Verruchio. Inf. XXVII, 468. The "foul tyrant" and "traitor who sees only with one eye", his betrayal of Guido and Angiolello. Inf. XXVIII, 7690. Malebolge ("evil-pouches"): The eighth circle of Dante's hell, it contains ten trenches wherein the ten types of "ordinary" fraud are punished. Encountered. Inf. XVIII. Described as a funnel consisting of concentric and progressively lower ditches. Inf. XXIV, 3440. Its "final cloister" filled with "lay brothers". Inf. XXIX, 402. Malebranche ("evil-claws"): In the Inferno, it is the name of a group of demons in the fifth pouch of the Malebolge. They are led by Malacoda ("evil-tail"), who assigns ten of his demons to escort Dante: Alichino, Calcabrina, Cagnazzo ("big dog"), Barbariccia (leads the ten), Libicocco, Draghignazzo, Ciriatto, Graffiacane ("dog-scratcher") Farfarello and Rubicante. Another Malebranche is Scarmiglione. Encountered. Inf. XXI, 29XXIII, 56. A demon is described plunging a barrator into a boiling lake of pitch and returning to Lucca "for more". Inf. XXI, 2946. Their using prongs to keep the sinner submerged is compared to cooking meat in a pot. Inf. XXI, 5557. Escort assigned. Inf. XXI 118123.

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Scarmiglione. Inf. XXI, 100105. Barbarariccia's remarkable trumpet. Inf. XXI, 136XXII, 12. The demons escort Dante, guarding the shore as they go. A sinner is dragged ashore, attacked by the demons and is questioned but escapes, and two demons fight and fall into the boiling pitch. Inf. XXII, 13151. Dante and Virgil escape their pursuit. Inf. XXIII 1356. Malacoda's lie is discovered. Inf. XXIII 1401. Manto: Mythical daughter of Tiresias, from her father she inherited the power of prophecy. Seen among the seers. Inf. XX, 527. Virgil tells how Manto travelled till she arrived in the spot that was to be called after her Mantua. Inf. XX, 5893. Mantua: An important and ancient city in Lombardy. Its name is probably of Etruscan origin. Birthplace of Virgil. Inf. I, 69. Beatrice addresses Virgil as "courteous Mantuan spirit". Inf. II, 58. Virgil tells Dante of the origin of the name of Mantua and about its foundation. Inf. XX, 5899. Sordello addresses Virgil as "Mantuan". Purg. VI, 74. Marcia: Wife of Cato the younger. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 128. Maremma: Area consisting of part of southern Tuscany (and partly coincident with the province of Grosseto) and some part of northern Latium (a bordering region of the province of Viterbo). in Dante's time it was a desolate marshland, plagued by malaria. Identified as between Cecina and Corneto. Inf. XIII, 79. Reputation for snakes. Inf. XXV, 1920. Sickness from July until September. Inf. XXIX, 468. Mars: In Roman mythology, the god of war. As ei per questo//sempre con l'arte sua la far trista (he who with this art always will make it [Florence] sad) he is identified as the patron of Florence before John the Baptist. Inf. XIII, 1434. Charles Martel of Anjou (12711295): son of Charles II of Naples. In the sphere of Venus, he discusses degeneracy among noble families, and denounces confusion of vocations. Par. VIII, 31148. His prophecy. Par. IX, 19. Mary: The mother of Jesus. Probably the "gentle lady", who takes pity on Dante and calls on Lucia to ask Beatrice to help him. Inf. II, 949.

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Master Adam: Possibly an Englishman, who came to Bologna by way of Brescia. He was employed by the Guidi, counts of Romena, to counterfeit the Florentine florin. Stamped with the image of John the Baptist, the florin contained 24 karats of gold. His contained 21, for which crime he was burned at the stake in 1281. Among the falsifiers, he points out two liars, Potiphar's wife and Sinon, with whom he exchanges insults. Inf. XXX, 49129. Saint Matthias: After Judas' betrayal and suicide, he took his place as one of the twelve apostles (Acts of the Apostles I:2326). Late legends state he was either crucified in Colchis or stoned by the Jews. How he became an apostle is contrasted with the Simoniacs. Inf. XIX, 946. Medea: Mythical daughter of Aeetes, king of Colchis, she helped Jason get the Golden Fleece, but was abandoned by him. She took revenge by killing their two children. For her also is Jason punished. Inf. XVIII, 96. Medusa (also known as the Gorgon): In Greek mythology, a female monster whose gaze could turn people to stone. See Erinyes. Megaera: See Erinyes. Melicertes: See Hera. Michael: Archangel who defeated Satan. Inf. VII 112. Minos: A semi-legendary king of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. In The Divine Comedy, he sits at the entrance to the second circle in the Inferno, which is the beginning of Hell proper. Here, he judges the sins of each dead soul and assigns it to its rightful punishment by indicating the circle to which it must descend. He does this by circling his tail around his body the appropriate number of times. Encountered by Dante. Inf. V, 424. Sends suicides to their appointed punishments. Inf. XIII, 96. Amphiaraus falls down to him. Inf. XX, 356. He can also speak, to clarify the soul's location within the circle indicated by the wrapping of his tail. Inf. XXVII, 1247. Who "cannot mistake", condemns Griffolino of Arezzo to the tench pouch. Inf. XXIX, 11820. Minotaur: In Greek mythology, a creature that was half man and half bull. It was held captive by King Minos of Crete, inside the Labyrinth, an elaborate maze designed by Daedalus. It was slain by Theseus. Guards the seventh circle. Inf. XII, 1127. Mongibello: Sicialian name for Mount Etna, though to be Vulcan's furnace. "The sooty forge". Inf. XIV, 56. Mosca de' Lamberti: Ghibelline who in 1215 rekindled feuding with the Guelphs by urging the killing of the Guelph Buondelmonte dei Buondelmonte, for breaking a marriage engagement.
Guido Reni's archangel Michael (in the Capuchin church of Sta. Maria della Concezione, Rome) trampling Satan

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy One of a group of famous political Florentines, "who were so worthy whose minds bent toward the good", asked about by Dante of Ciacco. Inf. VI, 7781. Found among the Sowers of Scandal and Schism in the eighth circle, Ninth Pouch. He was a "seed of evil for the Tuscans". Inf. XXVIII, 1069. Moses Raised by Jesus from Limbo into Paradise. Inf. IV, 57. Muhammad (c. 570632): The founder of Islam. Found among the "sowers of dissension", he points out his son-in-law Ali, and through Dante, warns Fra Dolcino. Inf. XXVIII, 2263. Muses: In Greek and Roman mythology, the inspiring goddesses of song, poetry and art. Inf. II, 79 Myrrha: In Greek Mythology mother of Adonis, who in disguise committed incest with her father (Ovid, Metamorphoses, X, 298502) Among the falsifiers, "taking another's shape", she "loved her father past the limits of just love". Inf. XXX, 3741.

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N
Nasidius: See Sabellus and Nasidius. Neptune: God of the sea. Inf. XXVIII, 83. Nessus: See Centaur. Niccol: See Spendthrift Club. Pope Nicholas III (c. 12201280): Born Giovanni Gaetano Orsini from an eminent Roman family, he was made cardinal by Innocent IV and became pope in 1277, where he distinguished himself for his ability as a politician.

Punished among the Simoniacs for his nepotism. He prophesies to Dante the arrival in Hell of the popes Boniface VIII and Clement V. Inf. XIX, 31120. Nino de' Visconti: See Ugolino della Gherardesca. Ninus: Mythical king of Assyria and eponymous founder of Nineveh, he was the husband of Semiramis. Remembered as predecessor of Semiramis on the throne of Assyria. Inf. V, 59. Nisus: Son of Hyrtacus and friend of Aeneas and Euryalus. He was mentioned in Virgil's Aeneid. One of those who "died for Italy". Inf. I, 106108 Noah Raised by Jesus from Limbo into Paradise. Inf. IV, 56.

O
Obizzo II d'Este: Marquess of Ferrara in 12641293 and a leading Guelph. Popular tradition had it that he was killed by his son, Azzo VIII. Pointed out by Nessus. Inf. XII, 1102. The "marquis" for whom Venedico Caccianemico admits to have procured his sister Ghisolabella. Inf. XVIII, 557. Odysseus (Ulysses in Roman mythology): King of Ithaca, he was the son of Laertes, husband of Penelope and father of Telemachus. Known for his guile and resourcefulness, he is the hero of Homer's Odyssey, and a major character in the Iliad. During the Trojan War, with Diomedes, he stole the Palladium and conceived the trickery of the Trojan horse. He was famous for the twenty years it took him to return home from the war. Among the advisors of fraud, he (Ulysses) is punished with Diomedes for the sins they both committed at Troy. Inf. XXVI, 5263. At Virgil's urging, he (Ulysses) speaks about his journey after leaving Circe. Inf. XXVI, 79142.

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Sinibaldo degli Ordelaffi: Head of the noble Ordelaffi family and ruler of Forl and the surrounding territory in Romagna from the end of the 13th century. His coat of arms contained a green lion. Forl "beneath green paws". Inf. XXVII 435. Paulus Orosius (c.385420): Historian and theologian; associate of St. Augustine. Not named, but called "that defender of the Christian days who helped Augustine by his history" by Thomas Aquinas in the sphere of the Sun. Par. X, 11820. Orpheus: Mythical Greek singer and poet who, like Dante, descended into the underworld. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 140. Ottokar II, King of Bohemia (12531278), enemy of German King Rudolf I, with whom he is seen keeping company at the gates of Purgatory. Ottaviano degli Ubaldini (c12101250): Cardinal and prominent Ghibelline who was the only supporter of their cause at the Papal Court at the time of the Battle of Montaperti (see Farinata). Found among the Epicurean heretics. Inf. X, 120. Ovid: Latin poet, whose Metamorphoses, is Dante's principle, mythological source. One of a group of classical poets (see Homer) encountered in Limbo. Inf. IV, 90. His descriptions of the transformations Cadmus and Arethusa in the Metamorphoses are compared to the transformations of the thieves. Inf. XXV, 979.

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Maghinardo Pagani da Susinana: Signore of Faenza on the river Lamone, and Imola on the river Santerno. Ghibelline by birth, he was a Guelph in Florence. His coat of arms was a white lion on a blue field. The "young lion of the white lair". Inf. XXVI, 4951. Palladium: A statue of Pallas Athena. Since it was believed that Troy could not be captured while it contained this statue, Odysseus (Ulysses) and Diomedes stole it during the Trojan War (Aeneid II, 228240). Its theft is one of the things for which Ulysses and Diomedes are punished. Inf. XXVI, 63. Paolo and Francesca: Brother and wife, respectively, of Giovanni Malatesta. The pair were lovers and reputedly killed by Giovanni. Francesca was the daughter of Guido da Polenta. Found among the sexual sinners. Inf. V, 73138. Montagna de' Parcitati: Of the noble Parcitati family, he was head of the Ghibelline faction in Rimini till Malatesta da Verrucchio assumed control of the town in 1295. Montagna was first jailed and then treacherously murdered by Malatesta and his son Malatestino. His abuse by the "mastiffs of Verruchio". Inf. XXVII, 47.
Joseph Anton Koch, Paolo and Francesca discovered by Giovanni, 1805-1810

Saint Paul: One of the apostles of Jesus. Referred to by Dante as the "Chosen Vessel" (Acts 9:15). His legendary journey to Hell (2 Corinthians 12:24) serves as a model for Dante. Inf. II, 2832. Paris: Trojan, son of Priam and Hecuba, brother of Hector, and abductor of Helen. Found amongst the sexual sinners. Inf. V, 67.

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Penelope: Faithful wife of Odysseus (Ulysses) king of Ithaca, refusing the many suitors who invaded her home, she waited twenty years for him to return home from the Trojan War. Not even Ulysses' love for his wife (and son and father) was enough to overrule his desire "to gain experience of the world and of the vices and the worth of men". Inf. XXVI, 949. Penthesilea: Queen of the Amazons, she fought on for Troy during the Trojan War. Seen in Limbo. Inf. IV, 124. Perillus: See Sicilian bull. Saint Peter: One of the apostles of Jesus, and first pope. "la porta di San Pietro" ("the gateway of Saint Peter"). Inf. I, 133. In contrast to the Simoniacs, he paid no gold, to become head of the church, nor did he ask for any from Saint Matthias to make him an apostle. Inf. XIX, 906. Par XXIV, Dante's "Examination of Faith" by St. Peter; his presence first described by Beatrice: "And she: 'O eternal light of the great man/ To whom Our Lord entrusted the same keys/ Of wondrous gladness that he brought below'." (trans. by Cotter, ln. 34-36). Phaton: In Greek mythology, the son of Helios, the sun god. To prove his paternity, he asked his father to allow him to drive the chariot of the sun for one day. Unable to control the horses, Phaton almost destroyed the earth, but was killed by Zeus. Used as a simile for fear in Inf. XVII, 1068. Philip IV of France (12681314): King from 1285, his reign is memorable for many reasons. In particular he is famous for having shattered the temporal ambitions of the popes. Probably an allusion to the accusation that Clement V had got his pontificate by promising to pay Philip. Inf. XIX, 87. Phlegethon: "River of fire", in Greek mythology, one of the rivers of Hades. Boiling river of blood. Inf. XII, 4748. Encountered and described. Inf. XIV, 7690. Formed from the tears of the statue of the Old Man of Crete. Inf. XIV, 94116. Identified as the "red stream boiling". Inf. XIV, 130135. Its deafening roar compared to the waterfall near the monastery of San Benedetto dell'Alpe. Inf. XVI, 9110 Phlegra: In Greek mythology, the site of Zeus's defeat of the Giants (Gigantes) at the end of the Gigantomachy. Inf. XIV, 58. Phlegyas: In Greek mythology he was the ferryman for the souls that cross the Styx. Inf. VIII, 1024. Phoenix: Mythical bird, which at the end of its life-cycle, burns itself to ashes, from which a reborn phoenix arises. Its description here is derived from Ovid's Metamorphoses (XV, 392407). Inf. XXIV, 107111. Pholus: A wise Centaur and friend of Herakles. Inf. XII 72. Photinus, a deacon of Thessalonica. See Anastasius. Piccarda: Sister of Dante's friend Forese Donati. In the sphere of the moon, she explains to Dante the varieties of blessedness among those in Paradise. Par. III, 34-120.

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St. Peter, oil on panel by Francesco del Cossa (1473), Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Pier da Medicina: Apparently a political intriguer in Romagna, of whom little is known. Early commentators say he sowed discord between the Malatesta and Polenta families. Foretells the betrayal and doom of Guido and Angiolello, and points out Curio. Inf. XXVIII, 6399. Pier della Vigna (c. 11901249) Minister of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. He fell from favour in 1347 and subsequently committed suicide. Punished amongst the suicides in Inf. XIII, 28108. Pillars of Hercules: Name given to the promontories the Rock of Gibraltar in Europe and Monte Hacho near Ceuta in Africa that flank the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar. According to legend, Heracles (Hercules), on his way to steal the cattle of Geryon split a mountain in half, thereby forming the Strait of Gibraltar and connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean. The pillars marked the western boundary of the classical world, beyond which it was not safe to sail. Ulysses describes sailing past these "boundary stones" to the see the world which "lies beyond the sun". Inf. XXVI 10616. Pinamonte dei Bonacolsi: An able and shrewd politician he took advantage of the fights between Guelphs and Ghibellins that were dividing Mantua to establish himself in 1273 as supreme ruler of the city, founding a Signoria that was kept by his family till 1328. His deviousness in ousting Alberto da Casalodi. Inf. XX, 956. Pistoia: A Tuscan town which in Dante's time had lost much of its autonomy, becoming a sort of Florentine dependency. Vanni Fucci prophesies the exile of the Black Guelphs from the town. Inf. XXIV, 143. Invective against the town. Inf. XXV, 102. Plato: Greek philosopher and teacher of Aristotle. In Dante's day, his writings were less influential than those of his student. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 134. Plutus: In Greek mythology, he was the personification of wealth. Dante almost certainly conflated him with Pluto, the Roman god of the Underworld. He is found in the fourth circle of Dante's hell, in which the greedy and prodigal are punished. Inf. VII, 115. Pola: Italian seaport (now part of Croatia) famed for its Roman necropolis. Simile for the tombs in the sixth circle. Inf. IX, 112. Polydorus: See Hecuba. Polynices: See Eteocles Polyxena: Trojan daughter of Priam and Hecuba. In some accounts, Achilles fell in love with her, and was killed while visiting her. At the demand of Achilles' ghost, Polyxena is sacrificed on Achilles' tomb. With whom "Achilles finally met lovein his last battle". Inf. V, 65. Her death helps drive Hecuba mad with fury. Inf. XXX, 168. Priam: King of Troy, husband of Hecuba, father of Hector and Paris. King when Troy was brought down. Inf. XXX, 15. Asked Sinion to tell the truth about the Trojan horse. Inf. XXX, 114. Priscian: Eminent Latin grammarian active in 500s who wrote the Institutiones grammaticae, extremely popular in the Middle Ages. One of a group of sodomites identified by Brunetto Latini to Dante. Inf. XV, 109. Proserpina: Wife of Pluto, king of the underworld. "Queen of never-ending lamentation". Inf. IX, 44. Moon goddess whose face is "kindled" (once a month). Inf X 79. Ptolemy (c. 85165): Greek geographer, astronomer, and astrologer.

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List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 142. Puccio Sciancato: Of the noble Ghibelline Florentine Galigai family, he was exiled in 1268 after the Guelphs' triumph, but accepted the peace brokered in 1280 by Cardinal Latino to reconcile the factions. He was nicknamed Sciancato ("lame"). Among the thieves. Inf. XXV, 14850. Pyrrhus: Either Achilles's son Neoptolemus, killer of Priam and many other Trojans, or Pyrrhus of Epirus, could be intended, although the latter was praised by Dante in his Monarchy (II, ix, 8). Pointed out by Nessus. Inf. XII, 135.

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Rachel: The biblical second wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. She symbolises the contemplative life in the poem. Companion of Beatrice. Inf. II, 102. Raised by Jesus from Limbo into Paradise. Inf. IV, 60. Rhea: See Cronus. Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo: Highwaymen who lived in Dante's day. Pazzo was excommunicated by Pope Clement IV, in 1268 Pointed out by Nessus. Inf. XII, 137. Richard of St. Victor: One of the most important 12th century mystic theologicans. A Scot, he was prior of the famous Augustinian abbey of Saint-Victor in Paris from 1162 until his death in 1173. His writings on mystical contemplation won him the title "Magnus Contemplator", the great contemplator. "He whose meditation made him more than man". Par. X, 130. Rudolf I, King of the Romans (12731291). Dante finds him at the gates of Purgatory and is described as "he who neglected that which he ought to have done", perhaps a reference to his failure to come to Italy to be crowned Emperor by the Pope. Ruggiere degli Ubaldini: See Ugolino della Gherardesca. Jacopo Rusticucci: Florentine Guelph of Guido Cavalcanti's guild, active in politics and diplomacy. One of a group of famous political Florentines, "who were so worthy whose minds bent toward the good", asked about by Dante of Ciacco. Inf. VI, 7781. One of a group of three Florentine sodomites who approach Dante, and are much esteemed by him. Inf. XVI, 190. Blames his wife for his sin: '"e certo fu la fiera moglie pi ch'altro mi nuoce". Inf. XVI, 435. Questions Dante about Borsiere's reports of the moral decay of Florence, which have caused great anguish for him and his companions. Inf. XVI, 6672. Represents (with the other two sodomites) past civic virtue, providing an opportunity for Dante to rail against "La gente nuova e i sbiti guadagni" ("newcomers and quick gains"), as the cause of Florentine decadence. Inf. XVI, 735.

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Sabellus and Nasidius: Two soldiers of Cato's army in Lucan's poem Pharsalia (IX, 761804), who are bitten by snakes, while marching in the Libyan Desert, after which their bodies "transform". Sabellus' transforms into a rotting formless mass; Nasidius' swells, then bursts. Their cruel fate is compared to that of the thieves. Inf. XXV, 945. Saladin: 12th century Muslim leader renowned for his military prowess, generosity, and merciful attitude to his opponents during the Crusades. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 129. Sardinia: Italian Island north of Tunisia and south of Corsica. In Dante's time it was plagued by malaria. Sickness from July until September. Inf. XXIX, 468. Sannella: (Simonetti della Sannella) Italian noble family, latter known as Simonetti, one of the ancient Florentine families from the time of Cacciaguida. Mentioned together with other noble families, such as: Arca, Soldanier, Ardinghi, and Bostichi Par. XVI. Satan: Biblical angel who embodies evil and is the greatest foe of God and mankind. He is the ruler of Hell. Inf. XXXIV, 2867 Gianni Schicchi: Disguised as the Florentine Buoso Donati, who had just died, he dictated a new will, bequeathing to himself Donati's best mare. With his tusks he drags off Capocchio, after which Griffolino of Arezzo tells of Schicchi's impersonation. Inf. XXX, 2245. Michael Scot (c. 11751234): Scottish mathematician, philosopher, alchemist and astrologer, honoured by popes and emperors, especially Frederick II, he developed a popular reputation as a magician and seer. Damned among the soothsayers. Of him it is said "che veramente de le magiche frode seppe 'l gioco". Inf. XX, 1157. Second Punic War: The second of the wars fought between Carthage and Rome (219202). According to Livy, Hannibal sent to Carthage "a pile" of gold rings from the fingers of thousands of slaughtered Romans. "The long war where massive mounds of rings were battle spoils". Inf. XXVIII, 102. Semele: See Hera. Semiramis: Legendary figure who was, in Dante's day, believed to have been sexually licentious after the death of her husband Ninus. Found amongst the sexual sinners. Inf. V, 5260. Seneca, Lucius Annaeus (C. 4 BCE65): Roman philosopher, statesman and dramatist, forced to commit suicide by Nero for his participation in the Pisonian conspiracy, called "morale" (moral), by Dante. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 141. Serchio: A river near Lucca. Leisurely floating on ones back in this river is contrasted, by the Malebranche, with the different kind of swimming by the barrators in the lake of boiling pitch. Inf. XXI, 49.
Gustave Dor's depiction of Satan from John Milton's Paradise Lost.

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Sextus Pompeius: Son of Pompey the Great and opponent of Julius Caesar, portrayed by Lucan as a cruel pirate (Pharsalia VI, 4202). Pointed out by Nessus. Inf. XII, 135. Sichaeus: First husband of Dido and ruler of Tyre, he was murdered by Dido's brother. It is remembered that Dido "ruppe fede al cener di Sicheo". Inf. V, 62. Sicilian bull: A brazen figure of a bull used as an instrument of torture. The echoing screams of its victims, roasting inside, were thought to imitate the bellowing of a bull. It was created by Perillus for the tyrant Phalaris. Its creator was also its first victim. It "would always bellow with its victims voice". Inf. XXVII, 712. Silvester I: A saint, he was Pope from 314 to 335. In the Middle Ages, supported by a forged document called the "Donation of Constantine", it was believed that he had baptized Constantine and cured him of leprosy, and as a result, that he and his successors had been granted rule over Rome and the Western Roman Empire. For Dante, this event was the beginning of the ever increasing worldly wealth and power of the papacy, and the corruption that went along with it. "The first rich father!" Inf. XIX, 117. Guido da Montefeltro compares Silvester being sought by Constantine to cure his leprosy, with himself being sought by Boniface to "ease the fever of his arrogance". Inf. XXVII, 945. Simon Magus: The magician (or proto-Gnostic) of Samaria. In the Acts of the Apostles (8:924) he is rejected by the apostle Peter for trying to buy the ability to confer the Holy Spirit. From his name is derived the word Simony. His followers "fornicate for gold and silver". Inf. XIX, 14. Simony: Sin of selling or paying for offices or positions in the church hierarchy (cf. barratry). One of the sins of ordinary fraud punished in the eighth circle. Inf. XI, 59. Dante arrives in the 3rd Bolgia of the eighth circle where the Simoniacs are set upside-down in rock pits, with their exposed feet in flames. Inf. XIX, 1117. Socrates: Greek philosopher. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 134. Reginaldo Scrovegni: One of the richest Paduan bankers. In expiation of his father's sin, his son Enrico commissioned the Cappella degli Scrovegni in 1300 that was frescoed by Giotto. Among the usurers. Inf. XVII, 6475. Sodom: Biblical city, which during the Middle Ages, became associated in Christian thinking with the "sin" of homosexuality. Sodomy, like usury, was viewed as a sin against nature. Used to locate the sodomites as being punished in the last ring of the seventh circle. Inf. XI, 50. Solomon: Biblical king; son of King David; proverbially the wisest of men. Not named, but called "the high mind blessed to know to such great depths, no second ever rose who saw so much" by Thomas Aquinas in the sphere of the Sun. Par. X, 10914. Spendthrift Club (Brigata Spendereccia): A group of rich young Sienese nobles, devoted to squandering their fortunes on foolish extravagances and entertainments. Arcolano of Siena was a member. Four of its members described by Capocchio: "Stricca", "Niccol", "Caccia d'Asciano" and "Abbagliato". Inf. XXIX, 12532. Sordello: 13th-century Italian troubadour, born in Goito near Virgil's home town Mantua. In Purgatory he personifies patriotic pride. Purg. VI, 74. Statius: Roman poet of the Silver Age and author of the Silvae and the Thebais. Dante and Virgil encounter him in the level of Purgatory reserved for the avaricious, and he accompanies them on the rest of their trip through Purgatory.

