people 1 Flashcards
Virgil
the Roman poet that guides Dante through the circles of hell, wrote the Aeneid
Beatrice
Dante’s “one true love” who appears as an angel to help Dante guide the way, his guide throughout purgatory and heaven
the neutrals
moral cowards, the angels who torment the souls in hell who neither chose god or satan
Charon
the ferryman from greco-roman myth who ferries Dante and Virgil across the river Acheron
Acheron
the first river in hell
the four poets
Homer, Horace, Lucan, and Ovid, who are later joined by Dante and Virgil to make six. Dante considers himself a peer of theirs.
the virtuous muslims
Saladin, Averroes, and Avicenna, who are not condemned for heresy by being muslim but rather remain in limbo with the virtuous pagans
Minos
the gatekeeper to the rest of hell past the first circle, passes his sentence by wrapping his tail around himself the number of times equal to the circle they are condemned to
the queens
Cleopatra, Semiramis, Dido, and Isolde. they all remain in the circle of lust. most of the powerful women in history are here, which says something about the way Dante thinks power and lust corrupt rule (but only for women!)
other lovers
include Achilles, Paris, and Tristan
Paolo
Francesca’s lover, the brother of Gianciotto, who was Francesca’s husband and killed the both of them for their affair. very passive in hell.
Francesca
wife of Gianciotto and lover of his brother, Paolo. she speaks a lot in hell and seems to blame outside forces for her troubles rather than acknowledging her own part
Cerberus
found in the third circle of gluttons. Hades’ three-headed dog pet. he is ripping the sinners apart in the rain. described with human features which may imply he is being punished here too.
Ciacco
someone Dante recognizes in the third circle who talks politics with him and admits his sin of gluttony. a fellow Florentine.
the furies
creatures of vengeance who appear before Dante and Virgil before the fifth circle and threaten that Medusa is coming
Medusa
myth from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. woman with snakes for hair who turn those who look at her to stone. There is the threat of petrification here, erotic fascination/fixation, and the concept of revision and retrospection. Virgil is already paralyzed by his own perceived failure.
the heavenly messenger
an angel that appears, grossed out by hell, and flicks the gates of Dis open
Farinata degli Uberti
a ghibelline general in the fifth circle who raises himself up and speaks down to Dante despite being in a tomb below him. they verbally spar about the guelphs and the ghibellines.
Cavalcante dei Calcalcanti
another one in Farinata’s tomb who rises up and asks Dante about his son, Dante’s bff, who he wrongfully believes is dead.
Pier della Vigna
“Peter of the Vine.” a well-known poet and a functionary of Emperor Frederick II. he is eventually imprisoned for turning against the emperor, but we have no knowledge that this is true, and kills himself.
the anonymous Florentine
just a figure who did politics in Florentine that represents the greater Florentine civil war, city against itself.
Capaneus
a pagan figure who lays on the ground and continues to blaspheme god even in hell.
Brunetto Latini
a well-known Florentine figure and teacher of Dante who is made to walk forever with the sin of sodomy. as we have literally no evidence Brunetto was into men, there is the idea that Brunetto is guilty of a teaching and writing style that does not bear fruit
Geryon
an image of fraud with the face of a specifically just man, body of a serpent, tail of scorpion, and the back of a beautiful tapestry that Dante & Virgil ride into the circle of fraud on
Pope Boniface VIII
a corrupt pope found in the maleboge of simonacs
Vanni Fucci
notorious thief and murderer from near Florence, who is repeatedly struck, turned to ash, and reformed in the image of a phoenix or resurrection. tells Dante about his exile just to spite him and gives God the equivalent of the 12th century finger.
