I have read Dante's Divine Comedy - Inferno several times now. I read it this time with study aids, resources and the Bible. I used the Internet for my study resources so it's available to anyone. I particularly liked these two websites:
Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet who lived c. 1265 – 1321. Dante was born in Florence, Republic of Florence, in what is now Italy. Dante's family was loyal to the Guelphs, a political alliance that supported the Papacy and which was involved in complex opposition to the Ghibellines, who were backed by the Holy Roman Emperor. 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 may have enjoyed some protective prestige and status. The poet's mother was Bella, probably a member of the Abati family. She died when Dante was not yet ten years old, and Alighiero soon married again, to Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. His new wife bore him 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. Contracting marriages at this early age was quite common and involved a formal ceremony, including contracts signed before a notary. But by this time Dante had fallen in love with another, Beatrice Portinari (known also as Bice), daughter of Folco Portinari, whom he first met when he was only nine. He claimed to have fallen in love with her at first sight. His unrequited love for Beatrice was his muse for some of his writing. His education is unknown but he was well educated and knew the classical literature. Years after his marriage to Gemma he claims to have met Beatrice again; he wrote several sonnets to Beatrice but never mentioned Gemma in any of his poems. Dante and Gemma had 3 children: had three children Pietro, Jacopo and Antonia. Others claimed to be his offspring but not proven.Dante, like most Florentines of his day, was embroiled in the Guelph–Ghibelline conflict. Dante fought with the Guelph cavalry at the Battle of Campaldino (June 11, 1289). To take any part in public life, one had to enroll in one of the city's many commercial or artisan guilds, so Dante entered the Physicians' and Apothecaries' Guild. In the following years, his name is occasionally recorded as speaking or voting in the various councils of the republic. In 1294 he was among the escorts of Charles Martel of Anjou (grandson of Charles I of Anjou) while he was in Florence. As a politician, he accomplished little but held various offices over some years in a city rife with political unrest. 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 the split was along family lines at first, ideological differences arose based on opposing views of the papal role in Florentine affairs.
The Blacks supporting the Pope and the Whites wanting more freedom from Rome. The Whites took power first 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. The Blacks supporting the Pope and the Whites wanting more freedom from Rome. The Whites took power first 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. The council sent a delegation to Rome to ascertain the Pope's intentions. Dante was one of the delegates. Pope 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. Dante, a White Guelph by affiliation, along with the Gherardini family, was condemned to exile for two years and ordered to pay a large fine. Dante was accused of corruption and financial wrongdoing by the Black Guelphs for the time that Dante was serving as city prior (Florence's highest position) for two months in 1300. The poet was still in Rome in 1302 where the Pope, who had backed the Black Guelphs, had "suggested" that Dante stay. Florence under the Black Guelphs therefore considered Dante an absconder. Dante 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; if he returned to Florence without paying the fine, he could have been burned at the stake. 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 in his own party.
Dante’s years of exile were years of difficult moves from one patron to another. In 1304, he seems to have gone to Bologna. In March 1306, Florentine exiles were expelled from Bologna, and by August, Dante ended up in Padua. His whereabouts unknown until In the spring of 1312, Dante seemed to have gone with the other exiles to meet up with the new emperor at Pisa. He spent at least two long periods at the court of Can Grande della Scala, Lord of Verona. In 1319 he moved from Verona to Ravenna and he died in 1321 there. By 1314, Dante had completed the Inferno, the segment of The Divine Comedy set in hell, and in 1317 he settled at Ravenna and there completed The Divine Comedy (soon before his death in 1321) with Purgatorio and Paradisio.
Sources: Wikipedia
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Florence is a city in central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. Florence was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of that era. Florence originated as a Roman city in the style of an army camp with the main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza della Repubblica. It is situated along both banks of the Arno River and along the Via Cassia, the main route between Rome and the north, and within the fertile valley of the Arno. It was built by Julius Caesar in 59 B.C. The Arno River gave them access to the Mediterranean Sea. Later, after a long period as a flourishing trading and banking medieval commune, it was the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. Starting from the late Middle Ages, Florentine money—in the form of the gold florins—financed the development of industry all over Europe, from Britain to Bruges, to Lyon and Hungary because of the reliability of the gold in the florins. Florentine bankers financed the English kings during the Hundred Years War. They similarly financed the papacy.
The republic originated in 1115, when the Florentine people rebelled against the Margraviate of Tuscany upon the death of Matilda of Tuscany, who controlled vast territories that included Florence. The Florentines formed a commune in her successors' place. The republic was ruled by a council known as the Signoria of Florence. The signoria was chosen by the gonfaloniere (titular ruler of the city), who was elected every two months by Florentine guild members.