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List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Stricca: See Spendthrift Club. Strophades: See Harpies. Styx: One of the rivers encircling Hades in the Aeneid (VI, 187, 425). Encountered and described. Inf. VII, 10029. Formed from the tears of the statue of the Old Man of Crete. Inf. XIV, 94116. Sylvius: See Aeneas.

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T
Tagliacozzo: Site of a defeat by Manfred's nephew Conradin, by Charles of Anjou, who, following the advice of his general Erard ("Alardo") de Valery, surprised Conradin, with the use of reserve troops. "Where old Alardo conquered without weapons". Inf. XXVIII, 178. Tarquin: Last king of Rome, he was overthrown by Lucius Junius Brutus, considered the founder of the Republic. Seen in Limbo. Inf. IV, 1218. Telemachus: Son of Odysseus (Ulysses) and Penelope, he plays an important role in the Odyssey. In the lost Telegony he appears to have married Circe and been granted immortality. Not even Ulysses' love for his son (and wife and father) was enough to overrule his desire "to gain experience of the world and of the vices and the worth of men". Inf. XXVI, 949. Tiresias: A mythical blind soothsayer who was transformed into a woman and then back into a man, seven years later. He has an important role in classical literature, including the Odyssey. His double transformation is told. Inf. XX, 405. Father of Manto. Inf. XX, 58. Thas: A courtesan in Terence's Eunuchus. Perhaps misled by Cicero's commentary (De amicitia XXVI, 98), he places her among the flatterers. Virgil contemptuously calls her "puttana" ("whore"). Inf. XVIII, 127135. Thales (c. 635 BCE543 BCE): Greek philosopher. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 137. Theobald V of Champagne (c. 12381270): The eldest son of Theobald IV of Champagne, on his death in 1253 he succeeded him as Count of Champagne and, as Theobald II, king of Navarre. He died childless in 1270. The "good king Theobald" ("buon re Tebaldo"). Inf. XXII, 52. Theseus: Legendary king of Athens who visited the underworld and, in the version used by Dante, was rescued by Herakles. His name invoked by the Erinyes. Inf. XI, 54. The "Duke of Athens" who killed the Minatour. Inf. XII, 17. Tisiphone: see Erinyes. Tityas: "Force us not to go to Tityus or Typhon" Inf. XXXI, 124. Troy: Also called Ilium, the site of the Trojan War, described in Homer's Iliad, and the home of Aeneas. The Greeks were victorious by means of the wooden Trojan Horse, which the Greeks left as a "gift" for the Trojans. The Trojans brought the horse through the gates into their walled city, and the Greek soldiers who had hid inside the horse were able to open the gates and let in the rest of the Greek army. Aeneas' escape. Inf. I, 73. "That horse's fraud that caused a breach". Inf. XXVI, 5860. Trojan (meaning perhaps, through Aeneas, their Samnite descendants) wars in Apulia. Inf. XXVIII, 79. The "pride of Troy dared all" but "was destroyed". Inf. XXX, 1315. Tullio/Tully: See Cicero.

List of cultural references in Divine Comedy Turnus: A chieftain of the Rutuli whose conflict with Aeneas is the subject of the second half of the Aeneid, at the end of which he was killed by Aeneas in single combat (Aeneid II, 919) one of those who "died for Italy". Inf. I, 106108. Tristan: Hero of medieval French romance, he was a Cornish Knight of the Round Table, and adulterous lover of Isolde. Found amongst the sexual sinners. Inf. V, 67. Typhon: "Force us not to go to Tityus or Typhon" Inf. XXXI, 124.

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U
Ugolino della Gherardesca: Leader of one of two competing Guelph factions in Pisa. In 1288 he conspired with the Archbishop Ruggiere degli Ubaldini to oust the leader of the other faction, his grandson Nino de' Visconti. Ugolino was, in turn, betrayed by Ruggiere and imprisoned with several of his sons and grandsons. They all died of starvation in prison. Found with Ruggiere amongst those damned for treason. Inf. XXXII, 124XXXIII 90. Ulysses: See Odysseus. Usury: The practice of charging a fee for the use of money; viewed by the medieval church as a sin because it went contrary to the idea that wealth is based on natural increase, which was believed to be a gift from god. Explained by Virgil to Dante. Inf. XI, 97111. The usurers are punished in the seventh circle Inf. XVII, 3475.

V
Venerable Bede: See Saint Bede. Venetian Arsenal: Shipyard and naval depot for Venice, built c. 1104, in Castello sestiere, it was one of the most important shipyards in Europe, and was instrumental in maintaining Venice as a great naval power. Described. Inf. XXI, 715 Volto Santo ("Holy face") of Lucca: An early Byzantine crucifix made of very dark wood, greatly venerated as having been miraculously created. Used by the Malebranche to mock the pitch-blackened face and body of one of the barrators (perhaps Bottario). Inf. XXI, 468.

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Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro) (October 15, 7019 BCE): Latin poet. He serves as Dante's guide through the Inferno and Purgatorio. In the absence of texts of Homer, the Middle Ages considered Virgil to be the great epic poet of the Classical world. In Dante's time, many believed that Virgil had predicted the arrival of Christianity in the following lines from his Eclogue IV "at the boy's birth in whom/the iron shall cease, the golden race arise" (trans John Dryden). This made him doubly suited to his role as guide. He also symbolises Reason. Inf. I, 61Purg. XXXIII. Sudden appearance. Inf. I, 613 The "light and honor of all other poets" (Mandelbaum). Inf. I, 82 Dante's inspiration. Inf. I, 8587 Offers to be Dante's guide. Inf. I, 1124 Vitaliano del Dente: Paduan banker, he was podest of Vicenza in 1304 and of Padua in 1307. His future damnation as a usurer is foretold by Reginaldo Scrovegni. Inf. XVII, 689. Vulcan: In Roman mythology, blacksmith of the gods and, with the help of the Cyclops, maker of thunderbolts for Jove. From whom Jove "took in wrath the keen-edged thunderbolt". Inf. XIV, 527.
A bust of Virgil, from the entrance to his tomb in Naples, Italy.

Z
Michel Zanche (d. 1290): Governor of the giudicato of Logudoro, in Sardinia. He administered the province for King Enzo, son of the Emperor Frederick II. When Enzo was made prisoner in 1249, his wife divorced and married Zanche. The latter ruled Logudoro till 1290, when he was murdered by his son-in-law Branca Doria. Among the barrators. Inf. XXII, 8890. Zeno of Elea (c. 490 BCEc. 430 BCE): Greek presocratic philosopher. Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 138. Zeus (also Jove or Jupiter): Chief god of Classical mythology. Defied by Capaneus, he kills him with a thunderbolt Inf XIV, 4375. Saint Zita (c. 12151272): Canonized in 1696, she is the Patron saint of all maids and domestics. In her city, Lucca, she was already, in life, an object of popular devotion and reputed a saint. In Dante's time, her fame had already made her a sort of patron saint of her city. The Elders of Saint Zita were ten citizens of Lucca who, along with the chief magistrate, were the rulers of the city. An "elder of Saint Zita" (perhaps Bottario) is plunged into a lake of boiling pitch with the barrators. Inf. XXI, 3554.

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References
Dante The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, Inferno, translated by Allen Mandelbaum, (Bantam Classics 1982) ISBN 0-553-21339-3. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, bilingual edition with commentaries and notes, J. A. Carlyle, P.H. Wicksteed and T. Okey (translators), H. Oelsner, (notes), Temple Classics, 3 vols. 18991901. Republished by Vintage (July 12, 1955). ISBN 0-394-70126-7. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, translated by Henry F. Cary. The Harvard Classics. Vol. XX. (New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 190914). Also: Kessinger Publishing (January 2004). ISBN 0-7661-8184-7. The Inferno, bilingual edition with commentaries and notes, translated by Robert Hollander and Jean Hollander (New York: Doubleday, 2000). ISBN 0-385-49697-4. The Divine Comedy of Dante, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (translator), Kessinger Publishing (June 30, 2004). ISBN 1-4191-5994-1. Inferno [1], Purgatory [2], Paradise [3]. Fay, Edward Allen. Concordance of the Divina Commedia, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Dante Society, 1888) ISBN 0-8383-0183-5. Jacoff, Rachel (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Dante (Cambridge: University, 1993) ISBN 0-521-42742-8. Lansing, R., The Dante Encyclopedia, Garland; 1 edition (April 6, 2000). ISBN 0-8153-1659-3. Ryan, Christopher. "The Theology of Dante" in Jacoff (1993) pp.136152. Toynbee, Paget. Concise Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante [4] (Oxford: University, 1914) ISBN 0-87753-040-8. Bosco-Reggio, La Divina Commedia, Inferno (Milano, Le Monnier 1988) ISBN 88-00412424 Vittorio Sermonti, Inferno di Dante (Milano, Rizzoli 2001) ISBN 88-17-86068-9

External links
Parker, Deborah World of Dante [5] Website with searchable database of cultural references in the Divine Comedy.

References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] http:/ / www. worldwideschool. org/ library/ books/ lit/ poetry/ TheDivineComedy1-Inferno/ toc. html http:/ / www. worldwideschool. org/ library/ books/ lit/ poetry/ TheDivineComedy2-Purgatory/ Chap1. html http:/ / www. worldwideschool. org/ library/ books/ lit/ poetry/ TheDivineComedy3-Paradise/ Chap1. html http:/ / www. archive. org/ details/ adictionaryprop00toyngoog http:/ / www. worldofdante. org/

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In popular culture
Dante and his Divine Comedy in popular culture
The life and works of Dante Alighieri, especially his masterpiece, the Divine Comedy, have been a source of inspiration for many artists for seven centuries. Some notable examples are listed below.

Architecture
The Danteum is an unbuilt monument designed by the Italian modernist architect Giuseppe Terragni at the behest of Benito Mussolini's fascist government. The Palacio Barolo in Buenos Aires, completed in 1923, was designed in accordance with the cosmology of Dante's Divine Comedy, motivated by Italian architect Mario Palanti's admiration for Dante.[1]

Digital arts and computer games

Beyond Software wrote Dante's Inferno in 1986 for the Commodore 64. In Descent II, the first level is titled "Ahayweh Gate," an acronym for the words at the gate of Hell, All Hope Abandon Ye Who Enter Here. In the game Devil May Cry, the protagonist's name is Dante, his brother is Vergil, and Dante's partner-in-crime's name is Trish, a derivative of the name Beatrice.

Dante of Erminio Blotta, at Bd. Oroo, Rosario

Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, a video game in the Devil May Cry series, is very loosely based on the Divine Comedy by the use of allusions, including the game's protagonist Dante, and other characters like Vergil and Cerberus. Many of the enemies are named after the Seven Deadly Sins, such as "Hell Pride" or "Hell Lust." In Bayonetta, they used many references to the Divine Comedy. Rodin, one of Bayonetta's allies, owns a store called "Gates of Hell". There are also three realms that the witch can travel between; they are called "Purgatory", "Paradiso" and "Inferno", Rodin's name on its own is a reference as well, after the sculptor Auguste Rodin Who sculpted a statue based on Inferno called the Gates of Hell. In Devil May Cry 4, when the player dies the screen will shatter and read 'Abandon all hope...'. A portion titled 'The Ninth Circle' is designed around a massive statue of a devil. One of the characters in the game, Agnus, is named after the Agnus Dei, prayer for the Third Terrace of Purgatory in the Divine Comedy. Also the game has special mode where one of the protagonists must progress through 101 stages. On the Xbox 360 version the player receives a gaming achievement for every ten levels completed up to the ninth. These achievements are named after the nine circles of hell. The game's references to Dante's works go beyond the Divine Comedy, since the last mission is called La Vita Nuova.

Dante and his Divine Comedy in popular culture The third episode of the video game Doom, appropriately called Inferno, takes place in Hell, in such places as Limbo and Dis. Final Fantasy IV features four Elemental Lords named Rubicante, Scarmiglione, Barbariccia, and Cagnazzo, after members of the Malebranche. A mid-game boss, Calcabrina, also has the name of a Malebranche demon. Also, there exists a superboss in the DS version named Geryon. Final Fantasy V features yet another Malebranche, Farfarello. Also, Final Fantasy VI's final boss resembles a colossal mass of Satan entrapped to his waist (Hell), humans, animals and machinery (Purgatory), and a strange but yet angelic duo of celestal enites atop the totem of non-existence (Heaven), with the insane Kefka as the deity of magic and death flying above who tells the players that life is meaningless once they scale his tower of destruction. In the French localization of the series as a whole, the recurring summon Ifrit's ultimate attack is directly named after the Divine Comedy. Tamashii no Mon, translated as "Gate of Souls," is a computer game developed by Koei and released on the PC98 computer system in 1994. It is an adventure that closely follows Dante's journey through Inferno. In The Last Remnant, there is a boss that is loosely based on the Gates of Hell. The background music that plays while fighting this boss is also called "The Gates of Hell." Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow feature several spear-wielding flying demons named after the Malebranche: Cagnazzo, Scarmaglione, Rubicant, Draghignazzo, Barbariccia and Malacoda. Rubicant and Scarmaglione are mistranslated as "Lubicant" and "Skull Millione." The fifth act of Rainbow Six: Vegas takes place in a casino that is under construction called "Dante's". The first chapter is called "Hell's Gate." In Wild Arms 2, there is a gang called Cocytus, whose members are named Caina, Antenora, Ptolomea, and Judecca. In World of Warcraft, a sign before the entrance to Deadwind Pass states "Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here." In Super Robot Taisen: Original Generation, Judecca, Levi Tolar's personal unit, uses attacks named after the four zones of the ninth circle of hell. In Persona 3 FES, areas are called Malebolge, Cocytus, Caina, Antenora, Ptolomea, Judecca, and Empyrean. In Fallout 3, there is a bar called "The 9th Circle" in the city of Underworld. The bar's bouncer is named Charon; a robot guarding the city is named Cerberus. In Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, the final level takes place in hell, and is appropriately named "Lou's Inferno"; a possible reference to Dante. Pandemonium, the highest-level zone in the Anarchy Online expansion Shadowlands, is split into four parts, each named after one of the four parts of the Ninth Circle.[2] In Day of the Tentacle, when you play as Bernard you can tell the Novelty Good's Salesman that he looks like Dante Alighieri. In the 1995 computer adaptation of Harlan Ellison's I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, Dante's Divine Comedy is the book that contains a hidden mirror in the Lord's Bedroom in Ted's Scenario. The Inferno embedded operating system takes its name and the names of many of its components from the Divine Comedy, such the Dis virtual machine, its implementation of the 9P protocol (Styx), the main programming language Limbo, and the Charon web browser. This was allegedly because Ken Thompson was reading the Commedia while working on the design of Inferno. The visual novel and anime series Umineko no Naku Koro ni contains several elements from the Divine Comedy, including two characters named Beatrice (as the Golden Witch), Virgilia (as the Endless Witch) and the Stakes (Seven Deadly Sins). The anime adaptation has an ending theme entitled La Divina Tragedia ~Makyoku~, named after the title La Divina Comedia. "Makyoku" is the opposite of "Shinkyoku", Divine Comedy's Japanese title. Halo 3: ODST contains many references to the poem. For example, the Rookie is called into Section Nine, which is very icy and cold, similar to the ninth ring of Hell. In addition, the player's guide through the end of the game is

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Dante and his Divine Comedy in popular culture called Vergil. Further, there are characters in the game that correspond to each of the sins. Dante's Inferno is a 2010 action-adventure video game developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. The game was also developed by Artificial Mind and Movement for release on the PlayStation Portable. The story is loosely based on Dante's Inferno. Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic is a direct-to-DVD animated film released on February 9, 2010. The film is a spin-off from the above video game. Dante's Inferno is a series of six comic books based on the above video game. Published by WildStorm from December 2009 through May 2010, the series was written by Christos Gage with art by Diego Latorre.[3] iDante: interactive version of the poem for the iPhone iDante for iPad: interactive version of the poem featuring fully colorized illustrations from Gustave Dor, 3D reconstructions of key environments, iconic maps of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise Dino di Durante's 2008-2011 original paintings of Dante's Inferno Art [4]. In 1999's Theme Park World, the advisor says "Abandon hope all ye who enter here." at the start of Halloween World. This is a reference to Inferno.

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Literature
Geoffrey Chaucer (ca. 1343-1400) is responsible for a number of translations and adaptations of, and explicit references to, Dante's work.[5] "A Complaynt to His Lady," an early short poem, is written in terza rima, the rhyme scheme Dante invented for the Comedy. Anelida and Arcite ends with a "compleynt" by Anelida, the lover jilted by Arcite; the compleynt begins with the phrase "So thirleth with the poynt of remembraunce" and ends with "Hath thirled with the poynt of remembraunce," copied from Purgatory 12.32, "la punctura di la rimembranza." The House of Fame, a dream vision in three books in which the narrator is guided through the heavens by an otherworldly guide, has been described as a parody of the Comedy. The narrator echoes Inferno 2.32 in the poem (2.588-92). The Monk's Tale from The Canterbury Tales describes (in greater and more emphatic detail) the plight of Count Ugolino (Inferno, cantos 32 and 33), referring explicitly to Dante's original text in 7.2459-62. The beginning of the last stanza of Troilus and Criseyde (5.1863-65) is modelled on Paradiso 12.28-30.[6] John Milton finds various uses for Dante, whose work he knew well:[7] Milton refers to Dante's insistence on the separation of worldly and religious power in Of Reformation, where he cites Inferno 19.115-117. Beatrice's condemnation of corrupt and neglectful preachers, Paradiso 29.107-9 ("so that the wretched sheep, in ignorance, / return from pasture, having fed on wind") is translated and adapted in Lycidas 125-26, "The hungry Sheep look up, and are not fed, / But swoln with wind, and the rank mist they draw," when Milton condemns corrupt clergy. The title of Honor de Balzac's work La Comdie humaine (the "Human Comedy," 1815-1848) is usually considered a conscious adaptation of Dante's.,[8] whilst Dante himself features as a character in the 1831 novel Les Proscrits from that work. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who translated the Divine Comedy into English, also wrote a poem titled "Mezzo Cammin" ("Halfway," 1845), alluding to the first line of the Comedy,[9] and a sonnet sequence (of six sonnets) under the title "Divina Commedia" (1867), published as flyleaves to his translation.[10] Karl Marx uses a paraphrase of Purgatory (V, 13) to conclude the preface to the first edition of Das Kapital (1867), as a kind of motto: "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti" ("follow your own road, and let the people talk").[11]

Dante and his Divine Comedy in popular culture In E. M. Forster's novel Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), the character of Gino Carella, upon first introducing himself, quotes the first lines of Inferno[12] (the novel includes several references to Dante's La Vita Nuova as well).[13] T. S. Eliot cites Inferno, XXVII, 61-66, as an epigraph to "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915).[14] Eliot cites heavily from and alludes to Dante in Prufrock and Other Observations (1917), Ara vus prec (1920), and The Waste Land (1922).[15] First begun in 1916, Ezra Pound's Cantos take the Comedy as a model.[15] Primo Levi cites Dante's Divine Comedy in the chapter called "Canto of Ulysses" in his novel Se questo un uomo (If This Is a Man) (1947), published in the United States as Survival in Auschwitz, and in other parts of this book; the fires of Hell are compared to the "real threat of the fires of the crematorium."[16] Malcolm Lowry paralleled Dante's descent into hell with Geoffrey Firmin's descent into alcoholism in his epic novel Under the Volcano (1947). In contrast to the original, Lowry's character explicitly refuses grace and "chooses hell," though Firmin does have a Dr. Virgil as a guide (and his brother, Hugh Firmin, quotes the Comedy from memory in ch. 6).[17] Jorge Luis Borges, who wrote extensively about Dante,[15] [18] included two short texts in his Dreamtigers (El Hacedor, 1960): "Paradiso, XXXI, 108" and "Inferno, I, 32," which paraphrase and comment on Dante's lines.[19]
[20]

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Poet Derek Walcott, in 1949, publishes Epitaph for the Young: XII Cantos, which he later acknowledged as deliberately influenced by Dante.[15] James Merrill published his Divine Comedies, a collection of poetry, in 1976; a selection in that volume, "The Book of Ephraim," consists "of conversations held, via the Ouija board, with dead friends and spirits in 'another world.'"[21] Authors Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote a modern sequel, Inferno (1976), in which a science fiction author dies during a fan convention and finds himself in Hell, where Benito Mussolini functions as his guide. They wrote a subsequent sequel to their own work, Escape from Hell (2009).[22] [23] Gloria Naylor's Linden Hills (1985) uses Dante's Inferno as a model for the trek made by two young black poets who spend the days before Christmas doing odd jobs in an affluent African American community. The young men soon discover the price paid by the inhabitants of Linden Hills for pursuing the American dream.[24] Author Monique Wittig's Virgile, Non (published in English as Across the Acheron, 1985) is a lesbianfeminist retelling of the Divine Comedy set in the utopia/dystopia of second-wave feminism. Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho (1991) begins with the words "Abandon all hope ye who enter here."[25] The character of Beatrice in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is the deceased love of the narrator. She is an allusion to Beatrice Portinari. The main characters of Stephen King's Wizard and Glass (1997) have to cross a door within a building reminiscent of the palace of the Wizard from the film The Wizard of Oz: "The sign on this door wasn't from the movie, and only Susannah knew it was from Dante. Abandon hope, all ye who enter here, it said".[26] Mark E. Rogers used the structure of Dante's hell in his 1998 comedic novel Samurai Cat Goes to Hell (the last book in the Samurai Cat series), and includes a gate to hell whose inscription reads "YOU'VE HAD YOUR FUN / YOU'VE MADE YOUR BED / YOU'RE BOUND FOR HELL / NOW THAT YOU'RE DEAD / ABANDON ALL HOPE YE THAT ENTER HERE."[27] Irish poet Seamus Heaney publishes a poem on the front page of the Irish Times (18 January 2000) that begins with a translation of Paradiso 33.58-61.[28] The Amber Spyglass (2000) by Philip Pullman includes several references to Dante's vision of hell, including the concept of Harpies, an ascent along the flinty steps in the Eighth Circle of Hell (Inferno, Canto XXVI); and the two main characters emerging from their experience of hell back onto the earth to look at the stars (last line of Inferno).

