Dante 2 Definitions Flashcards
Contrapasso
- “counter-suffering” is the rule of retributive justice that determines a soul’s punishment
- Punishment must fit the sin.
Allegory
is a story with a symbolic meaning beyond the literal one. Also called extended metaphor
Guelphs and Ghibellines
- Two political parties vie for power in Medieval Italy: the Guelphs and the Ghibellines.
- Guelphs sided with the Pope.
- Ghibellines sided with the King.
- In the city-state of Florence, their rivalry precipitates a civil war that ends in 1289 with the victory of the Guelphs.
- The Guelphs themselves eventually split into two vying factions, the Whites and the Blacks (from the color of their respective flags).
- In 1302 the Blacks take power, Dante is part of the whites and is exiled from Florence.**
Beatrice
- Dante’s one true love was Beatrice
- She intervines and asks Virgil to be Dante’s guide
- Dante wrote poems in courtly love about Beatrice, he was a torubadour
- Beatrice remains his muse in the Divine Comedy
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (70 BC - 19 BC), called Virgil in English, is
considered the greatest Ancient Roman poet.
Serves as Dante’s guide through hell and purgatory
City of Dis
- Location: 6th circle, guarded by fallen angels
- entrance to the lowest levels of hell,
- Dis the Roman version of Hades.
Limbo
First circle of hell. Souls who died before being baptized.
Souls who lived before the time of Christ.
Virtuous pagans who didn’t meet the qualifications to enter Heaven.
The saddened desire for salvation
Sadness and gloom but no violence
Malebolge
- Malebolge is entirely devoted to the sin of fraudulence
- 8th and largest circle in hell.
- It is made up of ten concentric ridges or ditches.
- Each ditch is called a bolgia.
Invective
harsh and abusive language, as a powerful tool to express his anger and criticism of the people and institutions he sees as corrupt and morally failing.
Dante also uses invective to attack the corruption within the Church, accusing popes of acting against Christ’s teachings and of worshipping money rather than God
Charon
is the ferryman who carries the souls of the dead across the river to hell. Charon is a figure from Greek mythology.
Simony
the sin of attempting to exchange money or favors for power or positions in the Christian church.
The Donation of Constantine
is a letter supposedly sent by Roman emperor Constantine to Pope Sylvester I in the 4th century CE, in which the emperor entrusts (“donates”) rule of the Western Roman Empire to the Church.
Dante believed that the church’s pursuit of temporal power, fueled by this forged document, led to its downfall.
