| | [[Image:Ferdinand_Victor_Delacroix_006.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Dante and Virgil are ferried across the River [[Styx]]: ''And thus the good instructor: "Now, my son, / Draws near the city, that of Dis is named"'' (illustration by [[Eugene Delacroix]]).]] | | [[Image:Ferdinand_Victor_Delacroix_006.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Dante and Virgil are ferried across the River [[Styx]]: ''And thus the good instructor: "Now, my son, / Draws near the city, that of Dis is named"'' (illustration by [[Eugene Delacroix]]).]] |
| | '''The Divine Comedy''' is a long-form poem by [[Dante Alighieri]], which tells the story of a journey through [[Hell]], [[Purgatory]] and [[Heaven]]. Although it is strongly influenced by the poetic epics of the [[Illiad]] and the [[Odyssey]] by [[Homer]], and particularly the [[Aeneid]] by [[Virgil]], its structure is significantly different from anything that had been written before. The basic story details Dante getting lost in a dark forest, and as an act of divine grace to correct his life, embarking on a tour of the afterworld. We are introduced to his benefactor, [[Beatrice]], who may be an allusion to a woman he loved and wrote poetry about, as well as a symbol of wisdom. She sets him under the care of Virgil, who as a wise pagan is confined to Limbo. Virgil is given permission to escort him through all the levels of [[Hell]] and [[Purgatory]]. In [[Heaven|Paradise]], he is reunited with Beatrice as his escort. | | '''The Divine Comedy''' is a long-form poem by [[Dante Alighieri]], which tells the story of a journey through [[Hell]], [[Purgatory]] and [[Heaven]]. Although it is strongly influenced by the poetic epics of the [[Illiad]] and the [[Odyssey]] by [[Homer]], and particularly the [[Aeneid]] by [[Virgil]], its structure is significantly different from anything that had been written before. The basic story details Dante getting lost in a dark forest, and as an act of divine grace to correct his life, embarking on a tour of the afterworld. We are introduced to his benefactor, [[Beatrice]], who may be an allusion to a woman he loved and wrote poetry about, as well as a symbol of wisdom. She sets him under the care of Virgil, who as a wise pagan is confined to Limbo. Virgil is given permission to escort him through all the levels of [[Hell]] and [[Purgatory]]. In [[Heaven|Paradise]], he is reunited with Beatrice as his escort. |
| | + | Notably, the persons devoured by [[Satan]] in the hottest part of Dante's [[Hell]] are the worst betrayers in history: [[Judas Iscariot]], the betrayer of Christ, is in one of Satan's three mouths, while [[Brutus]] and [[Cassius]], the betrayers of [[Julius Caesar]], are in Satan's other two mouths. |