Dante and his Divine Comedy in popular culture Nick Tosches's In The Hand of Dante (2002) weaves a contemporary tale about the finding of an original manuscript of the Divine Comedy with an imagined account of Dante's years composing the work.[29] Inferno by Peter Weiss (written in 1964, published in 2003) is a play inspired by the Comedy, the first part of a planned trilogy.[30] The Dante Club is a 2003 novel by Matthew Pearl that tells the story of various American poets translating The Divine Comedy in post-civil war Boston.[29] In 2004 and 2005, Giulio Leoni publishes two crime novels, I delitti del mosaico and I delitti della luce respectively, in which Dante is an investigator.[29] Pope Benedict XVI has said that part of his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est (2006), was inspired by Canto XXXIII of Paradise.[31] In the novel The Tenth Circle (2006) by Jodi Picoult, the main character's comic strip, "The Tenth Circle," is based on the Inferno [32] Dante himself is a character in The Master of Verona (2007), a novel by David Blixt that combines the people of Dante's time with the characters of Shakespeare's Italian plays.[33] Robert Penn Warren references Dante's Divine Comedy on the opening page of his novel All the King's Men with a line from Purgatory, III: Mentre che la speranza ha fior del verde, meaning "As long as hope still has its bit of green." Paul Thigpens novel My Visit to Hell is an extended parable about hell in which he borrows the moral topography of . . . Dantes 'Inferno.' It is an adaptation of his earlier novel, Gehenna, published in 1992, and what Thigpen refers to as the latest addition to a genre of such literature known as tours of hell. His contemporary interpretation produces more impact with its explicit references to historical figures and issues reflective of today's culture.[34] S.A. Alenthony's novel The Infernova is a parody of the Inferno as seen from an atheist's perspective, with Mark Twain acting as the guide.[35]

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Music
In Claudio Monteverdi's 1607 opera L'Orfeo, the title character is bombarded with the famous line "Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate"[36] as he attempts to enter the underworld. Franz Liszt's Symphony to Dante's Divina Commedia (completed 1856) has two movements: "Inferno" and "Purgatorio." A concluding "Magnificat" is included at the end of the "Purgatorio" movement and replaces the planned third movement, which was to be called "Paradiso" (Liszt was dissuaded by Richard Wagner from his original plan). Liszt also composed a Dante Sonata (started 1837, completed 1849). Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky's 1876 Francesca da Rimini (subtitled "Symphonic Fantasy After Dante") is a symphonic poem based on an episode in the fifth canto of the Inferno. Giacomo Puccini's 1918 one-act opera Gianni Schicchi is drawn from a brief reference to the title character in the Inferno. F.M. Einheit of Einstrzende Neubauten and Andreas Ammer collaborated on an experimental recording called Radio Inferno, a radio play adaptation of the Comedy. Tangerine Dream has released albums setting all the three parts of The Divine Comedy to music: Inferno is a recording of a live performance at the St Marien zu Bernau Cathedral in 2001, and Purgatorio is a studio album from 2004. Folk singer Loreena McKennitt's song "Dante's Prayer", the final track on her 1997 album The Book of Secrets, is based on Dante's work. Canadian post-rock group as the Poets Affirm took their name from a passage in the Inferno. Asaki's first album, Shinkyoku, is also the name of the Comedy in Japanese Kanji. The Bright River is a hip-hop retelling of the Inferno by a traditional storyteller, Tim Barsky, with a live soundtrack performed by hip-hop and klezmer musicians.

Dante and his Divine Comedy in popular culture In Weezer's album Make Believe, released May 10, 2005, there is hidden text in the pictures. The text reads "Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita". The song "Roll Right" on the album Evil Empire by Rage Against the Machine contains the refrain 'Send 'em to tha seventh level!' referencing the seventh circle (or level) of Hell, where the violent are held. German Dark Electro band yelworC has made two albums of a trilogy based on the three canticas of the Divine Comedy, so far 'Trinity' and 'Icolation'. Australian goth-electro band The Tenth Stage has a self-titled track (2006) that describes the singers descent past the nine stages of Dante's poem to a 10th stage of Hell. Technical death metal guitarist Fredrik Thordendal (from the Swedish Death metal band Meshuggah) used quotes from the Divine Comedy in the song "Dante's Wild Inferno" from his solo album Sol Niger Within. The song "Canto IV (Limbo)" from Progressive music group Discipline's album Unfolded Like Staircase describes the sorrow of those souls whose never knew a deity. New Jersey band The Gaslight Anthem referenced the Comedy in their song "The Navesink Banks" from the album Sink or Swim with the opening line, "All hope abandoned, ye who enter here". Italian progressive rock band Metamorfosi has released two concept albums based on the Divine Comedy, Inferno (in 1972) and Paradiso (2004). Dante's work provided a name for the Irish band The Divine Comedy (1989). The video for Depeche Mode song "Walking In My Shoes" (1993), directed by Anton Corbijn, was inspired by the Comedy. Milla Jovovich's 1994 debut album was called The Divine Comedy. Metal band Iced Earth's album Burnt Offerings (1995) contains the epic song "Dante's Inferno." Norwegian Black metal band Ancient's second album The Cainian Chronicle (1996) contains the song At The Infernal Portal (Canto III). Zao refer to the Divine Comedy on their 1999 album Liberate Te Ex Inferis, covering the first five circles of the Inferno. Punk singer Mike Watt's third solo album, The Secondman's Middle Stand (2004), is a concept album that derives its structure from The Divine Comedy The first song on metal band Decadence's debut album (2005), "Wrathfull and Sullen", is inspired by the fifth level of Hell. Robert W. Smith's The Divine Comedy (CD, 2006) is a four-movement symphony for wind ensemble that depicts four stages of Dante's journey in a tone poem-like symphonic structure. The movements are "The Inferno", "Purgatorio", "The Ascension", and "Paradiso." Indie band Murder By Death's album In Bocca al Lupo (2006) is a concept album partially based on the poem. Thrash metal band Sepultura's tenth album, Dante XXI (2006), is based entirely on The Divine Comedy. Professor Fate's album Inferno (2007) was inspired by the Comedy. Finnish rock band HIM released Venus Doom (2007) of which all 9 songs represent the 9 circles of hell. Dutch composer Louis Andriessen's 2008 film opera in five parts La Commedia incorporates texts from Vondel and the Old Testament, in addition to The Divine Comedy. The 5 parts are "The City of Dis, or The Ship of Fools", "Racconto dall'Inferno", "Lucifer", "The Garden of Delights", and "Luce Etterna".[37] The Finnish progressive rock magazine Colossus and Musea records produced three multi-disc boxsets dedicated to each of the canticas of the Divine Comedy - Inferno (2008), Purgatorio (2009) and Paradiso (2010) - with the participation of several bands such as Yesterdays, Little Tragedies, Nathan Mahl and Phideaux. On his album "Human the Death Dance" (2007) American underground hip-hop artist Sage Francis uses stanzas from Dante's Inferno sung in Italian during the chorus of the song "Black Out on White Night". In Green Day's Album 21st century breakdown there is a song called Christian's Inferno that depicts one of the protagainsts of the album doing the same as Dante Austrian gothic metal band Dreams of Sanity's album Komdia is partially based on The Divine Comedy.

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Dante and his Divine Comedy in popular culture Abandon All Hope is a popular Australian Metalcore band. American hardcore punk band AFI has a song on their fourth album whose chorus uses a line from the Inferno: "Beyond and to all time I stand" American post-hardcore band Alesana's fourth album, A Place Where the Sun Is Silent is primarily based on the Inferno.

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Movies and television

A 3D live-action film trilogy based on the three parts of the Divine Comedy produced by a company known as Master Films Productions LCC is in the works. It is directed by Boris Acosta, and involves people who've worked on films such as The Lord of the Rings. Jack Sparrow from the movie Pirates of the Carriban made a referance to the nineth circle when he met his old crew.

Performing arts
The 1911 silent film, L'Inferno, was directed by Giuseppe de Liguoro, starred Salvatore Papa and released on DVD in 2004, with a soundtrack by Tangerine Dream. The 1924 silent film, Dante's Inferno, directed by Henry Otto, features the 1911 film, L'Inferno. The 1935 motion picture, Dante's Inferno directed by Harry Lachman, written by Philip Klein, and starring Spencer Tracy, is about a fairground attraction based on Inferno. The film features a 10-minute fantasy sequence visualizing Dante's Inferno. In the 1946 Merrie Melodies cartoon Book Revue, starring Daffy Duck, the Big Bad Wolf falls into the book Dante's Inferno after hearing Frank Sinatra singing. The Swedish 1972 comedy The Man Who Quit Smoking (Mannen som slutade rka), directed by Tage Danielsson, is partly inspired by The Divine Comedy. For example, the main character is named Dante Alighieri and goes through a personal hell. Stan Brakhage's six-minute hand-painted film, The Dante Quartet (1987), is inspired by the Divine Comedy. Peter Greenaway adapted Cantos I to VIII for BBC Two as A TV Dante (19871990). Krzysztof Kielowski planned to create a new trilogy inspired by Dante's The Divine Comedy after finishing The Three Colors Trilogy (19931994). This intention, however, was abandoned after his death in 1996 until Tom Tykwer decided to shoot the film Heaven in 2002, using Kieslowski's original screenplay. In 2005, Bosnian director Danis Tanovi directed L'Enfer (Hell) based on Kieslowski's screenplay sketches. The screenplay was completed by Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Kieslowski's screenwriter. The motion picture Se7en (1995) stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as two detectives who investigate a series of ritualistic murders inspired by the seven deadly sins. This film makes many references to Dante's Divine Comedy. In an episode of the animated comedy series Futurama titled "Hell is Other Robots (1999)", the character Bender is dragged to robot hell, the entrance of which is hidden in an abandoned carnival ride called "Inferno". In a musical sequence, the levels of hell are described, each level complete with ironic punishments. The main antagonist of the first anime adaptation of the Fullmetal Alchemist series (2001) is a woman named Dante, who controls seven homunculi that are named after the seven deadly sins. The Gate in this series is visually represented by Rodin's sculpture The Gates of Hell. Various episodes of The Sopranos refer to the Dante's circles of hell. For example: In "Whoever Did This" (2002), a TV journalist reports how a boom microphone accidentally knocked Uncle Junior down "nine, no seven" steps at the courthouse where Junior's RICO trial was being held. In "Join the Club" (2006), Tony has a recurring coma-dream in which he checks into Room 728 (i.e., level seven) at the Omni hotel in Costa Mesa, using the identity of non-mafia civilian Kevin Finnerty. When the

Dante and his Divine Comedy in popular culture hotel elevator is out of commission, Tony descends a red staircase, slips, and falls to level five. Tony's surgeon, Dr. Plepler, tells Tony's wife, sisters and daughter they're lucky Tony's at a Level '1 trauma center. Jean-Luc Godard's 2004 film Notre musique is structured in three parts, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise respectively, alluding to the Divine Comedy. The 2005 BBC drama series Messiah IV: The Harrowing focuses on a serial killer who takes inspiration from Inferno to punish his or her victims. In 2005, Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, references the 9th circle of hell when speaking to Barbossa's cursed pirates. The first scene of the movie Clerks II (2006) is titled "Dante's Inferno". The film Dante's Inferno (2007) is based on Sandow Birk's contemporary drawings of the Divine Comedy. The film accurately retells the original story, but with the addition of more recent residents of Hell such as Adolf Hitler and Boss Tweed. The short documentary Dante's Inferno - Abandon All Hope [38] (2009 film) (2009) is based on Gustave Dore's lithographs of the Divine Comedy and he 1911 silent film, L'Inferno. The film Pandorum makes several allusions to The Divine Comedy. The short animation, Dante's Inferno Animated (2010 film), is based on Dino di Durante's original paintings of Dante's Inferno.

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Radio shows
In the fourth series of Bleak Expectations, the second episode spoofs Dante's Inferno. The underworld is depicted as a resting place for all souls before they enter their respective heavens or hells. Pip is guided through the underworld by Virgil Grimpunch when he goes there to bring her soul back after going into a near death experience while in Parliament. He finds her in Elysium with Achilles.

Sculpture
Auguste Rodin's sculptural group, The Gates of Hell, draws heavily on the Inferno. The component sculpture, Paolo and Francesca, represents Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta, whom Dante meets in Canto 5.[39] The version of this sculpture known as The Kiss shows the book that Paolo and Francesca were reading. Other component sculptures include Ugolino and his children (Canto 33) and The Shades, who originally pointed to the phrase "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate" ("Abandon all hope, ye who enter here") from Canto 3.[39] Sculptures of Grief and Despair cannot be assigned to particular sections of the Inferno, but are in keeping with the overall theme. The famous component sculpture The Thinker, near the top of the gate, represents Dante himself.[39] Like The Kiss, it was also produced as an independent work.

Rodin's The Gates of Hell, Muse Rodin.

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Visual arts
Sandro Botticelli made the most famous set of illustrations during the Renaissance for a manuscript of the Divine Comedy commissioned by Lorenzo Pierfrancesco de' Medici; Botticelli also designed a series of illustrations for the 1481 edition of the poem.[40] Another interesting series was done by Stradanus. John Flaxman's illustrations were influential across Europe in the Eighteenth century because of their radically minimalist style. Eugne Delacroix made his name with The Barque of Dante, a painting depicting Dante and Virgil crossing the river Styx.
Dante and Beatrice (1884) by Henry Holiday

Before his death in 1827, William Blake, the English poet and painter, planned and executed several watercolour illustrations to the Divine Comedy, including The Wood of the Self-Murderers: The Harpies and the Suicides. Though he did not finish the series before his death, they remain a highly powerful visual interpretation of the poem. William-Adolphe Bouguereau, the prolific 19th century academic artist, painted "Dante And Virgil In Hell" in 1850. Pre-Raphaelite and Victorian British paintings relating to Dante include: Dante and Beatrice (1884) by Henry Holiday; Dante's Dream (1871) and Beata Beatrix (1872), both by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Gustave Dor made the most famous illustrations in the 19th century. Franz von Bayros, mainly known for his erotic drawings, illustrated a 1921 edition. Salvador Dal made a series of prints for the Comedy in 1950-51 [41].[15] Jennifer Strange's collection of drawings and sculpture titled Inspired by Dante [42]; an artist's journey through the Divine Comedy is a contemporary collection of works that have been exhibited in the United States and Italy. Online image gallery with text, translation and commentary. Jimbo in Purgatory: being a mis-recounting of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy in pictures and un-numbered footnotes, a 33-page graphic novel by Gary Panter, an adaptation of Dante's Purgatorio (melded with Boccaccio's Decameron and a bit of the Canterbury Tales, John Milton, John Dryden, and pop culture references).[43][44] The anime, Saint Seiya, more necessarily in the Arc " Hades Inferno" it has, not only personages, but all the structure of the hell based on the circles of Dante, but here being called as the 9th Prisons. Wayne Barlowe's book, Barlowe's Inferno, containing paintings of Hell and an accompanying narrative, is partially inspired by Dante's Inferno. Mickey's Inferno is a comic-book adaptation written by Guido Martina and drawn by Angelo Bioletto featuring classic Disney characters including Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck published by the then-Italian Disney comic book licensee Mondadori in the monthly Topolino from Oct. 1949 to March 1950. An English-language version appeared in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #666 [March 2006]. British artist Tom Phillips illustrated his own translation of the Inferno, published in 1985, with four illustrations per canto. British artist Guy Denning's on line Dante project follows on from his exhibition of his Inferno paintings in Bologna in 2011. [45] In the film Jacob's Ladder (film), the film's namesake character can be seen reading through a compilation of The Divine Comedy during one scene.

Dante and his Divine Comedy in popular culture Neil Gaiman's Sandman comic series features a heavily Dante-inspired Hell, including the woods of Suicide, the Malebolge, and the City of Dis. Lucifer is also imprisoned in Hell. Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Dante's Vision of Rachel and Leah references Dante's dream in Purgatorio XXVII. DC/Vertigo comics's Lucifer, based on characters from Neil Gaiman's Sandman, featuring aspects of a Dante-inspired Hell and Heaven, particularly the Primum Mobile and Nine sections of Hell. DC/Vertigo comics's Kid Eternity, in which Kid and his companion Jerry Sullivan travel to a Dante-inspired Hell to free a partner of Kid's. The structure of the comic also draws features from Dante's Inferno. An issue of the first volume of comic book adaptations of Star Trek by DC Comics, "Hell in a Handbasket", involves Captain Kirk and his crew being subjected to a telepathic hallucination of Hell, as described in The Divine Comedy. Ty Templeton parodied Dante in his Stig's Inferno. The fourth Uncanny X-Men Annual, "Nightcrawler's Inferno", chronicles the descent of Dr. Strange and the X-Men into a facsimile of Hell based on Dante's Inferno.[46] In the movie Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), Buck warns the troupe, "Abandon hope, ye who enter here!" The Homunculi of anime/manga Fullmetal Alchemist all represent one of the seven terraces of purgatorio.

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Miscellaneous
Asteroid 2999 Dante is named after the poet, as is a lunar crater.[47] The role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons named some levels of the Nine Hells after locations in Dante's Inferno. The game also borrowed the name "malebranche" for one diabolical race, although the original write-up mistranslated that word as "evil horn."[48] The Planescape setting in particular borrows many elements from the book (some wholesale, some piecemeal), and much of the expanded cosmology, with dimensions for the dead based on alignment and most dimensions having many separate layers, are inspired by those seen in the Inferno. The cross-genre role-playing game Shadowrun features Dante's Inferno as the most popular club in the Seattle metroplex. The club is nine stories tall and the bottommost floor is a private floor marked "Hell."[49]

Notes
[1] "Restauran el Palacio Barolo, una joya de la arquitectura" (http:/ / www. clarin. com/ diario/ 2003/ 10/ 18/ h-06001. htm). Clarin.com. 2003-10-18. . Retrieved 2009-01-22. [2] Pandemonium (http:/ / wiki. aodevs. com/ wiki/ Pandemonium) Anarchy Online Wiki. Retrieved on 2009-02-27. [3] NateBest (2009-12-10). "Dante's Inferno Comic Available Now" (http:/ / www. comicbookmovie. com/ fansites/ SuperHeroGames/ news/ ?a=12626). Comic Book Movie Fansites. . Retrieved 2010-04-14. [4] http:/ / www. DantesInfernoArt. com [5] All Chaucer references in David Wallace, "Dante in English," in Jacoff, Rachel (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Dante. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. pp.23758. ISBN9780521427428. 237-40. [6] Benson, Larry D. (1987). The Riverside Chaucer. Houghton Mifflin. pp.1058. ISBN0395290317. [7] All Milton references in David Wallace, "Dante in English," in Jacoff, Rachel (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Dante. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. pp.23758. ISBN9780521427428. 241-44. [8] Robb, Graham. Balzac: A Life. New York: Norton, 1996. P. 330. [9] Axelrod, Steven Gould; Camille Roman, Thomas J. Travisano (2003). The New Anthology of American Poetry: Traditions and Revolutions, Beginnings to 1900 (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=WIy5tQXzHCYC). Rutgers UP. p.231. ISBN9780813531625. . [10] Gary Scharnhorst, "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (18071882)," in Haralson, Eric L.; John Hollander (1998). Encyclopedia of American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=IKped0j8PXwC). Taylor & Francis. pp.26569. ISBN9781579580087. . p. 269. [11] "Preface to the first edition"; Marx, Karl; Ben Fowkes, Ernest Mandel, David Fernbach (1976). Capital: A Critique of Political Economy (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=te9CQ2P7VC8C). Penguin Classics. p.93. ISBN9780140445688. . [12] Forster, E.M. (2008). Where Angels Fear to Tread (http:/ / books. google. com/ books?id=xIjPwkaOFNQC& pg=PA50). BiblioBazaar. pp.50. ISBN9780554687278. .

Dante and his Divine Comedy in popular culture

[13] Summers, Claude J. (1987). E.M. Forster. Frederick Ungar A Book. pp.35. ISBN9780804468930. [14] Fowlie, Wallace (1981). A Reading of Dante's Inferno (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=JNeasB-pKRoC). Chicago: U of Chicago P. p.174. ISBN9780226258881. . [15] Havely, Nick (2007). Dante (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=-U551hwgRb4C). Blackwell. p.222. ISBN9780631228523. . [16] Schwarz, Daniel R. (2000). Imagining the Holocaust (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=RH-Wu0eBnuUC). Macmillan. pp.8485. ISBN9780312233013. . [17] Asals, Frederick (1997). The Making of Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=nVfT1pmKDiwC). U of Georgia P. pp.202, 23132. ISBN9780820318264. . [18] Menocal, Maria Rosa (1991). Writing in Dante's Cult of Truth: From Borges to Boccaccio (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=NJErL8emnlsC). Duke UP. p.132. ISBN9780822311171. . [19] Borges, Jorge Luis; Mildred Boyer, Harold Morland, Miguel Engudanos (1985). Dreamtigers (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=9SS9j6_6ZrMC). University of Texas Press. pp.43, 50. ISBN9780292715493. . [20] Ward, Philip (1978). The Oxford Companion to Spanish Literature (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=FYYYAAAAIAAJ& q=dante+ hacedor& dq=dante+ hacedor). Clarendon Press. p.265. . [21] Vendler, Helen (1979-05-03). "James Merrill's Myth: An Interview" (http:/ / www. nybooks. com/ articles/ 7833). The New York Review of Books (New York) 26 (7). . [22] David Wallace, "Dante in English," in Jacoff, Rachel (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Dante. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. pp.23758. ISBN9780521427428. 255. [23] Niven, Larry; Jerry Pournelle (2008). Inferno (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=AYa8J2u3d_wC). Macmillan. p.236. ISBN9780765316769. . [24] David Wallace, "Dante in English," in Jacoff, Rachel (1993). The Cambridge Companion to Dante. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. pp.23758. ISBN9780521427428. [25] Murphet, Julian (2002). Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho: A Reader's Guide (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=BlaxA6bBoSgC). Continuum International. pp.2324. ISBN9780826452450. . [26] King, Stephen (2003). The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass. Signet. p.666. ISBN0451210875. [27] Rogers, Mark E. (1998). Samurai Cat Goes to Hell (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=dBdAWMSFKQ0C). Macmillan. p.66. ISBN9780312866426. . [28] Havely, Nick (2007). Dante (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=-U551hwgRb4C). Blackwell. p.224. ISBN9780631228523. . [29] Havely, Nick (2007). Dante (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=-U551hwgRb4C). Blackwell. p.225. ISBN9780631228523. . [30] "Inferno by Peter Weiss" (http:/ / www. complete-review. com/ reviews/ weissp/ inferno. htm). The Complete Review. 2008. . Retrieved 2009-02-08. [31] "Dante Influences Benedict XVI's First Encyclical: Pope Points to Divine Comedy" (http:/ / www. zenit. org/ english/ visualizza. phtml?sid=83264). Zenit: The World Seen from Rome. 2006-01-23. . Retrieved 2009-02-08. [32] Picoult, Jodi (2006-03-17). "Book 13: The Tenth Circle" (http:/ / www. jodipicoult. com/ the-tenth-circle. html). . Retrieved 2009-02-08. [33] Wisniewski, Mary (2007-11-04). "'Master' class; Chicago actor gives readers a delightful romp through the backstory of Romeo & Juliet". Chicago Sun-Times. pp.B9. [34] Thigpen, Paul (2007). My Visit to Hell. Realms, a Strang Company. ISBN9781599790930. [35] Alenthony, S.A. (2009). The Infernova. Blackburnian Press. ISBN9780981967899. [36] "Abandon hope all ye who enter" [37] "Louis Andriessen - La Commedia - Opera" (http:/ / www. boosey. com/ pages/ opera/ moredetails. asp?musicid=45366). boosey.com. . Retrieved 2009-06-26. [38] http:/ / www. AbandonAllHopeFilm. com [39] Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette (1999). Rodin:The Gates of Hell. Paris: Muse Rodin. ISBN2-9014-2869-X. [40] "Botticelli's Designs" (http:/ / www. italnet. nd. edu/ Dante/ text/ 1481. florence. botticelli. html). Renaissance Dante in Print (14721629). . Retrieved 2010-04-14. [41] http:/ / www. ratbags. com/ rsoles/ artworks/ dali/ divinecomedy. htm [42] http:/ / inspiredbydante. com/ Home. html [43] http:/ / www. teachingcomics. org/ cartoonstudies/ panter. php [44] http:/ / 64. 23. 98. 142/ indy/ winter_2005/ review_panter/ index. html [45] http:/ / www. guydenning. org/ dante/ [46] "X-Men Annual #4" (http:/ / www. marvelmasterworks. com/ xmen/ xmann04. html). Marvel Masterworks Resource Page. . Retrieved 2009-01-22. [47] Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names: Prepared on Behalf of Commission 20 Under the Auspices of the International Astronomical Union. Springer. p.247. ISBN9783540002383. [48] Gygax, Gary (1977). Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual. TSR Games. p.22. ISBN0935696008. [49] "Dante's Inferno" (http:/ / pl. shadowrun. wikia. com/ wiki/ Dante's_Inferno). Wikia Gaming. 2007-07-18. . Retrieved 2009-01-22.

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Further reading
Griffiths, Eric; Matthew Reynolds (2005). Dante in English. Penguin Books. ISBN0140423885. - An essay and anthology about translations of Dante's works into English and other literary works influenced by him.

External links
Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture (http://learn.bowdoin.edu/ italian/dante/). A website designed to archive occurrences of Dante and his works in popular and contemporary culture of the twentieth century and beyond.

