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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. [71] Although several statements and episodes of it have been deemed unreliable on the basis of modern research, an earlier account of Dante's life and works had been included in the Nuova Cronica of ...
The circle of lust introduces Dante's depiction of King Minos, the judge of hell; this portrayal derives from the role of Minos in the Greek underworld in the works of Virgil and Homer. Dante also depicts a number of historical and mythological figures within the second circle, although chief among these are Francesca da Rimini and Paolo ...
A 16th-century depiction of the Harrowing of Hell by a follower of Hieronymus Bosch. Dante's Limbo is modelled after the Ancient Greek concept of Elysium, the part of the Greek underworld reserved for those in classical mythology who had lived good lives. [10]
The harpies in Dante's version feed from the leaves of oak trees, which entomb suicides.At the time Canto XIII (or The Wood of Suicides) was written, suicide was considered by the Catholic Church as at least equivalent to murder and a contravention of the Commandment "Thou shalt not kill", and many theologians believed it to be an even deeper sin than murder, as it constituted a rejection of ...
Phlegra: In Greek mythology, the site of Zeus's defeat of the Giants 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, 10–24. Phoenix: Mythical bird, which at the end of its life-cycle, burns itself to ashes, from which a reborn phoenix arises.
Greek mythology has had an extensive influence on the culture, arts, and literature of Western civilization and remains part of Western heritage and language. Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes. [4]: 43
In the sixth book of Virgil's Aeneid (one of the principal influences on Dante in his depiction of Hell), the hero Aeneas enters the "desolate halls and vacant realm of Dis". [ 4 ] His guide, the Sibyl , corresponds in The Divine Comedy to Virgil, the guide of "Dante" as the speaker of the poem.
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. [38] Dale E. Basye's book series Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go (began in 2008) features a modified version of the nine circles of hell.