Aprs une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata

Aprs une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata [1] (French for After a Reading of Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata; also Dante Sonata) is a piano sonata in one movement, completed by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt in 1849. It was first published in 1856 as part of the second volume of Annes de Plerinage (Years of Pilgrimage). This work of program music was inspired by the reading of Dante Alighieri's most famous epic poem, The Divine Comedy. It is considered to be one of the most difficult pieces in the standard repertoire. Called "the crowning achievement" of the group and "one of Liszt's more formidable compositions", it is a substantial work in a single movement that requires about 18 minutes to perform.[2]

The highly programmatic themes depict the souls of Hell wailing in anguish.

Background
The Dante Sonata was originally a small piece entitled Fragment after Dante, divided into two thematically related movements, which Liszt composed in the late 1830s.[3] He gave the first public performance in Vienna, during November 1839.[4] When he Introduction to the Sonata settled in Weimar in 1849, he revised the work along with others in the volume, and gave it its present title derived from Victor Hugo's own work entitled the same.[5] It was published in 1858 as part of Years of Pilgrimage.[3]

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Composition
The piece is divided into two main subjects. The first, a chromatic theme in D minor, typifies the wailing of souls in Hell. D minor is a common key for music relating to death, as evidenced by Liszt's Totentanz[6] and the statue scene of Wolfgang Mozart's The second subject is a derivation of the notes in the first Don Giovanni. The second is a beatific chorale in F-sharp major, derived from the first, representing the joy of those in Heaven.[2] The key is also symbolic here, being the signature for other uplifting works of Liszt's, including Benediction of God in Solitude (part of Harmonies Potiques et Religieuses)[7] and Les Jeux d'eaux la Villa d'Este (Annes de Plerinage Vol. 3, No. 4).[8]

References
[1] Also known as Aprs une Lecture du Dante. [2] Walker, Alan (1987). Franz Liszt: The Virtuoso Years (18111847) (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=lCw4cxHmpgYC). New York: Cornell University Press. pp.275277. ISBN0-8014-9421-4. . [3] Hamilton, Kenneth (1996). Liszt: Sonata in B Minor (http:/ / books. google. com/ ?id=Bska8j2Hbm0C). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp.1920. ISBN0-5214-6963-5. . [4] (German) "Vienna: Musical History of the Fourth Quarter of 1839". General Musical Newspapers 42 (1): pp.9192. January 1840 [5] (French) Hugo, Victor (1836-08-06). "Les Voix intrieures (1837), XXVII" (http:/ / www. etudes-litteraires. com/ hugo. php). tudes littraires. . Retrieved 2007-12-28. [6] Liszt, Franz. "Totentanz sheet music" (http:/ / imslp. org/ wiki/ Totentanz,_Paraphrase_on_Dies_Irae,_S. 126_(Liszt,_Franz)). imslp.org. . Retrieved 2008-07-05. [7] Liszt, Franz. "Benediction of God in Solitude sheet music" (http:/ / imslp. org/ wiki/ Harmonies_Potiques_et_Religieuses,_S. 173_(Liszt,_Franz)). imslp.org. . Retrieved 2008-07-05. [8] Liszt, Franz. "Les Jeux d'eaux la Villa d'Este sheet music" (http:/ / www. piano. ru/ scores/ liszt/ gs3-04. pdf) (PDF). Piano.ru. . Retrieved 2007-12-28.

External links
Annes de Plerinage: Deuxime Anne: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project. Annes de Plerinage sheet music download (http://www.piano.ru/liszt-gs-e.html)

Dante crater

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Dante crater
Dante (crater)
Coordinates 2530N 18000E Diameter Depth 54 km Unknown

Colongitude 181 at sunrise Eponym Dante Alighieri

Dante is a lunar crater that is located on the far side of the Moon. It lies in the northern hemisphere exactly opposite the prime meridian facing the Earth. The nearest craters of note are Larmor to the north and Morse to the southeast. To the southwest is the oddly shaped Buys-Ballot. This crater is overlain by part of the ray system radiating from Larmor Q to the northwest. The rim of Dante is circular but somewhat eroded. The fresh crater Dante G is attached to the exterior along the east-southeastern rim. The interior floor of this crater is uneven and marked by several small impacts. This Lunar crater is also famous for managing professional wrestler Sheamus to becoming an unprecedented 42 time world champion within only 12 days.

Satellite craters
By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater mid-point that is closest to Dante.
Dante C E G P S T Y Latitude 28.3 N 26.7 N 24.9 N 23.6 N 24.9 N 25.8 N 27.1 N Longitude 177.1 W 177.0 W 178.6 W 179.4 E 177.3 E 176.6 E 179.5 E Diameter 54km 43km 24km 27km 17km 20km 27km

References
Andersson, L. E.; Whitaker, E. A., (1982). NASA Catalogue of Lunar Nomenclature. NASA RP-1097. Blue, Jennifer (July 25, 2007). "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature" [1]. USGS. Retrieved 2007-08-05. Bussey, B.; Spudis, P. (2004). The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-81528-2. Cocks, Elijah E.; Cocks, Josiah C. (1995). Who's Who on the Moon: A Biographical Dictionary of Lunar Nomenclature. Tudor Publishers. ISBN0-936389-27-3. McDowell, Jonathan (July 15, 2007). "Lunar Nomenclature" [2]. Jonathan's Space Report. Retrieved 2007-10-24. Menzel, D. H.; Minnaert, M.; Levin, B.; Dollfus, A.; Bell, B. (1971). "Report on Lunar Nomenclature by the Working Group of Commission 17 of the IAU". Space Science Reviews 12 (2): 136186. Bibcode1971SSRv...12..136M. doi:10.1007/BF00171763.

Dante crater Moore, Patrick (2001). On the Moon. Sterling Publishing Co. ISBN0-304-35469-4. Price, Fred W. (1988). The Moon Observer's Handbook. Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-33500-0. Rkl, Antonn (1990). Atlas of the Moon. Kalmbach Books. ISBN0-913135-17-8. Webb, Rev. T. W. (1962). Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes (6th revision ed.). Dover. ISBN0-486-20917-2. Whitaker, Ewen A. (1999). Mapping and Naming the Moon. Cambridge University Press. ISBN0-521-62248-4. Wlasuk, Peter T. (2000). Observing the Moon. Springer. ISBN1-85233-193-3.

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References
[1] http:/ / planetarynames. wr. usgs. gov/ [2] http:/ / host. planet4589. org/ astro/ lunar/

Dante Park
Dante Park or Dante Square is a park in front of Lincoln Center in New York City, New York. The park was established by Italian-Americans in honor of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Carlo Barsotti, editor of the paper Il Progresso Italo-Americano, originally wanted to gather funds for a much more substantial statue to be placed in Times Square around 1912. Because of fundraising difficulties, by 1921, the 600th anniversary of Dante's death, a smaller statue was completed by Ettore Ximenes and placed in the location at Broadway at West 64th Street. A statue of the same casting is featured at Meridian Hill Park in Washington, DC.

References
Bill Morgan. Literary Landmarks of New York (Universe: New York, 2002), p.128.
Dante Park and the poet's statue.

Links
NYC PARKS INFORMATION [1]

References
[1] http:/ / www. nycgovparks. org/ sub_your_park/ historical_signs/ hs_historical_sign. php?id=6433

The Divine Comedy (symphony)

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The Divine Comedy (symphony)

The Divine Comedy Symphony is Robert W. Smiths first complete symphonic band symphony. It was based on Dante's epic, The Divine Comedy. Smith had studied this, and Homers Odyssey, at Troy. The classical symphony consists of four movements each following a distinct pattern. The symphonys movements are as follows:

Movement One: The Inferno

The Inferno was commissioned by the James Madison University Band, and was completely published in 1995. The movement travels well with the actual book, using musical references to the events in select cantos of Inferno. An english horn solo in B-flat minor begins the symphony. Enormous crescendos, violent percussion, and towering blocks of sound quickly lead the audience into Dants vision of hell. A furious ostinato is used three times in this piece, first by flutes, then clarinets, and finally by the saxophones. In typical overture form, the song slows down as Dant makes his way down in the very depths of hell. Each of the movements in this symphony have a vocal effect, and in the Inferno, this takes the form of howls of pain, balanced rhythmically with whip cracks. The piece takes a coda, and finishes with an extremely difficult timpani solo accompanied by violent and sporadic hits of the gong, although many performances however, omit this solo and instead have the timpani rolling into silence on a B-flat due to the difficulty. The oboe, piccolo, and timpani feature prominently in this movement.

Movement Two: Purgatorio

Also commissioned by the James Madison University Band and published in 1997, Purgatorio continues Dante's epic through expressive solos and percussion rhythms. The piece is separated into three main parts: a lilting, dragging theme accented by soprano saxophone and flute solos, the Earthquake (which encompasses most of the piece), and the return of the original melody. Vocalizations occur frequently during this piece, first with certain players "moaning in pain" as they drag heavy loads, then with the chants of "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" during the Earthquake, and finally with singing. Another interesting effect is during the first and last parts of the piece, in which most of the band drags their feet on the ground before stomping in a repetitive rhythm. The soprano saxophone is the featured instrument in the piece, playing complicated and very expressive solos that usually herald transitions between parts. Indeed, it is only fitting that this instrument lead the band all the way to the end of the piece, as the souls' footsteps gradually fade into the distance. The piece begins in the key of D minor, modulates to C minor for the Earthquake section, and then modulates back to D minor for the conclusion of the piece.

Movement Three: The Ascension

Commissioned by the George Mason University Band, "The Ascension" represents Dante's ascension into heaven. The piece follows typical overture form, starting out with Dante looking up to the stars atop Mount Purgatory. A swift horn motif starts Dante's ascension, moving faster than thought. Technically difficult woodwind runs add to the speed of Dante's ascension, as well as loud, dissonant trombone glissandos. The middle of the piece slows down, where the band sings accompanied by bowed vibraphone and pitched wine glasses. The opening theme of the movement is repeated in the woodwinds, while the remainder of the band sings "alleluia." After a short horn solo, the music of the gods and of heaven builds to a climax with a trumpet solo, which is then expanded on by the rest of the band. The piece then speeds up again with the same horn motif, finishing with a climactic and dramatic crescendo to the final note, as Dante finally arrives in Heaven. The movement begins in E-flat major, modulates to C minor, then modulates to B-flat major at the trumpet solo. When the horn motif returns, the piece once again modulates to C minor, where it stays for the rest of the piece. This movement prominently features horn, trumpet, and piano.

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Movement Four: Paradiso

Published in 1996, the final movement of the symphony is a piece filled with emotion and powerful music. The piece uses an extended mallet percussion section to introduce itself, before handing the melody over to the horns in four-part harmony. The vocalization reveals itself quite early in the piece, as the rest of the band sings "ah" to the oboe solo. The mallet percussion cuts off where the timpani begins. The theme from the beginning of "The Ascension" serves as the theme for the final half of the piece. After a modulation, the music rises dramatically into a final suspended note, as Dante finally "glimpses the face of God". A timpani solo accents the sustained note, and rolls into the full band's final, triumphant note. The composer designed the opening of the song to act as Dante's rise into Heaven: with each new beam of light that appears, another mallet percussion part or rhythm is added to the building melody. The song is the shortest of the four at almost five minutes and is easily the piece that is most filled with raw emotion. It begins in the key of E-flat major, and modulates into the key of F major during the return of the theme from "The Ascension."

Dante's Inferno (1924 film)

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Dante's Inferno (1924 film)

Dante's Inferno

Dante's Inferno poster.

Directed by Produced by Written by Henry Otto Fox Film Dante Alighieri (poem) Edmund Goulding (screenplay) Cyrus Wood (story) Pauline Starke Ralph Lewis Josef Swickard Gloria Grey

Starring

Cinematography Joseph August Distributed by Release date(s) Running time Country Language Fox Film Corporation September 7, 1924 60 minutes United States Silent English titles

Dante's Inferno (1924) is a silent film released by Fox Film Corporation, and adapted from Inferno, part of Dante Alighieri's epic poem The Divine Comedy.

Plot
The tactics of a vicious slumlord and greedy businessman finally drive a distraught man to commit suicide. The businessman is tried for murder and executed, and is afterward taken by demons to the Hell where he will spend the rest of eternity.[1]

Cast
Ralph Lewis - Mortimer Judd Winifred Landis - Mrs. Judd William Scott - Ernest Judd Pauline Starke - Nurse Marjorie Vernon Josef Swickard - Eugene Craig

Dante's Inferno (1924 film) Gloria Grey - Mildred Craig Lorimer Johnston - The doctor Lawson Butt - Dante Howard Gaye - Virgil Carmencita Johnson - Baby Bud Jamison - The butler (uncredited) Noble Johnson - Devil with lash whipping woman (uncredited) Lon Poff - Secretary (uncredited)

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Preservation status
The UCLA Film and Television Archive has an incomplete print, three reels out of a total of five reels. A print of the film reportedly also survives at the Museum of Modern Art.[2] Some of the original prints of this film had the scenes in hell tinted in red.

Production
This film, like several previous Fox Films such as The Queen of Sheba, A Daughter of the Gods and some Theda Bara films, featured full nudity in some sequences. Actress Pauline Starke is completely nude in the Hell sequences, with the exception of a large flowing black wig that covers her nether regions. Some bit players and extras are fully nude. The different prints of the film were more than likely edited according to the attitudes of the different regions or parts of the world they played in. The film also features popular comic actor Bud Jamison in blackface as a butler; he is easily recognizable under the makeup, and his initial appearance has caused some laughter by knowledgeable film buffs at its occasional screenings.

References
[1] IMDb entry (http:/ / www. imdb. com/ title/ tt0014826/ plotsummary) [2] "Progressive Silent Film List: Dante's Inferno" (http:/ / www. silentera. com/ PSFL/ data/ D/ DantesInferno1924. html). Silent Era. . Retrieved 2009-07-07.

External links
Dante's Inferno (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0014826/) at the Internet Movie Database Dante's Inferno (http://www.allrovi.com/movies/movie/vdantes-inferno-12212) at AllRovi

Dante's Inferno (1935 film)

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Dante's Inferno (1935 film)

Dante's Inferno
Directed by Produced by Written by Starring Harry Lachman Sol M. Wurtzel Philip Klein Spencer Tracy Claire Trevor Rita Hayworth R.H. Bassett

Music by

Cinematography Rudolph Mat Editing by Studio Distributed by Release date(s) Running time Country Language Budget Alfred DeGaetano Fox Film Corporation 20th Century Fox July 31, 1935 (U.S) 88 minutes United States English $748,900 (estimate)

Dante's Inferno is a 1935 motion picture loosely based on Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy. It is primarily remembered for a 10-minute depiction of hell realised by director Harry Lachman, himself an established post-impressionist painter.

Plot summary
Jim Carter (Tracy) takes over a fairground show illustrating scenes from Dante. An inspector declares the fair unsafe but is bribed by Carter. There is a fatal disaster at the fair during which we see the vision of the Inferno. Carter establishes a new venture with an unsafe floating casino.

Cast
Spencer Tracy as Jim Carter Claire Trevor as Betty McWade Henry B. Walthall as Pop McWade Alan Dinehart as Jonesy Scotty Beckett as Alexander Carter (as Scott Beckett) Robert Gleckler as Dean Rita Hayworth as Dancer (as Rita Cansino) Gary Leon as Dancer Willard Robertson as Building Inspector Harris Morgan Wallace as Chad Williford

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Production background
The film uses a conventional story of greed and dishonesty to project an image of the Inferno conjured up in Dante's 14th century epic poem. Director Lachman had established a substantial reputation as a painter before embarking on a Hollywood career and he summoned his artistic vision to realise Dante's work in cinematographic form, drawing on the engravings of Gustave Dor. The film's reputation pivots on the 10 minute vision of the Inferno and reception has been mixed. Leslie Halliwell described it as "one of the most unexpected, imaginative and striking pieces of cinema in Hollywood's history," while Variety held that it was, "a pushover for vigorous exploitation." Some footage was taken from Fox's Dante's Inferno (1924) which was originally tinted red. The 1935 film was produced by Fox Film Corporation just before the May 31, 1935 merger that created Twentieth Century-Fox, and so was released as a Twentieth Century-Fox film. Rita Hayworth appears as a dancer under the credit "Rita Cansino". This was Spencer Tracy's last film for Fox before moving to MGM.

References External links

Dante's Inferno (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026262/) at the Internet Movie Database Dante's Inferno (http://www.allrovi.com/movies/movie/v88648) at AllRovi Dante's Inferno (1935 film) (http://tcmdb.com/title/title.jsp?stid=72257) at the TCM Movie Database

Dante's Inferno (2007 film)

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Dante's Inferno (2007 film)

Dante's Inferno

Directed by Produced by

Sean Meredith Sean Meredith Paul Zaloom Sandow Birk Dante Alighieri (novel) Sandow Birk Sean Meredith Paul Zaloom Voices of Dermot Mulroney James Cromwell Paul Zaloom Mark McAdam

Written by

Starring

Music by

Cinematography Michael Negrin Editing by Running time Language Sean Meredith 78 minutes English

Dante's Inferno is a 2007 comedy film performed with hand-drawn paper puppets on a toy theater stage. The film was adapted from the book "Dante's Inferno" by Sandow Birk and Marcus Sanders (Chronicle Books, 2004), which is a modern update of the canticle Inferno from Dante Alighieri's epic poem The Divine Comedy. The film chronicles Dante's (voiced by Dermot Mulroney) journeys through the underworld, guided by Virgil (voiced by James Cromwell). The head puppeteer was Paul Zaloom and the puppets were designed by Elyse Pignolet and drawn by Sandow Birk. The film premiered January 20, 2007 at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival.[1] The film has also been shown at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Sarasota Film Festival, Atlanta Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, Silver Lake Film Festival, the Boston Underground Film Festival, and on the Ovation TV cable network. The voice cast includes actors associated with the Upright Citizens Brigade, Crossballs, 30 Rock, Arrested Development, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

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Voice cast
Tony Abatemacro - Lying Defendant, Farinata Scott Adsit - Judge Minos, Paolo, Hirohito, Copter Pilot, Spiro Agnew Matt Besser - Metallica Defendant, L. Ron Hubbard, Curtis LeMay, Airport Security Bill Chott - Ciaccio 'El Gordo', Calvacanti, Stalin, Ulysses' Crew Mike Coleman - Charon, Phlegyas, Senator, Dick Cheney James Cromwell - Virgil Andrew Daly - Lucan, "Right On" Glutton, Jim Jones, Airport Screener, Ulysses' Naysayer John Fleck - Brunetto Latini Sean Forrester - Horace, Mr. Argenti, White Pimp, Beating Victim, Airport Security, Insider Trader #2 Tony Hale - Ovid, Real Estate Broker, Pope Nicholas III Tom Hallick - George Sanders, Deep Voiced Lobbyist Brandon Johnson - Irate Driver, Mounted Policeman, Pimp #1, Pimp #3, Airport Security Laura Krafft - George Sand, Airport P.A., Subway P.A. Dermot Mulroney - Dante Martha Plimpton - Celia, Lobbyist Singer, Lizzie Borden Kit Pongetti - W.M.D. Defendant, Francesca, Marilyn Monroe, Elena Ceausescu Tami Sagher - George Eliot, Greed Seductress, Barbara Bates, Penelope Dana Snyder - Strom Thurmond, Ulysses Janet Varney - Teacher, Cleopatra, City of Dis Intercom, Ulysses' Usher Matt Walsh - Benito Mussolini, Fox Reporter, Airport Security Pursuer Paul Zaloom - Homer, God, Officer Chiron, Southern Lobbyist, Airport Security, Caiaphas, Ulysses' Crew, Macmud, Insider Trader #1, Nicolae Ceausescu

Reception
Film critic Curt Holman gave the film 3 stars and said it had a "far-ranging and bawdy satirical spirit."[2] Film critic Kevin Stewart said "such political satire is very fitting for the manner and the times."[3] "Theres enough of the divinely comic in this 'Inferno' to justify a pair of sequels" -Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix, March 2007 "...feels like the unholy offspring of Mike Judge and R. Crumb." Robert Abele, LA Times, May 2007 Director Sean Meredith won the "Best Director" award at the Silver Lake Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2007, and the film won the "Audience Favorite" award at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2007. Boston Underground Film Festival gave it the Spirit of Underground award in 2007. The jury at the 2007 Lausanne Underground Film and Music Festival gave the award for Best Narrative Feature.

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References
[1] Dante's Inferno - Slamdance Film Festival 2007 (http:/ / www. slamdance. com/ 2007/ festival/ film_detail. asp?film_id=1012). Slamdance.com. Retrieved 2007-08-26 [2] Curt Holman (2007-04-18). "Skimming the cream of the Atlanta Film Festival crop" (http:/ / atlanta. creativeloafing. com/ gyrobase/ Content?oid=oid:231025). CreativeLoafing.com. . Retrieved 2007-08-26. [3] Kevin Stewart (2007-04-15). "Atlanta Film Festival '07: Capsule Previews" (http:/ / www. cinematl. com/ index. php?option=com_content& task=view& id=352& Itemid=48). CinemaATL.com. . Retrieved 2007-08-26.

External links
Official site (http://www.dantefilm.com/) Dante's Inferno (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479008/) at the Internet Movie Database

Dante's Inferno (video game)

Dante's Inferno

Developer(s)

Visceral Games [1] Artificial Mind and Movement (PSP) Electronic Arts Will Rokos Garry Schyman, Paul Gorman PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

AUS EU NA

Publisher(s) Writer(s) Composer(s) Platform(s) Release date(s)

[1]

[2] [3]

February 4, 2010

February 5, 2010 February 9, 2010 February 25, 2010

PSP

[4]

AUS EU NA

February 26, 2010 March 1, 2010

Genre(s) Mode(s) Rating(s)

Third-person hack and slash, action-adventure Single-player, multiplayer

BBFC: 18 ESRB: M [6] OFLC: MA15+ PEGI: 18+

[5]

Dante's Inferno (video game)

156
Media/distribution Blu-ray Disc, DVD+R DL, UMD

Dante's Inferno is a 2010 action-adventure video game developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. The game was also released on the PlayStation Portable and was developed by Artificial Mind and Movement. The story is named after Inferno, the first canticle of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, but shares little with the canticle beyond the character's name and the setting. The game follows the exploits of Dante (reimagined as a Templar knight) as he journeys through the nine circles of Hell to reclaim the soul of his beloved Beatrice from the hands of Lucifer.

Gameplay
Dante's Inferno is a third-person action-adventure game. The player controls Dante, the game's protagonist, and engages in fast-paced combat, platforming and environment-based puzzles.[7] In the game, Dante's primary weapon is Death's scythe that can be used in a series of combination attacks and finishing moves.[8] His secondary weapon is a Holy Cross that fires a volley of energy as a projectile attack. In addition, Dante can use numerous magic based attacks and abilities Dante using the Holy Cross to absolve one of channeled from a mana pool to help in combat, many of which are Hell's minions. obtained as the game progresses. A quick time event system is used when attempting to discharge the demon of its master and during boss fights, where players must press the highlighted button on screen in order to continue the chain of attacks, or be countered and wounded otherwise.[8] Many attack combinations and abilities can be unlocked in exchange for souls, an in-game currency that is collected upon defeating enemies or locating soul fountains. Each of these skills fall into two categories; Holy (represented by blue orbs) or Unholy (represented by red orbs) skill trees.[9] At the beginning of the game, both skill trees are equal in power, but as Dante gains more Holy and Unholy experience, more abilities become available for purchase. Experience is collected through the game's "Punish or Absolve" system, where upon defeating enemies, Dante can either punish and dismember them or absolve and save them with the Holy Cross.[7] Much experience can also be accumulated in punishing or absolving the damned souls of many famous figures in history that appear in Dante Alighieri's original The Divine Comedy whereupon choosing their fates, players enter a mini game where the characters' "sins" move towards the center of the screen, pressing required action symbols once the sin is in place. Players are rewarded with more souls and experience as the number of sins collected increases.[7] The game involves large sections of platforming, including swinging between ropes and climbing walls, both of which can involve hazards such as fire or swinging blades. There is also a series of environment-based puzzle sequences that can impair the progress of Dante's quest, such as requiring the correct positioning of movable objects or pulling levers at the appropriate time. In addition, there are numerous hidden passages where Biblical relics can be found and equipped to improve Dante's abilities.[10]

Plot
During the Third Crusade, the story follows Dante, a crusader general who, despite his faith, has committed numerous atrocities during the war. At the city of Acre, Dante is entrusted to keep a group of Saracen prisoners safe so King Richard I could obtain a holy relic from Saladin. But when the prisoners are brutally slaughtered, Dante is given orders to take the holy relic. During the attack, Dante is stabbed in the back by an assassin, whereupon Death appears before him. Despite being led by a Bishop to believe his sins were absolved "en post facto", Dante is ruled by Death to be condemned to "everlasting damnation for [his] sins." Dante refuses to accept his fate and destroys

Dante's Inferno (video game) Death, taking his scythe. Dante leaves the Crusade, stitching a red holy cross-shaped tapestry onto his torso, which depicts every sin he has committed. He returns to Florence, only to find his lover Beatrice Portinari and father Alighiero brutally murdered. Beatrice's soul appears before Dante, telling him that she knew he would come after her before a shadowy manifestation of Lucifer drags her into darkness. After making it to a chapel, Dante blesses the holy cross that Beatrice gave to him upon making their vows to be true to each other, to protect him against the evils that await. Upon doing so, a crack in the earth opens up, allowing Dante to descend to the Gates of Hell. At the Gates, he encounters Virgil, who knows of Dante's past sins, yet agrees to guide him through the Nine Circles of Hell. Dante begins his descent at the shores of Hell where the newly damned souls are forced aboard the great ferry of Charon. Dante forces Charon to sail him across. After this, Charon is destroyed when Dante tears his head off using a beast-mount. After arriving at Limbo, Dante confronts the serpentine Judge of the Damned, King Minos. After Minos denies Dante passage deeper into Hell, Dante fights the Judge and kills him. Dante then enters the second circle, Lust, where he enters the Carnal Tower to find Beatrice, whose soul is slowly being corrupted into a succubus by Lucifer, who also reveals to her that Dante broke his vows to Beatrice with a captive woman back in Acre, in exchange for sparing the life of her "brother". Reaching the top of the tower, Dante confronts and slays the gigantic Queen Cleopatra and her lover Mark Antony. Entering the third circle Gluttony, Dante slays its guardian the "Great Worm" Cerberus. It is here where Lucifer shows Dante how Beatrice and his father Alighiero met their demise, both being slain by the assassin from Acre, revealed to be the "brother" of the woman Dante slept with, yet is actually her husband. In the fourth circle; Greed, Dante encounters the greatly deformed soul of his father Alighiero promised by Lucifer a millennium free of torment and a hoard of gold if he kills his own son. After overcoming the puzzles of the fallen God of Wealth Plutus, Dante defeats Alighiero and absolves him. In the fifth circle, Anger, Dante begins to float across the vile River Styx on what appears to be a floating platform. Upon reaching the other side, however, the platform is in fact the top of the head of the gigantic fiery demon Phlegyas who then proceeds to attack Dante. Overcoming this, Lucifer appears before Dante with Beatrice who, broken-hearted by Dante's betrayals, willingly gives herself to Lucifer by eating the forbidden fruit. Dante rides atop Phlegyas who he controls to smash down the walls of the City of Dis and into the sixth circle, Heresy. Beyond lies the seventh circle, Violence, where Dante traverses its harsh landscape, including Phlegethon and the Wood of Suicides. Within the woods Dante encounters his own mother Bella who now hangs from the trees, where he becomes deeply saddened and enraged having been told as a child that she died of an illness but in fact hanged herself because of the cruelty of his father. Absolving her of her sin, he continues beyond the woods to the Abominable Sands for those violent against God, where Dante also encounters his former comrade Crusader and future brother-in-law Francesco, who is now a horribly disfigured version of his former self with various swords protruding from his back, who now desires revenge against Dante for his state of being. Upon defeating Francesco, Dante absolves him. After defeating him Dante descends into the eighth circle, Fraud. Before Dante can reach Lucifer, Beatrice puts him through the challenges of ten stages of the Malebolge where each depicts the fraudsters throughout history from simple thieves to the false Popes. At the entrance of the ninth and last circle, Treachery, where Dante insists to Beatrice that he has faced all of his sins. Beatrice reminds him that he slaughtered the Saracen prisoners out of anger and that Francesco died taking the blame for it. Realizing (and accepting) that he has sinned beyond redemption, Dante admits that "his place is in Hell and Beatrice's is in Heaven" and asks for Beatrice to forgive him. This act of supreme sacrifice undoes the evil transformation of Beatrice and restores her to her former self. As Dante watches, the Archangel Gabriel descends from Heaven and carries Beatrice's soul away, promising Dante that he will see Beatrice again and that his redemption is close at hand. Journeying through the icy realm of Treachery and fighting his way to Lake Cocytus, Dante finally confronts Lucifer himself, an enormous three-faced demon chained within the frozen lake. After defeating the giant demon, Lucifer reveals that by reaching the final circle, Dante has proved himself worthy of freeing him from his prison. On his journey through the Circles of Hell Dante had destroyed several enormous chains to proceed, which Lucifer revealed to be the Chains of Judecca, which kept him imprisoned in Lake Cocytus and inside the body of the three headed

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Dante's Inferno (video game) demon body. Lucifer emerges from the giant monster in his true form, a horned, satyr-like monster, and battles Dante. Through great struggle Dante is able to defeat Lucifer and impales him on Death's Scythe. Lucifer then summons the vision of the assassin's blade in Acre, Dante is horrified to realize he died in Acre and thus can not leave Hell. Lucifer gleefully reveals that now free, he will rise from Hell, overthrow God and seize Heaven, but Dante, with the many souls he gained through his trials, re-imprisons Lucifer deeper in the ice once again before being taken to Purgatory by an archangel. Here, Dante sees the freed soul of Beatrice awaiting him in Paradise. The final scene shows Dante at the step of Mount Purgatory ripping the tapestry off of his chest before it disintegrates revealing a snake that slithers away as Lucifer's laugh rings out.

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Development
A playable demo was released for PlayStation 3 on December 10, 2009, and for Xbox 360 on December 24, 2009.[11]

Release
Dante's Inferno was first released across Europe on February 5, 2010. In addition to the standard retail copy of the game, a second limited special edition of the game for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 was released alongside known as the "Death Edition". Along with the standard copy of the game, the Death Edition was packaged in a fold out card packaging depicting each circle of hell as well as a second bonus disc that featured a making-of documentary, the documentary "Dante in History", the full soundtrack, a documentary on the creation of the music and audio, a digital art book edited by visual designer Wayne Barlowe, over 10 minutes of scenes from Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic, and a digital reprint of the complete original poem in English. The edition also included a voucher containing an online activated code for an additional skin model for Dante, being the space suit of Isaac Clarke, the main character from Viscerals previous game Dead Space.[12] The Death Edition was released exclusive to the GAME store in the UK. Another UK retailer, Gamestation, also gave away miniature figurines of Dante to those who pre-ordered the game. The same edition was later released in Australia along with the standard copy on February 15, 2010, exclusive to EB Games.[13] The game was later released in North America on February 9, 2010. Unlike the Europe and Australia release, a special version called the Divine Edition was released in place of the standard copy for the PlayStation 3 only. Similar to the Death Edition, the "Divine Edition" includes nearly all the same features except the Isaac Clarke costume and the animated scene but instead includes a code for the Dark Forest downloadable content, to be released later in March.

Downloadable content
Upon its release, a series of downloadable content (DLC) game packs were released, each containing an amount of souls, used for purchasing new abilities. The first contained 500 souls and was free of charge while the rest contained 1500, 3000 and 5000 souls and cost a relatively small amount and could only be downloaded once.[14] The first traditional piece of downloadable content was released a month after release on March 4, entitled Dark Forest, a prologue level loosely based on the opening of The Divine Comedy, that sees Dante in a dark forest before meeting Virgil. The content includes two new enemies known as the "Forest Siren" and "Death Knight" and involves a series of puzzles to overcome. In addition to the level, the download also includes an additional "Disco Inferno" costume, a novelty piece in the style of polyester disco fashion wear.[15] Numerous alternative costumes have also been released, including Florentine Dante based on the real life poet Dante Alighieri released on February 18, 2010[16] and Animated Film Dante, based on the appearance of the character from Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic released on February 25, 2010.[17]

Dante's Inferno (video game) Trials of St Lucia, released on April 29, 2010, features cooperative gameplay and a game-editor. Players are able to share their created maps and levels with others. The new playable character in this DLC is St. Lucia, a Christian martyr described as Dante's guardian angel.

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Controversy
Prior to Inferno's release, in June 2009, a protest began during E3 2009 in Los Angeles to oppose the game. Around 20 protesters, claiming to be from a church in Ventura County, held up signs that called the game sacrilegious and labeled it possibly insensitive to people's beliefs. Protesters even went as far as calling EA the anti-christ.[18] This led to EA being accused by many people of staging the fiasco to use it as a marketing hoax. A few days later, it was officially confirmed by EA spokesman Tammy Scachter that they had hired people to protest the game and that there was no actual protest.[19] [20] However, in the aftermath of this revelation, several Christian bloggers have protested to this, calling it an "anti-Christian" stunt.[21] [22] Later, in October 2009, it was announced that the game would include a PlayStation 3 trophy and an Xbox 360 achievement entitled "Bad Nanny", which is awarded to players for killing monsters resembling children, supposedly the lost souls of unbaptized infants. This sparked a conflict with the International Nanny Association (INA), in which they encouraged supporters to oppose the game. The INA claimed that the achievement is offensive to real nannies and that it also promotes real-life violence. In retaliation, the INA asked the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) to omit the reward and elements of infant violence. The ESRB insisted that its role was merely to label products appropriately, not to censor them, so their request could not be met. Despite this, the INA still attempted boycotting the game with hope of a change before it was released.[23] [24] [25] Columbia University Professor Teodolinda Barolini, a former president of the Dante Society of America, criticized the game for its depiction of Beatrice, declaring, Of all the things that are troubling, the sexualization and infantilization of Beatrice are the worst. Beatrice is the human girl who is dead and is now an agent of the divine. She is not to be saved by him, she is saving him. Thats the whole point! Here, she has become the prototypical damsel in distress. Shes this kind of bizarrely corrupted Barbie doll.[26] Other reviews of the game include similar comments of the characters by Professors: "Beatrice saves Dante... not the other way around",[27] says Professor Arielle Saiber, an Italian Literature professor at Bowdoin College.

Marketing
Before the game's release, Dante's Inferno underwent a prominent, often at times elaborate marketing campaign led by the game's publisher Electronic Arts. The numerous advertisements highlighted certain sins associated with the circles of hell, often at times promoting fake services before accusing the viewer of the sin linked to it. Electronic Arts partnered with GameStop for a one-day promotion of Dante's Inferno on September 9, 2009 (9/9/9). Those that pre-ordered the game were offered a $6.66 discount, the Number of the Beast.[28] In addition, EA conducted an unsolicited mailing in which checks for $200 were sent to selected video game critics, with the following note: "In Dante's Inferno, Greed is a two-headed beast. Hoarding wealth feeds one beast, and squandering it satiates the other. By cashing this check you succumb to avarice by hoarding filthy lucre, but by not cashing it, you waste it, and thereby surrender to prodigality. Make your choice and suffer the consequence for your sin. And scoff not, for consequences are imminent."[29] A viral marketing campaign was also launched featuring a website and ad for a fake religious game called Mass: We Pray, a motion controller-based game supposedly allowing players to engage in an interactive prayer and church sermon. When attempting to order the game, the website deems you a heretic and plays to a trailer for Dante's Inferno, as well as providing links to the related Facebook application called "Go to Hell".[30] The application, created by Visceral Games lets users condemn their friends, groups, or photos to one of the nine circles of hell where

Dante's Inferno (video game) they can then vote to punish or absolve them, or torment them with activities like "beast massage" or "succubus castration."[31] Later in October, 2009, EA sent a series of packages to Veronica Belmont at Qore, the PlayStation: The Official Magazine offices and Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw of the Escapist's Zero Punctuation column. The package contained a small wooden box which, when opened, played the Rick Astley song "Never Gonna Give You Up", thus "Rickrolling" the journalists that received it. The music could not be stopped through any means other than destroying the box using the hammer and goggles provided. After destroying the box, such as Belmont who posted the act on Youtube,[32] a note read that they had given into Wrath as the note then found within the box predicted.[33] EA produced a commercial for the game that was shown during the 2010 Super Bowl, a fast-paced cinematic of Dante's descent into hell, overplayed by what was considered an unusual use of Bill Withers' song "Ain't No Sunshine". Time magazine reporter James Poniewoziek referred to the ad as "something magical and funny."[34] According to EA product manager Phil Marineu, the decision to air the ad was to concentrate on more solid titles that they believe can break through to the masses.[35] Another secretly fake commercial for the fictional company "Hawk Panther" encouraged viewers to visit the Hawk Panther website in order to be able to steal their best friend's girlfriend. If the link to find out more about the Hawk Panther systems is clicked on a message appears stating, "TREACHERY! Thou are condemned to the 9th Circle. Thou hast broken the bonds of trust with thy kindred. Even conspiring to stealeth thy best friend's soul mate is the worst kind of mortal offense imaginable. You shall pay for thy treachery by spending an eternity immersed up to your face, the place where shame shows itself, in the putrid, frozen waters of Hell." The site also shows a trailer of Dante's Inferno and a link to buy the game.[36] The Facebook application developer Lolapps, Inc. similarly adapted a Facebook role-playing game, Battle of the Damned, that lets users fight through the nine circles of hell to rescue their murdered and damned wife. It rose nearly 1 million monthly active users in less than a year after launching.[37]

160

Reception
Reception Aggregate scores
Aggregator GameRankings Score 72.86% [38] (X360) [39] 75.69% (PS3) [40] 73/100 (X360) [41] 75/100 (PS3) [42] 70/100 (PSP)

Metacritic

Review scores
Publication Eurogamer Game Informer GamePro GameSpot GameTrailers IGN Score 6/10 7/10 4/5 [43] [44]

[45] [46] [47] [48]

6.5/10 6.8/10 7.5/10

Dante's Inferno (video game)

[49] 8/10 (UK) [50] 7.5/10 (US) [51] 8/10 (UK) [52] 4/5 (US) 9/10 [53]

161
Official Xbox Magazine

Official PlayStation Magazine

Destructoid

Upon its release, Dante's Inferno received fair to generally favorable reviews from critics. While there was praise for the art style and level design, numerous critics drew comparisons with Sony's popular God of War series. One of the most praised aspects was the game's depiction of Hell, considered creative yet graphic in nature. GamePro found the unique designs of the circle of Hell to be "impressively constructed", getting "a lot of mileage out of the unique setting".[45] While some critics like IGN acknowledged the liberties taken with the original source material, they still observed that "much of what you see is appropriate for a game that tries to explore the extreme nature of Hell and its punishments", calling the overall style "visually impressive".[48] Other critics like GameSpy even found some enemy and setting designs "shocking" yet still could "appreciate that this is Hell, and it's supposed to be disturbing".[54] However, some reviews felt the creativity waned towards the end of the game, such as GameSpot who felt "Dante's epic quest loses momentum long before you reach the end", praising earlier levels such as Lust and Gluttony yet criticizing the 10 stage challenge level of Fraud and the use of enemies outside of their respective circle.[46] Official PlayStation Magazine UK also echoed this view, saying that the game was "just going through motions for the last three or four hours", despite what it considered to have a "robust fighting system" and being "visually strong".[51] The most recurring comment over the gameplay of Dante's Inferno was its similarities to the God of War games. Destructoid felt that being similar to what is regarded as a great game is a positive by stating "You're not going to find a wholly original gameplay experience with Dante's Inferno, but that doesn't mean it's not a hell of an entertaining package - it's one that fans of action shouldn't miss."[53] Eurogamer on the other hand felt the game was "a God of War clone at its core", that while "not a terrible game, it's just not an original one",[43] a view Game Trailers echoed by stating "battles can be engaging, but lack some of the grace and refinement exhibited by games like God of War".[47] While Game Informer also found the gameplay to be too familiar, they did find the additional elements such as the punish/absolve mechanic and usable relics to give "Dantes Inferno some individuality".[44] Regarding such similarities, in an interview for Official PlayStation Magazine UK, God of War III director Stig Asmussen instead praised the game, stating "We've been intrigued about Dante's Inferno. This is my favourite genre, and the more people that are making [these games] the better", going on to say "and this is a really rich story they're building on, it's very interesting. The day that the demo came out we were trying to download it on PSN at midnight. We all wanted to see it." United States NPD Group sales data showed that the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Dante's Inferno sold 242,500 and 224,700 copies respectively in the month of February 2010.[55] The two editions also debuted together on the UK's top 10 games list for that month.[56]

Animated film
Film Roman, the Starz Entertainment unit behind Dead Space: Downfall released an animated direct-to-DVD version of the story that was released simultaneously with the video game.[57] The Dante's Inferno project had separate anime studios being tapped to create visuals of the nine levels of the Inferno. Starz Entertainment is looking to sell both animated films to international TV buyers at the MIP market.[58] The animation studios that participated in the making of Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic, in order, are Film Roman, Manglobe, Dong Woo, JM Animation, and Production I.G.. The released movie shows a difference in storyline and has been divided into four different styles.

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162

References
[1] Robinson, Martin (April 22, 2009). "Dante's Inferno for PSP" (http:/ / psp. ign. com/ articles/ 975/ 975188p1. html). IGN.com. . Retrieved 2009-04-23. [2] "Dante's Inferno for Xbox 360 Release Summary" (http:/ / www. gamespot. com/ xbox360/ action/ dantesinferno/ similar. html?mode=versions). GameSpot. . Retrieved 2010-05-03. [3] "Dante's Inferno for PlayStation 3 Release Summary" (http:/ / www. gamespot. com/ ps3/ action/ dantesinferno/ similar. html?mode=versions). GameSpot. . Retrieved 2010-05-03. [4] "Dante's Inferno for PSP Release Summary" (http:/ / www. gamespot. com/ psp/ action/ dantesinferno/ similar. html?mode=versions). GameSpot. . Retrieved 2010-05-03. [5] "Dante's Inferno rated 18 by the BBFC" (http:/ / www. bbfc. co. uk/ website/ Classified. nsf/ e8ea0df3a881175480256d58003cb570/ 3f55b47f6f7d56848025767e003f15e3?OpenDocument). British Board of Film Classification. November 30, 2009. . Retrieved 2009-11-30. [6] "Dante's Inferno rated MA15+ by OFLC" (http:/ / www. oflc. gov. au/ www/ cob/ find. nsf/ d853f429dd038ae1ca25759b0003557c/ d7f041fd316a7910ca25767b0057edb1!OpenDocument). Office of Film and Literature Classification. 27, November, 2009. .| [7] Eddy, Andy (2009-06-17). "TeamXbox Dante's Inferno Hands-on Preview (Xbox 360)" (http:/ / previews. teamxbox. com/ xbox-360/ 2357/ Dantes-Inferno/ p1/ ). TeamXbox. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [8] EA, ed (2010). Dante's Inferno instruction manual. EA. pp.67. [9] EA, ed (2010). Dante's Inferno instruction manual. EA. pp.1314. [10] EA, ed (2010). Dante's Inferno instruction manual. EA. p.10. [11] Creepy, Uncle (2009-12-01). "Dante's Inferno Demo Gets Two Release Dates" (http:/ / www. dreadcentral. com/ news/ 34764/ dantes-inferno-demo-gets-two-release-dates). Dread Central. . Retrieved 2009-12-24. [12] "Dante's Inferno GAME Exclusive Death Edition (Xbox 360)" (http:/ / www. game. co. uk/ Games/ Xbox-360/ Dantes-Inferno-GAME-Exclusive-Death-Edition/ ~r345448/ ). GAME. . Retrieved 2009-12-24. [13] "Dante's Inferno: Death Edition (PS3)" (http:/ / www. ebgames. com. au/ ps3-149262-Dantes-Inferno-Death-Edition-PlayStation-3/ ). EB Games. . Retrieved 2010-01-19. [14] Kearney, Addam (2010-02-04). "First Dante's Inferno DLC available on PSN; not exactly what we were expecting" (http:/ / www. talkingaboutgames. com/ news/ generalnews/ 5610-first-dantes-inferno-dlc-available-on-psn-not-exactly-what-we-were-expecting). TalkingAboutGames. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [15] Kaboo (2010-03-03). "Dantes Inferno: Hands On DLC Pack Review" (http:/ / thetechjournal. com/ electronics/ gaming-electronics/ dantes-inferno-hands-on-dlc-pack-review. xhtml). The Tech Journal. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [16] "Dante's Inferno DLC - Florentine Dante Costume" (http:/ / uk. gamespot. com/ xbox360/ action/ dantesinferno/ dlc/ 206096/ ?tag=dlc-items;dlc_title;3). GameSpot. 2010-02-18. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [17] "Dante's Inferno DLC - Animated Film Dante Costume" (http:/ / uk. gamespot. com/ xbox360/ action/ dantesinferno/ dlc/ 206122/ ?tag=dlc-items;dlc_title;2). GameSpot. 2010-02-25. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [18] Fritz, Ben (2009-06-03). "E3: Protesters target Dante's Inferno game (Updated)" (http:/ / latimesblogs. latimes. com/ technology/ 2009/ 06/ e3-protesters-target-dantes-inferno-game. html). Los Angeles Times. . Retrieved 2009-12-24. [19] Fritz, Ben (2009-06-04). "E3: Dante's Inferno protest (UPDATED)" (http:/ / latimesblogs. latimes. com/ technology/ 2009/ 06/ e3-update-on-dantes-inferno-protest. html). Los Angeles Times. . Retrieved 2009-12-24. [20] Sliwinski, Alexander (2009-06-05). "EA confirms Dante's Inferno protest was staged" (http:/ / www. joystiq. com/ 2009/ 06/ 05/ ea-confirms-dantes-inferno-protest-was-staged/ ). Joystiq. . Retrieved 2009-12-24. [21] Christian bloggers attack EA over E3 Dante's Inferno "protest" (http:/ / news. bigdownload. com/ 2009/ 06/ 12/ christian-bloggers-attack-ea-over-e3-dantes-inferno-protest/ ) [22] Pete Haas. "Christians Attack Fake Dante's Inferno Protest" (http:/ / www. cinemablend. com/ games/ Christians-Attack-Fake-Dante-s-Inferno-Protest-18142. html). Gaming Blend. . [23] Warmoth, Brian (2009-10-23). "'Dante's Inferno' Baby-Killing Achievement Angers Nannies" (http:/ / multiplayerblog. mtv. com/ 2009/ 10/ 23/ dantes-inferno-baby-killing-achievement-angers-nannies/ ). MTV Multiplayer. . Retrieved 2009-12-24. [24] Stein, Scott (2009-10-23). "Dante's Inferno makes nannies everywhere furious" (http:/ / news. cnet. com/ 8301-17938_105-10382065-1. html). CNET News. . Retrieved 2009-12-24. [25] Williams, Bryn (2009-10-23). "Dante's Inferno 'Bad Nanny' Achievement Draws Fire from the INA" (http:/ / xbox360. gamespy. com/ xbox-360/ dantes-inferno/ 1038287p1. html). GameSpy. . Retrieved 2009-12-24. [26] Teodolinda Barolini, An Ivy League Professor Weighs In: Expert View, Entertainment Weekly 1091 (February 26, 2010): 79. [27] Popper, Benjamin (2010-01-15). "Dante Alighieri: Epic Poet, Ass Kicker" (http:/ / www. theatlantic. com/ magazine/ archive/ 2010/ 02/ dante-alighieri-epic-poet-ass-kicker/ 7936/ ). The Atlantic. ISSN1072-7825. . Retrieved 2010-09-07. [28] "Save $6.66 on Dantes Inferno, only on 09.09.09" (http:/ / www. gamingbits. com/ general-gaming-news-bits/ save-6-66-on-dantes-inferno-only-on-09-09-09/ ). 2009-09-08. . Retrieved 2011-10-09. "Electronic Arts and GameStop have a special savings for you on Dantes Inferno, only available on September 9th. Only on 9/9/09, if you pre-order Dantes Inferno from GameStop, youll get to save $6.66 off the game. [] All in the name of Greed, the next circle of Hell featured on the Dantes Inferno website." [29] "EA mails journos $200 checks to promote game" (http:/ / videogames. yahoo. com/ events/ plugged-in/ ea-mails-journos-200-checks-to-promote-game/ 1352737). . Retrieved 2009-09-10.

Dante's Inferno (video game)

[30] "Pre-order 'Mass: We Pray' for free Dante's Inferno trailer" (http:/ / www. gamedaily. com/ games/ dantes-inferno/ psp/ game-features/ pre-order-mass-we-pray-for-free-dantes-inferno-trailer/ ). . Retrieved 2009-11-20. [31] "Visceral Games Tells Facebook Users to Go To Hell" (http:/ / kotaku. com/ 5410939/ visceral-games-tells-facebook-users-to-go-to-hell). . Retrieved 2010-01-11. [32] "Wrath!" (http:/ / www. youtube. com/ watch?v=yIXRQ0zqD5M). . Retrieved 2009-11-03. [33] Arendt, Susan (2009-10-28). "EA Rickrolls Yahtzee" (http:/ / www. escapistmagazine. com/ news/ view/ 95781-EA-Rickrolls-Yahtzee). The Escapist Magazine. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [34] Poniewoziek, James (2010-02-07). "EA Sports: Dante's Inferno" (http:/ / www. time. com/ time/ specials/ packages/ article/ 0,28804,1960734_1960750_1960819,00. html). Time.com. . Retrieved 2010-02-08. [35] "EA Doubles Down With Dantes Inferno Super Bowl Ad | GameLife | Wired.com." Wired News. Web. 11 Feb. 2010. <http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/02/dantes-inferno-super-bowl/> [36] http:/ / www. hawkpanther. com/ ?page=home [37] "EA Launches Dantes Inferno RPG with Lolapps to Promote New Console Title" (http:/ / www. insidesocialgames. com/ 2009/ 12/ 23/ ea-launches-dantes-inferno-rpg-with-lolapps-to-promote-new-console-title/ ). . Retrieved 2010-01-11. [38] "Dante's Inferno at Game Rankings (360)" (http:/ / www. gamerankings. com/ xbox360/ 955367-dantes-inferno/ index. html/ index. html). Game Rankings. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [39] "Dante's Inferno at Game Rankings (PS3)" (http:/ / www. gamerankings. com/ ps3/ 955368-dantes-inferno/ index. html). Game Rankings. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [40] "Dante's Inferno at Metacritic (360)" (http:/ / www. metacritic. com/ games/ platforms/ xbox360/ dantesinferno). Metacritic. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [41] "Dante's Inferno at Metacritic (PS3)" (http:/ / www. metacritic. com/ games/ platforms/ ps3/ dantesinferno). Metacritic. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [42] "Dante's Inferno at Metacritic (PSP)" (http:/ / www. metacritic. com/ game/ psp/ dantes-inferno). Metacritic. . Retrieved 2011-09-23. [43] Gibson, Ellie (2010-03-02). "Eurogamer Dante's Inferno Review" (http:/ / www. eurogamer. net/ articles/ dantes-inferno-review). Eurogamer. . Retrieved 2010-03-11. [44] Marchiafava, Jeff (2010-04-02). "Game Informer Dante's Inferno Review - Hell Needs More Good Ideas" (http:/ / gameinformer. com/ games/ dantes_inferno/ b/ xbox360/ archive/ 2010/ 02/ 04/ dante_2700_s-inferno-review-hell-needs-more-good-ideas. aspx). Game Informer. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [45] Kim, Tae K. (2010-02-02). "GamePro Dante's Inferno Review (PS3)" (http:/ / www. gamepro. com/ article/ reviews/ 213817/ dantes-inferno/ ). GamePro. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [46] Mc Shea, Tom (2010-06-02). "GameSpot Dante's Inferno Review (360)" (http:/ / www. gamespot. com/ xbox360/ action/ dantesinferno/ review. html). GameSpot. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [47] "Game Trailers Dante's Inferno Review" (http:/ / www. gametrailers. com/ gamereview. php?id=10607). Game Trailers. 2010-08-02. . Retrieved 2010-03-11. [48] Haynes, Jeff (2010-03-02). "IGN Dante's Inferno Review (360) - Should you raise some hell with this action game?" (http:/ / xbox360. ign. com/ articles/ 106/ 1066286p1. html). IGN. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [49] Tabolt, Ben (2010-03-02). "Official Xbox Magazine Dante's Inferno Review" (http:/ / www. oxm. co. uk/ article. php?id=17029). Official Xbox Magazine. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [50] Official Xbox Magazine (US) Dante's Inferno Review. Microsoft. April 2010. p. 82. [51] Official PlayStation Magazine UK Dante's Inferno Review. Official PlayStation Magazine. March 2010. p. 112. [52] PlayStation: The Official Magazine US Dante's Inferno Review. Official PlayStation Magazine. April 2010. p. 72. [53] Chester, Nick (2010-03-05). "Destructoid Dante's Inferno Review" (http:/ / www. destructoid. com/ review-dante-s-inferno-162463. phtml). Destructoid. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [54] Villoria, Gerald (2010-10-02). "GameSpy Dante's Inferno Review (360) - Dante's Inferno depicts a nightmarish vision of Hell." (http:/ / uk. xbox360. gamespy. com/ xbox-360/ dantes-inferno/ 1068125p1. html). GameSpy. . Retrieved 2010-03-12. [55] Caoili, Eric (March 12, 2010). "BioShock 2 PS3, Aliens vs. Predator Jump Into February Top 20" (http:/ / www. gamasutra. com/ view/ news/ 27652/ BioShock_2_PS3_Aliens_vs_Predator_Jump_Into_February_Top_20. php). Gamasutra. . Retrieved 2010-05-17. [56] Graft, Kris (February 8, 2010). "Mass Effect 2 Leads Again In UK, Dante, Star Trek Debut" (http:/ / www. gamasutra. com/ view/ news/ 27143/ Mass_Effect_2_Leads_Again_In_UK_Dante_Star_Trek_Debut. php). Gamasutra. . Retrieved 2010-05-17. [57] A Clip from Dante's Inferno - The Animated Feature (http:/ / www. dreadcentral. com/ news/ 35459/ a-clip-dantes-inferno-the-animated-feature) [58] "Dante's Inferno matching Dead Space movie-for-movie" (http:/ / weblogs. variety. com/ the_cut_scene/ 2009/ 03/ dantes-inferno-matching-dead-space-movieformovie. html). Variety.com. 2008-12-18. . Retrieved 2009-07-24.

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External links
Official website (http://www.dantesinferno.com/) Dante's Inferno official facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/dantesinferno) Dante's Inferno (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1409575/) at Internet Movie Database

Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic

165

Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic

Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic

Directed by

Shukou Murase Yasuomi Umetsu Mike Disa Victor Cook Jong-Sik Nam Sang-Jin Kim Lee Seung-Gyu Cate Latchford Joe Goyette Jonathan Knight

Produced by

Written by Starring Music by Studio

Brandon Auman

Graham McTavish Peter Jessop

Christopher Tin

Production I.G Film Roman Dong Woo Animation Manglobe JM Animation Moi Animation Digital eMation BigStar

Distributed by Starz Release date(s) February 9, 2010 Country United States Japan South Korea English

Language

Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic is a direct to DVD animated film released on February 9, 2010. The film is a spin-off from Electronic Arts' Dante's Inferno video game.

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Plot
The movie is separated into several parts. For each chapter there is a title to the journey. Each chapter is animated with noticeably different styles. These vary in degree of difference and depict Dante with differing features, such as hair length, bodily proportions and armor.

The Arrival
(Directed by Victor Cook, pre-production by Film Roman and animated by Big Star) The film starts with Dante's return from the Third Crusade which has had him away from his home for several years. Speaking in inner monologue, he claims the forests he had been traveling in were gloomy and he would nearly prefer death over having to travel them. He admits he can detect someone following him, but each time he tries to approach, his pursuer vanishes without a trace. Upon arriving at home, he finds his servants slain, his father dead and his beloved fiancee Beatrice lying on the ground, dying of a stab wound to the stomach. As she dies, she is relieved Dante had kept his promise to her that he would return. As she dies, she turns into a spirit and begins to ascend into Heaven. However Lucifer, as a shadow, comes and takes her away through the gates into Hell. In pursuit, Dante comes to the gates and is briefly stalled before Virgil offers to guide him into hell. After Dante invokes his faith he is able to tear open the gates and enter hell.

Entry into Hell

(Directed by Victor Cook, pre-production by Film Roman and animated by Digital Emation) - Upon Entry, Dante and Virgil board Charon, a demonic ferry that takes souls across into the First Circle of Hell. Charon does not take kindly to a mortal traveler on him, and sicks demons to attack Dante. Dante fights them off, but loses his sword in the process and so takes up one of the demons' scythe to defend himself from then on and kills Charon, crashing him into the coasts off the first circle.

Limbo
(Directed by Shukou Murase, produced by Manglobe) - Virgil and Dante enter the first circle, Limbo which is home to mostly virtuous pagans and unbaptized babies. It is here Dante learns Beatrice was pregnant with his child while he was away, but was miscarried in the womb. Without time for sorrow, he is attacked by demonic children who quickly overwhelm him. As he and Virgil escape into a large building, they come across a hall of philosophers and thinkers such as Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. Upon leaving they come across one the spirit of Saladin, whose forces Dante had battled during his crusade. They move on, and eventually encounter King Minos whose task is to judge all condemned souls to their specific circle of hell. When he denies Dante access, they battle. Dante is able to kill Minos by dropping him onto his own spinning wheel of judgment. As Minos recedes, Dante and Virgil make their way down to the second circle. Meanwhile, Lucifer tortures Beatrice in a cycle of killing her, tricking her endlessly with the hope of rescue and taunting her that Dante had never kept his promises after he left.

Lust
(Directed by Shukou Murase, produced by Manglobe) - Falling onto the storm-ravaged shores of the second circle, Dante notices bodies flying through the wind, intertwined. Virgil explains the island is the second circle of Lust and those in the wind are caught in a never-ending storm of passion and may never know rest. Following Beatrice's cries from the distance, Dante ends up in a room of demonic harlots who transform into hideous demons. As they try to kill him, he finally realizes he did break his promise to Beatrice; during the Crusade a woman offers sex to save her brother from being beaten to death. Having been under the illusion he was 'absolved' of all sin, he accepted. Upon hearing this, Beatrice begins to lose her faith yet refuses to see it as the truth as Lucifer offers her his hand in marriage.

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Gluttony
(Directed by Jong-Sik Nam, produced by Dong Woo Animation) - Coming to a grotto of men and women who had lived their lives without knowing fulfillment, so they suffer lacking it in death. Many starving individuals are caught and devoured by Cerberus and Virgil tells Dante the only way to the next circle is from within him. Dante allows himself to be eaten and he ends up inside of the hound of hell. Encountering Ciacco, a man he knew in life and feeling pity for his suffering, Dante uses his faith to release the man from the torture he had to endure. This provokes Lucifer's anger as he reveals his plan to marry Beatrice and that Dante's father is also in hell. In order to escape Cerberus' belly, Dante attacks and destroys the beast's heart, causing the demon to spit him up and spew him out in a river of blood that flows down into the next circle.

Greed
(Directed by Jong-Sik Nam, produced by Dong Woo Animation) - Dante and Virgil's next circle is the ring of hell to men and women who wasted their lives in pursuit of material possessions. The condemned souls are tortured by being sheared in money presses, boiled in melted gold and buried in heavy gold coins. Within the circle, Dante confronts his father, having been promised a thousand years free of torture and endless gold if he would murder his own son. The pair battle fiercely, but Dante gains the upperhand, kicking his father into a vat of boiling gold.

Anger and The City of Dis

(Directed by Lee Seung-Gyu, produced by Lee JM Animation) - The fifth circle of hell is Anger as Virgil and Dante surmise when they can sense the very rage in the air. They proceed to the River Styx in which violence is still running rampant amongst the spirits fighting in the shallow waters. They climb aboard Phlegyas, a demonic giant who traverses the river while men and women who know of Dante taunt him from below. Dante has Phlegyas charge the city when he sees Lucifer within, announcing his intent to marry Beatrice to the damned souls within. When he strikes Phlegyas down, Dante chases after the devil. It is revealed further, more mundane orders from the king during the Crusades began to test Dante's patience, making him prone to anger and doubts on the value of the lives to their prisoners.

Heresy
(Directed by Lee Seung-Gyu, produced by Lee JM Animation) - The sixth circle of hell is for the heretics, people who have gone against the teaching of their churches. As they travel through halls of men and women who forever burn in fire and are forever tortured by various implements, Dante comes across Farinata, another man Dante hated in life, who taunts Dante by revealing Lucifer's plan to wed Beatrice and how he would be trapped in hell forever. Dante angrily kills Farinata just before fleeing the sixth circle and before it collapses from the force of Christ's death which, Virgil explains, quakes the circle eternally.

Violence
(Directed by Lee Seung-Gyu, produced by Lee JM Animation) - Virgil helps Dante face the minotaur, guardian of the Circle of Violence, causing an easy defeat by allowing the beast's anger to get the better of him. Souls boiling in a vast river of blood from their own victims; violence they had inflicted upon others, Dante and Virgil enter the seventh circle: Violence, having been helped across the river by the centaur Nessus. Entering the Forest of Suicides, Dante hears a familiar cry and finds his mother growing from the sapling of a tree, forever in pain for killing herself and not finding the strength to stand up against her husband, Dante's father, she eventually hanged herself. Dante had been told, however, she had died because of a fever. Having been overwhelmed with sorrow, Dante uses his cross to free her soul. They move onto a graveyard within the Abominable Sands where his one time comrades and one of his close friends Francesco rise from the graves as undead warriros. The graveyard is where souls are condemned for committing acts of violence in the name of God. Feeling angry and vengeful of Dante, Francesco attacks him,

Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic matching Dante's scythe with his superior sword skills. Dante finally defeats Francesco by slicing his face in half. It is in this that Dante reflects upon slaughtering several heretics including men, women and children without mercy, due to a loss in rations and having to feed many prisoners, despite the Christian lives they themselves had spared. He again claims it was the war and not his fault, but at this point he seems to only be fooling himself.

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Fraud
(Directed by Sang-Jin Kim, produced by Kim JM Animation) - Virgil parts ways with Dante upon entering the realm of Fraud, the eighth circle, telling him he only needs to cross the bridge in order to stop the marriage of Beatrice and Lucifer who are on the opposite end of the bridge set to be married. As Dante starts crossing, he begins to reflect upon his own fraudulent behavior causing his physical strength and morale to fade. Finally he realizes his father, family servants and Beatrice were slain by the husband of the woman he had sex with and thus blames their deaths on himself. This slows him down at a crucial point, and Beatrice finally gives in to her sorrow of Dante's betrayal, wedding Lucifer and fully becoming a demon, losing her wings and rights to heaven. The demonized Beatrice proceeds to attack Dante, overpowering him and forces him to look on his greatest sin, letting him peer into the ninth circle of Treachery. He reflects that he allowed her brother to take the blame for his slaughtering of prisoners, and as a repercussion of his earlier sin of Lust. Overwhelmed with grief, he presents Beatrice her cross, which he had promised to give back to her upon his return from the crusade. She relents as he begs for forgiveness and pleads her to once again accept the love of God and she forgives him, causing her to return to her former angelic appearance. Virgil congratulates Dante for saving Beatrice as an angel descends from heaven to take Beatrice. Beatrice promises they will be together soon, but in order to leave hell and enter Purgatory he will need to face Lucifer alone.

Treachery
(Directed by Yasuomi Umetsu, produced by Production I.G.) - Descending into the cold underground of traitors, after wandering in the dark he comes across a lone female spirit who directs him to the very center of the caverns, but she brings to question whether or not to be trusted as her traitorous nature might hint she is lying, or not telling the whole truth. After wandering aimlessly, Dante comes across a cavern filled with large, frozen chains and he mows through them, only to encounter a three-faced demon in the center who appears to be Lucifer's corporeal form, having been freed by the breaking of his chains he attacks Dante. Dante slays the beast and is within inches of entering Purgatory where his salvation awaits; however, Lucifer, now freed from his frozen form and reveals his true form, breaks free and easily overpowers Dante. Threatening to enter Purgatory and move on to Paradise to bring hell to heaven itself. Dante realizes he cannot stop Lucifer on his own, and using every bit of faith in himself he begs to sacrifice his own soul to prevent Lucifer from moving into Purgatory, repenting his sins and begs for forgiveness and the power to trap Lucifer with him forever. Upon hearing cries for repentance in a sacred and dark place, Lucifer runs back, trying to stop Dante from making this pact; however, he is stopped by a powerful force of light that freezes him solid. Free to move on, Dante dives into the well that would send him to Purgatory, to be with Beatrice. "Neither completely living, nor completely dead" as he puts it. That night the sins he ripped off his chest had transformed into a serpent who is believed to be Lucifer waiting to get his revenge.

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Cast
J. Grant Albrecht - Ciacco, Farinata Uberti Stephen Apostolina Steven Blum - Lucifer Vanessa Branch - Beatrice Charlotte Cornwell - Nessus, Lust Minion #3 Wendy Cutler Grey DeLisle - Lust Minion #1 Greg Ellis - Plato Nika Futterman - Female Prisoner H. Richard Greene - Socrates, King Richard I Nicholas Guest - Demon Priest Mark Hamill - Alighiero (Dante's father) Peter Jessop - Virgil John Paul Karliak - Avenger Vanessa Marshall - Lust Minion #2 Bart McCarthy - Fillipo Agenti Graham McTavish - Dante Shelley O'Neil - Child Kevin Michael Richardson - King Minos, Phelgyas Lia Sargent Mark Sussman Tom Tate - Francesco Victoria Tennant - Bella Dave Zyler -

Crew
Charlie Adler - Voice Director

Development
The film was animated by Film Roman who also animated Dead Space: Downfall, which was also based on an EA game. The film's story was written by Jonathan Knight, EA and Visceral Games's executive producer, and the film was produced by Joe Goyette. The Japanese animation studio Production IG helped animate hell. A total of six animation studios were involved with the film. The film is directed by Mike Disa, and written by Brandon Auman. It was released on February 9, 2010. During the film's credits, it says Mark Hamill played Dante's father.

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Reception
Rotten Tomatoes gave the movie a rating of 73%. ANIMENEWSNETWORK gave the movie an Overall : B-

External links
Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic [1] at the Internet Movie Database Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic [2] at the Big Cartoon DataBase Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic [3] (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia and Details: Anchor Bay's Animated Dante's Inferno Feature [4] Animated Dante's Inferno on the Way [5] Dantes Inferno: An Animated Epic Comes to [6]

References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] http:/ / www. imdb. com/ title/ tt1401113/ http:/ / www. bcdb. com/ bcdb/ cartoon. cgi?film=114409/ http:/ / www. animenewsnetwork. com/ encyclopedia/ anime. php?id=11635 http:/ / www. dreadcentral. com/ news/ 34902/ -and--details-anchor-bays-animated-dantes-inferno-feature http:/ / www. dreadcentral. com/ news/ 31064/ animated-dantes-inferno-way

[6] http:/ / www. horror-movies. ca/ horror_17190. html

Dante Symphony
A Symphony to Dante's Divine Comedy, S.109, or simply the "Dante Symphony", is a program symphony composed by Franz Liszt. Written in the high romantic style, it is based on Dante Alighieri's journey through Hell and Purgatory, as depicted in The Divine Comedy. It was premiered in Dresden in November 1857, with Liszt himself conducting, and was unofficially dedicated to the composer's friend and future son-in-law Richard Wagner. The entire symphony takes approximately 52 minutes to perform.

Overview
The principal themes for the work had been sketched as far back as 1847; however, serious work on the symphony did not begin until mid-1855. Most of it was completed within the next year. Thus, work on the Dante Symphony roughly coincided with work on Liszt's other symphonic masterpiece, the Faust Symphony, which was inspired by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust drama. For this reason, and because they are the only full-scale symphonies Liszt ever composed (though certainly not his only symphonic works), the Dante and Faust symphonies are often recorded together. Liszt's intention was to compose the work in three movementsone each for the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. However, Wagner persuaded Liszt that no earthly composer could faithfully express the joys of Paradise. Liszt dropped the third movement but added a choral Magnificat at the end of the second. This action, some critics claim, effectively destroyed the work's balance, leaving the listener, like Dante, gazing upward at the heights of Heaven and hearing its music from afar.[1] Moreover, Liszt scholar Humphrey Searle argues, while Liszt may have felt more at home portraying the infernal regions than the celestial ones, the task of portraying Paradise in music would likely have not been beyond his powers.[2]

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Instrumentation
This symphony is scored for piccolo (doubling 3rd flute in the second movement), 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets in B and A, bass clarinet in B and A, 2 bassoons, 4 horns in F, 2 trumpets in B and D, 2 tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani (requiring two players), cymbals, bass drum, tamtam, two harps (the second harp only in the second movement), strings, harmonium (second movemenent only), and soprano and alto choir (second movement only).

Movements
Some critics have argued that the Dante Symphony is not so much a symphony in the classical sense as it is two descriptive symphonic poems.[3] Regardless, Dante consists of two movements, both in a loosely structured ternary form with little use of thematic transformation.[4]

First Movement: Inferno

The first movement opens with a single unaccompanied melodic line in the brass and low strings. A drum-roll is quietly introduced and gradually builds to fortissimo and, after a brief silence, the full orchestra joins in. According to the score, which is in many places inscribed with passages from Dante, this is a musical rendition of the words inscribed over the gates of Hell: Abandon all hope, ye who enter here; the music is accordingly bleak, dark, and turbulent. After passing through the gates, the first themea descending chromatic scaleis promptly introduced by the strings:

The "Descent" Theme This extended chromatic line, because of its atonal nature, conveys a sense of urgency and tension. The theme is played twice before being passed around the orchestra and is meant to represent Dante's descent into the lower realms of Hell. It returns periodically throughout the Inferno movement (in various forms) and provides an important driving force behind the music, pushing the symphony closer and closer to its literary climax, the frozen floor of hell. The tempo gradually increases from Lento to Allegro frenetico, whereupon a second theme is introduced by the violins:

Theme "B" This theme is then shortly echoed by the brass as the strings again take up the first theme. Both feature prominently in the music and are thrown around the orchestra piece by piece as though in a whirlwind, as the tempo continues to quicken until finally reaching Presto molto. At the height of the storm, the third and final theme of Part A appears:

Theme "C"

Dante Symphony It is viciously answered by the two previous themes and the climax occurs with a final flourish from the full orchestra. The music begins to dissipate and the original Lento tempo, accompanied by drum beats, reasserts itself. The movement then proceeds to Part B.

172

Second Movement: Purgatorio - Magnificat

This section primarily manifests the liturgial atmosphere of Dante's Purgatorio. The first movement had contained numerous descriptive passages, but here only the opening Andante section (which is also marked Tranquillo) functions as descriptive music.

Reception
Bernard Shaw, reviewing the work in 1885, criticized it heavily, complaining that the manner in which the program was presented by Liszt could just as well represent "a London house when the kitchen chimney is on fire". He then notes that the symphony is "extremely loud", mentioning the fortissimo trombones, that later repeat at fff.[5] On the other hand, James Huneker called the work "the summit of his creative power and the ripest fruit of that style of programme music".[6]

References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Searle, New Grove, 11:45. Searle, "Orchestral," 310-11. Ewen, 517. Temperley, New Grove, 18:460. Shaw, Bernard (1978). The great composers: reviews and bombardments. University of Caliifornia Press. pp.131134. ISBN9780520032668. [6] Garvin, Harry Raphael (1981). Literature, arts, and religion. Bucknell University Press. p.165. ISBN9780838750216.

Bibliography
Calvocoressi, M. D. (1925). "Liszt's 'Dante' Symphony and Tone Poems." The Musical Times 66 (988): 505-507. ed. Ewen, David, The Complete Book on Classical Music (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1965). Library of Congress Card Catalog Number 65-11033 ed Sadie, Stanley, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, First Edition (London: Macmillian, 1980). ISBN 0-333-23111-2 MacDonald, Hugh, "Symphonic poem" Searle, Humphrey, "Liszt, Franz" Temperley, Nicholas, "Symphony (II)" ed Sadie, Stanley, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition (London: Macmillian, 2001). ISBN 0-333-60800-3 Walker, Alan, "Liszt, Franz" Searle, Humphrey. "Franz Liszt" in The Symphony, Volume One: Haydn to Dvorak. Ed. Robert Simpson. 3 Vols. London, UK: Redwood Press Limited, 1972. 262-274. ISBN 0-7153-5523-6 ed. Walker, Alan, Franz Liszt: The Man and His Music (New York: Taplinger Publkishing Company, 1970). SBN 8008-2990-5 Searle, Humphrey, "The Orchestral Works"

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External links
Dante Symphony, full score and parts (Liszt, S.109): Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project. Dante Symphony, 2 piano arrangement (Liszt, S.648): Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project. Franz Liszt's Dante Symphony (http://classyclassical.blogspot.com/2005/10/franz-liszts-dante-symphony. html) Analysis and description of Franz Liszt's Dante Symphony A Symphony to Dante (http://www.americansymphony.org/dialogues_extensions/2001_02season/ 2001_1_25/liszt.cfm) Description of the symphony

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Demon Lord Dante

Demon Lord Dante

Cover of Mao Dante #2 (2002 series), published by d/visual (Ma Dante) Genre Horror, Action, Science-Fiction Manga Mao Dante Writtenby Publishedby Demographic Magazine Original run Volumes Go Nagai Kodansha Shnen Bokura Magazine January 1, 1971 June1,1971 3 Manga Shin Mao Dante Writtenby Go Nagai (original work) Akira Fuuga LEED Shjo Kyofu no Yakata DX 1994 1996 8 Manga Mao Dante Writtenby Publishedby Demographic Magazine Original run Volumes Go Nagai Kodansha Seinen Magazine Z March 2002 October2003 4

Publishedby Demographic Magazine Original run Volumes

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TV anime Directedby Studio Licensedby Network Original run Episodes Kenichi Maejima Dante Project, Dynamic Planning Geneon AT-X, Animax 31 August 2002 23 November 2002 13

Demon Lord Dante ( Ma Dante) is the title of several horror-themed manga series written by Go Nagai as well as an anime series. During 1971, Go Nagai wrote the original Demon Lord Dante manga, which was published in Kodansha's Bokura Magazine. After its original run in 1971 from January to June, Go Nagai went on to author the Devilman anime and manga, which was greatly inspired by Demon Lord Dante. However, the series received a remake in 1994 by illustrator Akira Fuuga called Shin Ma Dante ( lit. The True Devil Lord Dante). In 2002, the comic series was officially revived for another remake by Go Nagai, and during the same year a 13 episode anime adaption was created and broadcast worldwide by Animax.

Story
Anime
A Satan cult, whose leaders are demons in human form, begin to gather a black mass in hopes of reviving an ancient demon known as Dante with a virgin sacrifice. Ry Utsugi, a high school student, begins suffering strange dreams and premonitions. Soon after, Ry's sister, Saori, is kidnapped by these cultists for use in their sacrificial ceremony, Ry's premonitions guide him to the ceremony and he saves her prior to the cultist's ceremony disrupted by militant christians. Believing that Ry's new-found powers could ultimately awaken Dante, the cultists cause a chain of events that lures Ry high into the mountains, where he discovers a portal that takes him deep into the Himalayas and into Dante's prison. Using telekinetic powers, Dante uses Ry to free himself from his ice prison before eating the human alive as the cultists used a princess to once more perform the black mass to summon Dante with success. However, through reasons unknown, Dante's consciousness has been conquered by Ry who rampages Nagoya before coming to and blinded by the rage of his new body. But the rampage ended when Ryo/Dante encounters Zenon, an old friend of Dante's who became a slave of God and died fighting Dante. Eventually, Ry encounters the leader of the cultists who tells him that his birth family was killed in a car accident and his father, who is both a doctor and a leader of a rival cult dedicated to God's will, was the one who saved him, making both Saori and him unrelated by blood. In realiation to Dante's release, the followers of God unlease the four demon lords as they wreak havoc on the city, such as draining the life force of humans, causing a train wreck, etc. to gain Dante's attention. He also meets the demon Medusa, who assumes the form of a supermodel named Saeko Kodai. As the story progresses, it is finally revealed that Ryo is actually an incarnation of Dante when he was human. It turned out that Sodom and Gomorrah were a futuristic utopia under the rule of Satan. However, God, an energy-based being came to Earth and demanded to use the people of Sodom as hosts for its power. When Satan and the people refuse to comply, God proceeds to use animals as vessels to destroy Sodom, an action that resulted in many of its occupants turned into their current demonic forms from being exposed to the residual energies. The survivors of Gomorrah, the last actual humans in existence, became the Satanists who allied themselves with the Demons to fight God who took residence in apes and jump-started their evolution into the current human race. Near the end of the conflict that followed, as Satan both sealed himself within another dimension, Dante transferred his

Demon Lord Dante human body and soul to Judas Iscariot and Ryo Utsugi respectively to keep fighting after he was sealed. With Ryo finally regaining his memories as Dante while in Sodom and Gomorrah, he teams up with the cultists and plans to finally take vengeance upon God for his sins while releasing Satan. However, God deceides to jumpstart the apocalypse, gathering the pieces of itself within humans to reform, as the humans ultimately destroy themselves, while taking Saori to make her the ultimate weapon under his control to smite all the demons. After Dante/Ryo succeed in destroying the first form which was a large serpent featuring twisted parodies of Adam and Eve, she transforms into an angelic knight with Saori's body placed in its forehead. She battles Ryo fiercely before managing to break God's hold over her. But ultimately, along with the demons' creation, this was all part of God's design as they were collectively his trump Adam and Eve, their embrace destroying the world and scattering God back into space to find another world to repeat the cycle of conflict among its native lifeforms. The final scene of the show shows them holding hands and walking in what seems to be a prehistoric version of the Garden of Eden.

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Characters
Ryo Utsugi (}Utsugi Ryo): The main protagonist of the series. At first, Ryo is an average, but brooding high school student who constantly has nightmares about Dante. When he is spirited away to the Himalayas during a hiking trip, Ryo is manipulated by Dante's demon form to free him, resulting in Dante brutally murdering Ryo. Fortunately Ryo is able to overcome Dante's influence and is granted the demon's power, much to Ryo's dismay. As the story progresses, Ryo develops a crush on his sister Saori and discovers that he was actually the survivor of a car accident in which his real parents were killed in years prior to the main story, making him unrelated to his "sister." He also learns that he is actually the human avatar of Dante while assuming the image Dante once had as a human in Sodom. With his memories restored by Medusa, Ryo finally accepts being Dante and resolves to fight against God for the massacre of Sodom and Gomorrah Ryo possesses two forms while transforming into the demon version of Dante. One is the form Dante assumed during God's attack on Sodom and the other is a small, human sized version reminiscent of Akira Fudo's Devilman form in the early anime/manga. Demon Lord Dante ( Ma Dante): The most powerful of the demons, a large blue monster with bird legs, chiropteran wings, and the face of his human form in the center of his head. In his early life, Dante was a human in the futuristic Sodom where he was in love with Medusa and was actually good friends with the cultists and Satan the wise one. When God attacked Sodom, Dante pilots a powerful jet fighter in an attempt to buy time for his friends to escape, but is grabbed by a Pteranodon. Careening into a nearby Tyrannosaurus Rex, Dante was left open to be consumed in God's fires, causing him to be fused with his jet and the two prehistoric reptiles to create his current form. Later in a confrontation with God at the Himalayas, Dante was sealed in ice. However, losing his memories as a result of his counter to his sealing, Dante transferred his human body to Judas Iscariot and then his soul to Ryo Utsugi moments after the car accident which killed Ryo's real parents, reviving the child as an extension of himself. After he uses Ryo to break the seal, Dante proceeds to eat Ryo as his usual means of obtaining knowledge. However, in an unforseen turn of events, Ryo's consciousness took over Dante's body. Dante's powers include, but not limited to super sonic flight, fast healing, a very high resistance to heat, fire balls and flames from the mouth, radioactive and electric body rays, sonic screaming, and eye lasers. Saori Utesgi (): Ryo's younger sister.

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Demons
Medusa ( Medsa): Dante's lover during his years in Sodom, escaping the city's destruction while turned into a demon in the form of a nude woman who uses her hair as a weapon and turn her enemies to stone. She assumed the human form of a supermodel named Saeko Kodai in present, helping Ryo regain his memories as Dante. She plays an instrumental part in freeing Satan the wise one from his prison at the end of the anime, but dies in the process while she caught a final glimpse of Satan the wise one. Medusa is speculated to be a prototype of the antagonist Sirene from Devilman. Demon Lord Satan ( Ma Satan): Also known as Satan the Wise One, he appears in the form of a young blond human in futuristic attire and is one Demon whose body is less altered, with horns and six bat like seraphim wings while he was imprisoned in ice. In Sodom, he was the benevolent ruler of Sodom and Gomorrah who was asked by God to hand over the bodies of the cities' population. When Satan refused to sacrifice the human population for God's selfish agenda, God retaliated by sending numerous demons to attack the city. Satan and Dante, along with Dante's friends, escaped and Satan sealed himself within another dimension after Dante was sealed in ice. Satan is later freed by Medusa who dies in the process and becomes an instrumental part in fighting against Saori who became an angelic weapon during the series' finale, learning God's true nature yet powerless to stop it. He appears to be a prototype of Ryo Asuka from the Devilman series and seems to be based upon Dante's Satan in the Divine Comedy. Beelzebub (): An insectoid demon, Beelzebub was Dante's mentor during their days in Sodom. While preparing for Dante's return, posing as the Romanian professor and Satanist cult leader Professor Veil Zebub (), Beelzebub was assassinated before his corpse was later revived by his followers as he oversees the sacrificial murders that would summon Dante. Eventually, Beelzebub eventually teams up with Dante/Ryo during the final confrontation with God and is killed during the final battle. Astarot ( Astrato): His true form is a centaur-like demon who died protecting Dante from the God-controlled Saori. Samael ( Semaeru): One of the cultists who acquired the powers of demons. He appears in demon form as an anthropomorphic caterpillar with three heads. He is soon killed after Adam and Even absorb his body when he tried to attack them. Carne ( Kaane): Gujion (): His true form is a panther with a brain-like head. He is killed while fighting the Four Devil Kings. Ura: A female member of the cultists, her Demon form that of a bird woman. She is killed during the final battle. Demon Beast Zenon ( Maj Zenon): Also known as Zenon, King of a Hundred Beasts, he was Dante's friend during their days in Sodom. He appears as a wolf-headed giant with eyes on his chest and an army of demon animals at his command. While Dante and Satan were sealed in ice, Zenon was forced into serving God so he not suffer their fate under the promise he would be reincarnated as god-like being. Posing as a tarot card reader, Zenon used his connections to the Satanists to tip their enemies before being found out. Though spared by Veil so he can see his old friend brought back, Zenon tries to kill Ryo/Dante when his attempts to get him not to reconsider fighting God falls on deaf ears and he dies against him in battle, his last words a warning of God's trump card. Four Devil Kings: A quartet of horse-riding Devils that follow God, composed of Shi (), the spider demoness Lamia ( Ramia), Sakushi (), and Kujinba (). Released, they proceed to kill and maim any human they come across to lure Dante out. However, during Lamia's Labyrinth scheme, Dante manages to rip Lamia to pieces while the other three demon lords were killed during the fight.

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Episodes
1. Nightmare ( Akumu) 2. Ritual ( Gishiki) 3. Resurrection ( Fukkatsu) 4. Madness ( Kyran) 5. Fate ( Unmei) 6. Herald () 7. Encounter ( Kaik) 8. Disbelief ( Fushin) 9. Labyrinth ( Maky) 10. Encroachment ( Kamiryaku) 11. Saori () 12. The Unbreakable Weapon ( Kychi, Adversity) 13. Consummation ( Shen, End)

Cast
Japanese Version
Narrator: Hiroya Ishimaru Ryo Utsugi: Susumu Chiba Saori Utusugi: Sanae Kobayashi Saeko Kodai/Medusa: Rie Ishizuka Kosuke Utsugi: Takehiro Koyama Sosuke Oshiba: Takahiro Sakurai Ura: Jun Karasawa Samael: Mitsuru Ogata Satan: Nachi Nozawa Lamia: Rumi Ochiai Zenon: Shigeru Shibuya Shea: Takashi Nagasako Tamiko Tsugi: Rei Igarashi

English Version
Narrator: David Sanford Ryo Utsugi: Jimmy Keegan Dante: Kaleo Sallas Saori Utusugi: Beth Ginnett Saeko Kodai/Medusa: Linda Borg Veil Zebub: Lawrence Darrow Kosuke Utsugi: Scott Burnett Sosuke Oshiba: Ross Lawrence Ura: Carmel Helene Samael: Tom Patrick Zenon: Ted Hartsook

Tamiko Tsugi: Jeni Good

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External links
Demon Lord Dante [1] (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia

References
[1] http:/ / www. animenewsnetwork. com/ encyclopedia/ anime. php?id=1266

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L'Inferno (film)
L'Inferno

Directed by Written by Starring

Giuseppe de Liguoro Dante Alighieri (The Divine Comedy) Salvatore Papa Arturo Pirovano Giuseppe de Liguoro Augusto Milla Helios

Distributed by

Release date(s) March 10, 1911 Running time Country Language 68 minutes Italy Silent film

L'Inferno is a 1911 silent film by Giuseppe de Liguoro, loosely adapted from Dante's The Divine Comedy. L'Inferno was first screened in Naples in the Teatro Mercadante on March 10, 1911. The film took over three years to make and was the first full-length Italian feature film ever made. The film was an international success, taking more than $2 million in the United States alone. It is considered by many scholars and fans as being the finest film adaptation of Dante's work to date. The first music score for the film was written by Raffaele Caravaglios. The film was released on DVD in 2004, with a score by Tangerine Dream. The popularity of Tangerine Dream has helped the sales of the DVD. Another DVD, based on a version restored by Cineteca di Bologna in 2006, was published in 2011 with an original soundtrack by Edison Studio in Cinema Ritrovato [1] collection. Nancy Mitford recorded seeing the film in Italy in 1922, referring to it as Dante. She records that it lasted from 9 until 12.15 including two intervals. She details many of the deaths and tortures. Her description in her letter home is copied in her biography "Nancy Mitford" by Harold Acton.[2]

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References
[1] http:/ / cinestore. cinetecadibologna. it/ bookshop/ dettaglio/ 47 [2] Acton, Harold (2010). Nancy Mitford. Gibson Square. ISBN9781906142575.

External links
L'Inferno (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0002130/) at the Internet Movie Database L'Inferno (http://www.allrovi.com/movies/movie/v142676) at AllRovi

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Italian battleship Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri on 29 March 1914. Career (Italy) Name: Namesake: Builder: Laid down: Launched: Completed: Struck: Fate: Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (c.1265-1321), Italian poet Castellammare RN yard 6 June 1909 20 August 1910 15 January 1913 1 July 1928 Scrapped General characteristics Type: Displacement: Length: Beam: Draught: Propulsion: Speed: Range: Complement: Armament: Battleship 19,552 tons standard, 21,600 tons full load 168.1 m 26.6 m 8.8 m 4 shaft Parsons geared turbines, 23 boilers (7 oil fired, 16 mixed fired) 32,000 hp 22 knots (41km/h) 4800 nautical miles (8890km) at 10 knots (19km/h) 981

12 - 305 mm (12 inch) guns (4x3) 20 - 120 mm guns (4x2 turrets and 12 x1 casemates 13 - 76 mm guns 3 - 450 mm torpedo tubes

Armour:

Krupp cemented armour

Belt 254 mm Deck: 38 mm Conning tower 305 mm Turrets: 254 mm Secondary battery 98 mm

Dante Alighieri was the first dreadnought battleship built for the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy). Named after the medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri, she was the first ship built with triple gun turrets for the main armament. She was laid down by Castellammare Regia Marina shipyard on 6 June 1909, launched on 20 August 1910, and

Italian battleship Dante Alighieri completed on 15 January 1913. Dante Alighieri served during World War I and was stricken on 1 July 1928 to comply with the Washington Naval Treaty, the first Italian dreadnought other than the sunken Leonardo da Vinci to leave active service. She subsequently was scrapped.

183

Dante Alighieri

Aerial view

References
Notes Source Faccaroli, Aldo (1970). Italian Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN0-7110-010-5. Gardiner, Robert. ed. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0-87021-907-3.

External links
page from Warships on the web (http://web.ukonline.co.uk/aj.cashmore/italy/battleships/dantealighieri/ dantealighieri.html) page in Russian Language (http://ship.bsu.by/main.asp?id=100814)

184

Further reading
Allegory in the Middle Ages
Allegory in the Middle Ages was a vital element in the synthesis of Biblical and Classical traditions into what would become recognizable as Medieval culture. People of the Middle Ages consciously drew from the cultural legacies of the ancient world in shaping their institutions and ideas, and so allegory in Medieval literature and Medieval art was a prime mover for the synthesis and transformational continuity between the ancient world and the "new" Christian world.[1] People of the Middle Ages did not see the same break between themselves and their classical predecessors that modern observers see; rather, they saw continuity with themselves and the ancient world, using allegory as a synthesizing agent that brings together a whole image.[1]

Four types of allegory

There were four categories of allegory used in the Middle Ages, which had originated with the Bible commentators of the early Christian Noah and the "baptismal flood" of the Old era.[2] The first is simply the literal interpretation of the events of the Testament (top panel) is "typologically linked" story for historical purposes with no underlying meaning. The second (prefigured) by the baptism of Jesus in the New Testament (bottom panel). is called typological, which is connecting the events of the Old Testament with the New Testament; in particular drawing allegorical connections between the events of Christ's life with the stories of the Old Testament. The third is moral (or tropological), which is how one should act in the present, the "moral of the story". The fourth type of allegory is anagogical, dealing with the future events of Christian history, heaven, hell, the last judgment; it deals with prophecies. Thus the four types of allegory deal with past events (literal), the connection of past events with the present (typology), present events (moral), and the future (anagogical).[2] (The paragraphs above do not seem to distinguish between typology and allegory, but there is an important distinction. This distinction is debated, but there are many books and articles published on the topic. See for example, the collection edited by John Whitman entitled Interpretation and Allegory: Antiquity to the Modern Period.) Dante describes the four meanings, or senses, of allegory in his epistle to Can Grande della Scala. He says the allegories of his work are not simple, but:

Rather, it may be called "polysemous", that is, of many senses [allegories]. A first sense derives from the letters themselves, and a second from the things signified by the letters. We call the first sense "literal" sense, the second the "allegorical", or "moral" or "anagogical". To clarify this method of treatment, consider this verse: When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people: Judea was made his sanctuary, Israel his dominion (Psalm 113). Now if we examine the letters alone, the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt in the time of Moses is signified; in the allegory, our redemption accomplished through Christ; in the moral sense, the conversion of the soul from the grief and misery of sin to the state of grace; in the anagogical sense, the exodus of the holy soul from slavery of this corruption to the freedom of eternal glory.. they can all be called allegorical.

Allegory in the Middle Ages Medieval allegory began as a Christian method for synthesizing the discrepancies between the Old Testament and the New Testament.[1] While both testaments were studied and seen as equally divinely inspired by God, the Old Testament contained discontinuities for Christiansfor example the Jewish kosher laws.[1] The Old Testament was therefore seen in relation to how it would predict the events of the New Testament, in particular how the events of the Old Testament related to the events of Christs life. The events of the Old Testament were seen as part of the story, with the events of Christ's life bringing these stories to a full conclusion. The technical name for seeing the New Testament in the Old is called typology. One example of typology is the story of Jonah and the whale from the Old Testament.[1] Medieval allegorical interpretation of this story is that it prefigures Christ's burial, with the stomach of the whale as Christ's tomb. Jonah was eventually freed from the whale after three days, so did Christ rise from his tomb after three days. Thus, whenever one finds an allusion to Jonah in Medieval art or literature, it is usually an allegory for Christ rises from the tomb, alongside Jonah spit onto the beach, a the burial and resurrection of Christ. Another common typological allegory. typological allegory is with the four major Old testament prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. These four prophets prefigure the four Apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. There was no end to the number of analogies that commentators could find between stories of the Old Testament and the New. There also existed a tradition in the Middle Ages of mythography -- the allegorical interpretation of pagan myths.[2] Virgil's Aeneid and Ovid's Metamorphoses were standard textbooks throughout the Middle Ages, and each had a long tradition of allegorical interpretation. "An illustrative example can be found in Siena in a painting of Christ on the cross (Sano di Pietro's Crucifix, 15th c). At the top of the cross can be seen a bird pecking its own breast, blood pouring forth from the wound and feeding its waiting chicks below. This is the pelican whose "story" was told by the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder. Thus by analogy to a "pagan" source, Christ feeds his own children with his own blood." Allegory was even seen in the natural world, as animals, plants, and even non-living things were interpreted in books called bestiaries as symbols of Biblical figures and morals.[2] For example, in one bestiary stags are compared to people devoted to the Church, because (according to medieval zoology) they leave their pastures for other (heavenly) pastures, and when they come to broad rivers (sin) they form in line and each rests its head on the haunches of the next (supporting each other by example and good works), speeding across the waters together.[3]

185

History of allegory
Late Antiquity
The allegorizing trait in interpretation of the Hebrew Bible was attempted first by a prominent Hellenized Jew of Alexandria, Philo Judaeus, whose allegorical reading synthesized the traditional Jewish narratives with neoplatonism. Philo's allegorizing had little effect in later Jewish thought, in part because the Jewish culture of Alexandria had dispersed by the fourth century, but Christian writers took up the allegorized interpretations that read the Old Testament as a series of prefigurations of the New Testament,[4] in a time when rhetorical training was common, when the classics of mythology were still standard teaching texts, when the Greek and Roman pantheon of gods were still visible forms (if not always fully recognized by the more learned populace), and when the new religions such as Christianity adopted or rejected pagan elements by way of allegoresis (the study and interpretation of allegory).

Allegory in the Middle Ages The first Christian purely allegorical freestanding work, Psychomachia ("Soul-War"), was written about AD 400 by Prudentius.[1] The plot consists of the personified 'good' virtues of Hope, Sobriety, Chastity, Humility, etc. fighting the personified 'evil' vices of Pride, Wrath, Paganism, Avarice, etc. The personifications are women, because in Latin words for abstract concepts are in the feminine gender; an uninformed reader of the work might take the story literally as a tale of many angry women fighting one another, because Prudentius provides no context or explanation of the allegory.[1] In this same period of the early 5th century three other authors of importance to the history of allegory emerged: Claudian, Macrobius and Martianus Capella. Little is known of these authors, even if they were truly Christian or not, but we do know they handed down the inclination to express learned material in allegorical form, mainly through personification, which later became a standard part of medieval schooling methods.[2] Claudian's first work In Rufinum was an attack against the ruthless Rufinus and would become a model for the 12th century Anticlaudianus, a well known allegory for how to be an upstanding man. As well his Rape of Prosperpine was a litany of mythological allegories, personifications, and cosmological allegories.[2] Macrobius wrote Commentary of the Dream of Scipio providing the Middle Ages with the tradition of a favorite topic, the allegorical treatment of dreams.[2] Lastly Martianus wrote Marriage of Philology and Mercury, the title referring to the allegorical union of intelligent learning with the love of letters. It contained short treatises on the "seven liberal arts" (grammar, rhetoric, dialectic, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, music) and thus became a standard textbook, greatly influencing educators and students throughout the Middle Ages.[2] Lastly, perhaps the most influential author of Late Antiquity was Boethius, in whose work Consolation of Philosophy we are first introduced to the personified Lady Philosophy, the source of innumerable later such personified figures (Lady Luck, etc..)[2]

186

Early Middle Ages

After Boethius there exists no known work of allegory literature until the 12th century. Although allegorical thinking, elements and artwork abound during this period, it was not until the rise of the Medieval university in the High Middle Ages that sustained allegorical literature appears again.[2]

High and Late Middle Ages

The earliest works were by Bernard Silvestris (Cosmographia, 1147), and Alanus ab Insulis (Plaint of Nature, 1170, and Anticlaudianus) who pioneered the use of allegory (mainly personification) for abstract speculation on metaphysics and scientific questions. The High and Late Middle Ages saw many allegorical works and techniques. There were four 'great' works from this period.[2] The Four Great Medieval Allegories Le Roman de la Rose. A major allegorical work, it had many lasting influences on western literature, creating entire new genres and development of vernacular languages. The Divine Comedy. Amongst the greatest medieval works, both allegorically and as a work of literature, which was (and remains) hugely popular. Piers Plowman. An encyclopedic array of allegorical devices. Dream-vision; pilgrimage; personification; satire; typological story structure (the dreamer's progress mirrors the progress of biblical history from the Fall of Adam to Apocalypse). Pearl. A plot based on an anagogical allegory; a dreamer is introduced to heavenly Jerusalem. Focus on the meaning of death. A religious response to Consolation of Philosophy.

Allegory in the Middle Ages

187

Notes
[1] [2] [3] [4] William R. Cook and Ronald B. Herzman (2001). Discovering the Middle Ages. The Teaching Company. ISBN 1-56585-701-1 Stephen A. Barney (1989). "Allegory". Dictionary of the Middle Ages. vol-1. ISBN 0-684-16760-3 The Book of Beasts, trans. T. H. White Norman F. Cantor, The Civilization of the Middle Ages, 1993:40.

References
Stephen A. Barney (1989). "Allegory". Dictionary of the Middle Ages. vol-1. ISBN 0-684-16760-3 William R. Cook and Ronald B. Herzman (2001). "Discovering the Middle Ages". The Teaching Company. ISBN 1-56585-701-1 Sylvia Huot. Allegorical Play in the Old French Motet. Stanford, 1997.

Article Sources and Contributors

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Dante Alighieri Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=457240488 Contributors: 0, 151.24.146.xxx, 151.24.191.xxx, 1exec1, 28421u2232nfenfcenc, 64.16.232.xxx, A blight unto the world., A. di M., ACZ8, Abie the Fish Peddler, Acroterion, Adam Bishop, Addshore, Aethralis, Agusk7, Ahoerstemeier, Aishaw4, Aitias, Alansohn, Alcmaeonid, Alejo2083, Alekjds, Aleksd, Alex Middleton, Alexander Iwaschkin, AliOop, Allhailtoyin, Allstarecho, Alsandro, Ambarish, Ambrosius007, An Siarach, Anaxial, Andre Engels, Andrea.gf, Andrew Norman, AngelOfSadness, Anonymous Dissident, Anonymous from the 21th century, Antandrus, Antonio Lopez, Antrophica, Aranel, Aristophanes68, Arryman 6, Artimaean, Asclepius, Assianir, Attack of t3h videogamer!, Attilios, Au n1, Aunt Entropy, Auntof6, Avariato, Aveglia, Avendare, Avicennasis, Ayla, Aznerd11, BD2412, Backbone321, Bainsa16, Baldwin, Bart133, Baseball Watcher, Bdesham, BeatrixBelibaste, Ben-Zin, Berek, Bergerj, Bibliomaniac15, Big Bird, Bill Thayer, Black-Velvet, Blah28948, Blcarson, Blobby123456789, Blood sliver, BlueX31, Bobblewik, Bobo192, Bodnotbod, Bonzo1980, Bookermorgan, BrianFG, Broletto, Brona, Bury Medved, Byrial, CWii, Cabe6403, Cadr, Calsicol, Caltas, Calvin 1998, Canadian-Bacon, CanadianLinuxUser, Carjoyg, Carolynthelibrarian, Caspertheghost, Cassmus, Cdc, Celithemis, Ceoil, Cfortunato, Charles Matthews, CharlotteWebb, CheesemonkeyFrenchperson, Chodorkovskiy, Chris j wood, Chris the speller, Chrislk02, Christian Historybuff, Chun-hian, Ciaoping, Clarelockhart, Closedmouth, CommonsDelinker, Contributor777, Conversion script, Cordless Larry, Cpl Syx, CrazyTerabyte, Crzrussian, Cuchullain, Cyberevil, D6, DARTH SIDIOUS 2, DJ Clayworth, DLand, DabMachine, Dahn, Dakilang Isagani, Dan100, Danger, Dante1111, Dante616, Darrellericktan2001, David0811, DavidBrooks, Davide41, Dawillia, Dawn Bard, Dcfleck, Dchosan, Deb, Decltype, Deconstructhis, Deepblackwater, Dekaels, Dekimasu, Delldot, Den fjttrade ankan, Deor, Der Golem, DerHexer, Derek Ross, DeuceBigalowMD, Discospinster, Djnjwd, Dkara, Dlaff, DocWatson42, Doktor Waterhouse, Donarreiskoffer, Dori, DoubleBlue, Dr. Blofeld, DreamGuy, Dreamer1872, Dryazan, DutchmanInDisguise, Dvyost, Dwp7k, Dysprosia, E0steven, Eagleeyez83, EamonnPKeane, Eco46, Ecphora, Ed La Pierre, Ed Poor, EdgeOfEternity, Edhegs, Edonovan, Efghij, El C, El aprendelenguas, Elfelix, EliasAlucard, Ellsworth, Elockid, Eloquence, Eog1916, Eoghanacht, Epbr123, Erculos, Erekrose, Errabee, Esparagon, Etacar11, Eubulides, EugeneZelenko, Excirial, Exiledone, Explendido Rocha, Eyas, F. 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Todeswalzer, Twsx, Vegetariani, Vendettax, Vgranucci, Wakuran, Wareh, Warhorus, Warren67, Weedle McHairybug, Wehwalt, Welsh, Wikianon, Willking1979, Zerokitsune, 268 anonymous edits Aprs une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=435312695 Contributors: Alton, Encor3, Headbomb, JackofOz, Leonard Vertighel, Magicpiano, Missmarple, Patrick Loiseleur, Princess Tiswas, Solti, Szalax, Tjako, 5 anonymous edits Dante crater Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=439753176 Contributors: Headbomb, I dream of horses, Johnbod, MER-C, Oloferne, RJHall, Skeptic2, Tedernst, 2 anonymous edits Dante Park Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=451243782 Contributors: Aekent, Alansohn, Bjones, Headbomb, Pharos, Tfine80, Transpoman, 5 anonymous edits The Divine Comedy (symphony) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=447027948 Contributors: Alvin Seville, BD2412, Bermudafire, DavidRF, Headbomb, Iridescent, MBisanz, Maaaps, Moonriddengirl, Paul A, SkeletorUK, Slysplace, Tijd-jp, Untitledmind72, 29 anonymous edits Dante's Inferno (1924 film) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=437108067 Contributors: Feydey, Fortdj33, Headbomb, Koplimek, Lotje, Lugnuts, Tjmayerinsf, Varlaam, Wool Mintons, 1 anonymous edits Dante's Inferno (1935 film) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=450573670 Contributors: AlphaPyro, Azazello&margherita, BD2412, Bmitchelf, Bobo192, Cbrown1023, Cutler, David Gerard, DavidA, Geniac, Goustien, Headbomb, Jbushnell, Johnleemk, Jozara98, Koumz, Lugnuts, MakeRocketGoNow, Ndgp, Nehrams2020, Pegship, Polisher of Cobwebs, Savolya, Skier Dude, Supernumerary, Tim1357, Tjmayerinsf, Treybien, Woohookitty, Wool Mintons, 12 anonymous edits Dante's Inferno (2007 film) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=450573987 Contributors: AlphaPyro, Bender235, Drmies, Fortdj33, Goodthing123, Goustien, Ground Zero, Headbomb, HiB2Bornot2B, Pixelface, Polisher of Cobwebs, Propaniac, Redvers, Sgeureka, Skier Dude, Sreejithk2000, Tim1357, Wool Mintons, , 10 anonymous edits Dante's Inferno (video game) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=454741483 Contributors: !Silent, 1985crider, 1wolfblake, A Nobody, A51Abductee, AMV72, Aidoflight, Aircorn, Aiuw, Alexius08, Allan5366, Anatkh, Annihalith, Aristophanes68, AustDan91, Avoided, BarretBonden, Bchristensen, Bernardo Rego, Big Johnno, Bilbo571, Billare, Bovineboy2008, Brinlong, BrokenSphere, Cabnnt, Calamity-Ace, Calibanu, Catcherinthecorn, Chaiswside, Ckfrosty, CommonsDelinker, Crazysane, Crimsonmargarine, D2843, Dalbster, Dancter, Dantekratos101, Darigan, Davidfricks, Davish Krail, Gold Five, Dayewalker, Dbrodbeck, Debresser, Drako1985, Dream Focus, Drmies, Drwhiners, Dsmithsmithy, Edible1, Erebus Morgaine, Erianna, Falcon9x5, Feudonym, Fractyl, Frecklefoot, Gamer24, GamerPro64, Gaminglegends, Gargaj, GeneralChan, Geoff B, Gotler, Grapple X, Green-eyed girl, GroundZ3R0 002, Gtfan6204, Haipa Doragon, Hamiltondaniel, Headbomb, Heatisgood, Hermiod, Hibana, IPAddressConflict, IndieboyLDN, Iupolisci, JDC808, Jabberwockgee, Jackson McArthur, Jagged 85, James Maxx, JamesBWatson, Jarkontaky, Jeff3000, Jenks24, Jinman11, Joaquin008, Jusdafax, Just dropped in13, Ken Gallager, KiasuKiasiMan, Killy mcgee, King Faisal 94, King Ruby, Kingnicholas, Kuneshka, L Kensington, LOL, LUUSAP, LilHelpa, Lnknprkmetora1, Loccus, Lord Mrakainus, Luigiman22, M1j2o3, Mager2030, Majorclanger, Maninorange, Manjel, Marasmusine, Marek69, Martarius, Master Deusoma, Mat wang, Mattqat, Maxofearlobes, McGeddon, Megazorro, MetaruKoneko, Mika1h, MikeAllen, Mikespoff, Mitsukai, Moneyries, Moshe Constantine Hassan Al-Silverburg, MuZemike, Mutomana, N. Harmonik, NLinpublic, New Age Retro Hippie, Nextreme, Nickin, Nitrolian, OrangeDog, OreL.D, Ottawa4ever, Ouija2k, Patriarch, Petersam, Petiatil, Pjau26, Planet-man828, Plastikspork, PsychoJosh, Rick lay95, Rnb, Rtkat3, Run4YourLife, Ryokuu, SYSS Mouse, SamisBond, Sancho Mandoval, Scorp27, Sdornan, Sercan0053, Serpiero, Sesu Prime, Shaiksper, ShelfSkewed, SiegfreidZ, Skuttdahn00life, SkyWalker, SmartSped, Snakeman5001, Snakes dk, Snkcube, Soetermans, SolanSarr, Someone another, Soporaeternus, Sr001, Stabby Joe, Stapleseatfresh, StealthMantis, Super Steve, TacitSilence, TaerkastUA, Tagasaki, Tallglassofaaron, Taschenrechner, Tasman116, Tetraedycal, The Editor 155, The Thing That Should Not Be, TheLastAmigo, Thirteen squared, ThisIsNotMyUsername91, Tide rolls, Trippz, Tsd084, Usws, VMS Mosaic, Victory93, Vingold, Wayfaringemu, WikipedianMarlith, Woohookitty, XXx Severus xXx, Xe7al, Xezbeth, Xsmasher, Yyyeeeaaahhh, Zellin, Zidane007nl, Zombie433, Zotdragon, , , 698 anonymous edits Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=457316796 Contributors: A Nobody, Andrzejbanas, Ask123, BigPaw, Bovineboy2008, Calamity-Ace, Headbomb, January2007, KH1MOVIE, Kricu2813, LilHelpa, Malcolma, Martarius, Mika1h, Mitsukai, Miyagawa, Rettetast, Rtkat3, ShortShadow, Slon02, Soetermans, Stapleseatfresh, The Editor 155, TheFarix, Tv's emory, UserNumberVII, Woohookitty, X201, 63 anonymous edits Dante Symphony Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=452169137 Contributors: Alton, Brambleclawx, Brighterorange, CenturionZ 1, Charles Matthews, Darev, Eroica, FordPrefect42, Funper, Headbomb, Johnbod, Jonyungk, Kyoko, Leonard Vertighel, Marcus2, Moloch981, Nrswanson, Omnipedian, PrometheusDesmotes, Riana, Rich Farmbrough, Solti, Todeswalzer, 12 anonymous edits Demon Lord Dante Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=455917005 Contributors: Alansohn, Andycjp, AnmaFinotera, Bikasuishin, C777, David Gerard, Dorftrottel, Dsmithsmithy, Fox816, Gaius Cornelius, Ganryuu, General Rommel, GoingBatty, Headbomb, Jecrell, Jfgslo, Johnkillingsworth, JustAGal, Kktor, Koavf, LilHelpa, Mark Lungo, Miss Ethereal, Olfstawark, Pjoef, Possum, Radagast83, RyanTing, Shin Kairi, Sirtao, Snarfies, Snowolf, Squilibob, TheFarix, Yapool Seijin, Yas, 53 anonymous edits L'Inferno (film) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=445496979 Contributors: Andrzejbanas, Binksternet, CrazyPhunk, Dr. Blofeld, EconomicsGuy, EraserGirl, Giovanni Terraboni, Goustien, Grey ghost, Headbomb, LostLeviathan, Lugnuts, Newone, OwenBlacker, Pegship, Prolog, Redrose64, Sailko, Skier Dude, Tim1357, Ziggurat, 8 anonymous edits Italian battleship Dante Alighieri Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=436549400 Contributors: Ala.foum, Aldis90, Andrwsc, Attilios, Bellhalla, Beyond My Ken, GraemeLeggett, Haus, Headbomb, Hello32020, Il palazzo, Jackie, Lightmouse, MBK004, Maralia, Mdnavman, Rich Farmbrough, SpellingGuru, Sturmvogel 66, Topbanana, 2 anonymous edits Allegory in the Middle Ages Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=431117808 Contributors: Aethralis, Agne27, Agrestis, Aristophanes68, BirgitteSB, Charles Matthews, Cmchenry72, Colonies Chris, D, Deor, Elizabeyth, FinnWiki, Flowerparty, Freederick, Gfoley4, Green Cardamom, Grenavitar, Headbomb, Heron, J04n, Jan1nad, JingaJenga, John of Reading, JonHarder, Junedodge, Kyoko, Little grape, Liz Henderson, Mel Etitis, Nehrams2020, Pharos, Pyrospirit, Ringsjodjuren, Rje, SimonP, StAnselm, Stbalbach, Stewartadcock, SummerWithMorons, Thu, Tpbradbury, Wareh, Wetman, Yudel, 36 anonymous edits

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File:Dante-alighieri.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dante-alighieri.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Bahatur, Fernando S. Aldado, Frank C. Mller, G.dallorto, PericlesofAthens, Sailko, Shakko, The does File:Dante alighieri, Palazzo dei Giudici.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dante_alighieri,_Palazzo_dei_Giudici.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: G.dallorto, Mac9, Micione, Sailko, Shakko File:Dante Alighieri01.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dante_Alighieri01.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: G.dallorto, JoJan, Micione File:Dante Luca.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dante_Luca.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Bukk, Fernando S. Aldado, Kilom691, Mattes, Micione, Sailko, Shakko, 1 anonymous edits File:Dante.deathmask.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dante.deathmask.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: G.dallorto, JoJan, Sailko, Shakko File:Dante Statue.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dante_Statue.JPG License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Gilliam, Jdesan001, 4 anonymous edits File:DanteFresco.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:DanteFresco.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: G.dallorto, Grenavitar, Man vyi, Mattes, Niki K, Sailko, Shakko, 1 anonymous edits File:Dantes tomb ravenna.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dantes_tomb_ravenna.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Contributors: User:Husky File:Santa Croce Firenze Apr 2008 (17).JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Santa_Croce_Firenze_Apr_2008_(17).JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0 Contributors: Gryffindor File:DanteDetail.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:DanteDetail.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Wetman File:Portrait de Dante.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Portrait_de_Dante.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: CO, Dantadd, Darwinius, Diwas, G.dallorto, Madden, Micione, Shakko, Thomas Gun, Twice25, 1 anonymous edits File:Statue of Dante, Verona.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Statue_of_Dante,_Verona.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Marek.69 File:Dante and beatrice.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dante_and_beatrice.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: G.dallorto, Husky, Irate, Kilom691, Mattes, Mayer Bruno, Memorato, Sailko, Shakko, Vanished user 001, 4 anonymous edits File:Michelino DanteAndHisPoem.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Michelino_DanteAndHisPoem.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: DenghiComm, G.dallorto, Iustinus, Jastrow, Man vyi, Mattes, Mayer Bruno, Niki K, Red devil 666, Sailko, Shakko, 1 anonymous edits File:MS Trivulziano 1080 incipit.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:MS_Trivulziano_1080_incipit.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Wareh File:Gustave Dor - Dante Alighieri - Inferno - Plate 9 (Canto III - Charon).jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gustave_Dor_-_Dante_Alighieri_-_Inferno_-_Plate_9_(Canto_III_-_Charon).jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Gustave Dor (1832 1883) File:Dante03.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dante03.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Fernando S. Aldado, Gwenaeth, Harperbruce, Mayer Bruno, Micione, Shakko, 1 anonymous edits File:Philipp Veit 004.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Philipp_Veit_004.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Goldfritha, Kresspahl, Micione, Sailko File:PalazzoTrinci016.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:PalazzoTrinci016.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0 Contributors: JoJan File:Illustration 240.gif Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Illustration_240.gif License: unknown Contributors: 84user, DivineDanteRay, Goustien File:Rodin TheKiss 20050609.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Rodin_TheKiss_20050609.JPG License: Public Domain Contributors: CAlan Image:Gustave Dore Inferno1.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gustave_Dore_Inferno1.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: 555, Maksim, Sailko, Shakko, Wikibob Image:Eugne Ferdinand Victor Delacroix 006.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Eugne_Ferdinand_Victor_Delacroix_006.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: EDUCA33E, Goldfritha, Himasaram, Mattes, Micione, Miniwark, Olivier2, Paris 16, Sailko, 2 anonymous edits File:Harrowhell.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Harrowhell.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Anonimous Image:Gianciotto Discovers Paolo and Francesca Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gianciotto_Discovers_Paolo_and_Francesca_Jean_Auguste_Dominique_Ingres.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Juanpdp, Kilom691, Lotsofissues, Mattes, Sailko, Superm401, Tsui, Wst, 1 anonymous edits File:Stradano Inferno Canto 06.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Stradano_Inferno_Canto_06.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Giovanni Stradano File:Cerbere.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cerbere.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Andreagrossmann, Andr Koehne, Bibi Saint-Pol, Butko, Dodo, Micione, Shakko, 2 anonymous edits File:Gustave Dor - Dante Alighieri - Inferno - Plate 22 (Canto VII - Hoarders and Wasters).jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gustave_Dor_-_Dante_Alighieri_-_Inferno_-_Plate_22_(Canto_VII_-_Hoarders_and_Wasters).jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Adam Cuerden, Herald Alberich, Infrogmation, Karlhahn, Kozuch, Takabeg, UpstateNYer, 1 anonymous edits File:Stradano Inferno Canto 08.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Stradano_Inferno_Canto_08.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Giovanni Stradano File:Stradano Inferno Map Lower.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Stradano_Inferno_Map_Lower.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Giovanni Stradano File:Torre dei gianfigliazzi, stemma gianfigliazzi 00.JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Torre_dei_gianfigliazzi,_stemma_gianfigliazzi_00.JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Contributors: sailko Image:Geryon.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Geryon.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: K-UNIT File:Jason and Medea - John William Waterhouse.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Jason_and_Medea_-_John_William_Waterhouse.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Fleance, Mattes, SolLuna File:Gustave Dore Inferno Canto 21.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gustave_Dore_Inferno_Canto_21.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Sailko, Shakko, Wikibob File:Gustave Dore Inferno25.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gustave_Dore_Inferno25.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Javierme, Kilom691, Ronaldino, Shakko, Wikibob File:Gustave Dor - Dante Alighieri - Inferno - Plate 65 (Canto XXXI - The Titans).jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gustave_Dor_-_Dante_Alighieri_-_Inferno_-_Plate_65_(Canto_XXXI_-_The_Titans).jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Gustave Dor (1832 1883) File:Gustave Dore Inferno32.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gustave_Dore_Inferno32.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Maksim, Sailko, Shakko, Wikibob Image:Gustave Dore Inferno34.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Gustave_Dore_Inferno34.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Before My Ken, Kilom691, Maksim, Sailko, Shakko, Wikibob Image:Purgatory Plan.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Purgatory_Plan.png License: GNU Free Documentation License Contributors: Anthony Dekker File:Eustache Le Sueur 002.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Eustache_Le_Sueur_002.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Bibi Saint-Pol, Grard, Kku, Mattes, Zolo, 1 anonymous edits File:Pur 02 dore.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Pur_02_dore.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Sailko, Shakko, Syraceuse, Xenophon File:Stefano Ussi, La Pia de' Tolomei.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Stefano_Ussi,_La_Pia_de'_Tolomei.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Havang(nl), Justelipse, Micione, Shakko, Staszek99 File:Dante and Virgilio (Trento).JPG Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dante_and_Virgilio_(Trento).JPG License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Contributors: Jaqen

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

File:Blake Dante Purgatory 9.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Blake_Dante_Purgatory_9.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Bukk, G.dallorto, Jmabel, Kersti Nebelsiek, Lithoderm, Meladina, Sailko, Wst, 1 anonymous edits File:Cathdrale d'Auch 12.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cathdrale_d'Auch_12.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Vassil File:Brueghel-tower-of-babel.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Brueghel-tower-of-babel.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Adam, Alno, AndreasPraefcke, Antosh, Diligent, Donarreiskoffer, Duesentrieb, Gryffindor, Hgrobe, Lewenstein, Man77, Orange-kun, Ordibas, Pfctdayelise, Rocket000, Ronaldino, Tomer T, Werckmeister, Wikiborg, ZioNicco, 5 , anonymous edits File:Orestes Elektra Pylades Louvre K428.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Orestes_Elektra_Pylades_Louvre_K428.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Bibi Saint-Pol File:Cain leadeth abel to death tissot.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cain_leadeth_abel_to_death_tissot.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Butko, Kilom691, Mattes, Taragui, 1 anonymous edits File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 150.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_150.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: AndreasPraefcke, Anne97432, Azkoitian-Brahman, Bukk, EDUCA33E, Kilom691, Mattes, Olivier2, Tancrde, Vincent Steenberg, Xenophon, Zolo File:Pur 19 avari.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Pur_19_avari.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Sailko, Shakko, Syraceuse File:Templars on Stake.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Templars_on_Stake.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: G.dallorto, Jibi44, Mattes, Michail, Schimmelreiter, Shakko, Tangopaso File:Piero di Cosimo 015.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Piero_di_Cosimo_015.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Bibi Saint-Pol, G.dallorto, Oxxo, Sailko, SolLuna, Thorvaldsson, Wst, 1 anonymous edits File:Chorgebet.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Chorgebet.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Turris Davidica File:Pur 25.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Pur_25.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Sailko, Shakko File:Pur 27.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Pur_27.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Sailko, Shakko File:Beatrice Addressing Dante (by William Blake).jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Beatrice_Addressing_Dante_(by_William_Blake).jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: APPER, AndreasPraefcke, Ausir, Barosaul, Bukk, Butko, DragonflySixtyseven, Lithoderm, Sailko, Schaengel89, Zolo, 1 anonymous edits File:Waterhouse dante and beatrice.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Waterhouse_dante_and_beatrice.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Andreagrossmann, Fernando S. 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Image:Henry Holiday - First Meeting Of Dante and Beatrice.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Henry_Holiday_-_First_Meeting_Of_Dante_and_Beatrice.jpg License: unknown Contributors: Original uploader was JKnight at en.wikipedia Image:Giotto - Bonifatius VIII.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Giotto_-_Bonifatius_VIII.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Giotto di Bondone Image:Kadmos dragon Louvre N3157.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Kadmos_dragon_Louvre_N3157.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Bibi Saint-Pol Image:Cerberus-Blake.jpeg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Cerberus-Blake.jpeg License: Public Domain Contributors: user:Raul654 Image:The Death of Cleopatra arthur.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:The_Death_of_Cleopatra_arthur.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Andreagrossmann, AndreasPraefcke, Coyau, Felistoria, Goldfritha, Gryffindor, Juanpdp, Juiced lemon, Lotsofissues, Mattes, Pierpao, RedCoat, Shakko, 3 anonymous edits Image:Byzantinischer Mosaizist um 1000 002.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Byzantinischer_Mosaizist_um_1000_002.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: EDUCA33E, FocalPoint, G.dallorto, Magadan, Man vyi, Shizhao, TcfkaPanairjdde, , 4 anonymous edits Image:The Death of Dido (1781); 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