In 1216 when two factions, known as the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, began to war. The Ghibellines were supporters of the noble rulers of Florence, whereas the Guelphs were populists. The Ghibellines, who had ruled the city under Frederick of Antioch since 1244, were deposed in 1250 by the Guelphs. The Guelphs lost the reins of power after Florence suffered a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Montaperti against Siena in 1260. The Ghibellines resumed power and undid many of the advances of the Guelphs. The fragility of their rule caused the Ghibellines to seek out an arbitrator in the form of Pope Clement IV, who openly favoured the Guelphs, and restored them to power. In 1304, the war between the Ghibellines and the Guelphs led to a great fire which destroyed much of the city. The friction between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines did not cease, authority still passed between the two frequently.
Florence was hit hard by the Black Death, the Plague, the Bubonic Plague, the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history. The Black Death resulted in the deaths of up to 75–200 million people (30%-60% of the population) in Eurasia and North Africa. The Black Death most likely originated in Central Asia or East Asia from where it travelled along the Silk Road, reaching Crimea by 1347. From there, it was most likely carried by fleas living on the black rats that travelled on Genoese merchant ships, spreading throughout the Mediterranean Basin and reaching Africa, Western Asia, and the rest of Europe via Constantinople, Sicily, and the Italian Peninsula. There would be regular outbreaks throughout the Middle Ages with the last one being in the early 19th century!
Source: Wikipedia
Guelph, an Italian form of the name of the House of Welf, the family of the dukes of Bavaria, supported the Catholic Pope. Ghibellines, an Italian form of "Wibellingen", the name of a castle today known as Waiblingen were the imperial party supporting the Holy Roman Emperor. Guelphs tended to come from wealthy mercantile families, whereas Ghibellines were predominantly those whose wealth was based on agricultural estates. Contemporaries did not use the terms Guelph and Ghibellines much until about 1250, and then only in Tuscany. At the beginning of the 13th century, Philip of Swabia, a Hohenstaufen, and his son-in-law Otto of Brunswick, a Welf, were rivals for the imperial throne. Philip was supported by the Ghibellines as a relative of Frederick I, while Otto was supported by the Guelphs. Philip's heir, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, was an enemy of both Otto and the Papacy, and during Frederick's reign the Guelphs became more strictly associated with the Papacy while the Ghibellines became supporters of the Empire, and of Frederick in particular.
Source: Wikipedia
If we look back at Dante, we see this was his Florence during his lifetime. Knowing Dante, his city and the political, religious and social problems of his time, help us when we read his Divine Comedy. If you have read this far, we are now ready to begin studying the famous, Inferno.
Inferno opens on the evening of Good Friday in the year 1300. Traveling through a dark wood, Dante has lost his path and now wanders fearfully through the forest.
"Midway on our life's journey, I found myself in a dark woods, the right road lost" - Canto 1
This is Dante, the pilgrim, and he represents an every man. Every man/woman wanders lost in sin and darkness. Dante sees a mountain with the sun shining on it's top.
He thinks he can find his way if he can reach the top of the mountain. Men tend to think they can find their own way to salvation. They trust their own intellect, their own good works, their own "spiritual" discernments. But this only leads us to frustration.
We are NOT saved by anything WE do! The Bible says our attempts at righteousness is but filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). We are born sinners and we sin therefore we cannot cleanse ourselves. Dante attempts to climb toward the light. As he climbs towards the light three angry beasts, one after the other, force him to turn back. Dante has to RUN back to the darkness of the valley. They are a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf. There is some dispute as to what these 3 beasts symbolize. Dante describes the leopard, or panther:
"And suddenly - a leopard, near the place the way grew steep: lithe, spotted, quick of foot. Blocking the path, she stayed before my face and more than once she made turn about to go back down."
The leopard, or panther, supposedly represents lust and desire. Seemingly beautiful, Dante says "The fair sun rising with the stars attending it as when the Divine Love set those beautiful lights into motion at creation's dawn, and the time of day and season combined to fill my heart with hope of that beast with festive skin". But what satan promises is merely a pleasant mask over a dark sin that enslaves.
It seems rather obvious to me that the lion symbolizes pride and ambition. "His head high... roaring with hunger". Pride is a base sin from which so many other sins sprout. Satan wanted to be God. Adam and Eve wanted to be like God. Each of us, born in sin, also try to be God.
The wolf is described by Dante:
"Then, a grim she-wolf - whose leanness seemed to compress all the world's cravings, that had made miserable such multitudes; she put such heaviness into my spirit, I lost hope of the crest "(of the mountain)
This she-wolf eats but remains hungry. Ribs sticking out, she's never satisfied. Always desiring and lusting for more. She symbolizes greed.
“Look high and low; search throughout the city!
If you can find even one just and honest person,
I will not destroy the city.
2 But even when they are under oath,
saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’
they are still telling lies!”
3 LORD, you are searching for honesty.
You struck your people,
but they paid no attention.
You crushed them,
but they refused to be corrected.
They are determined, with faces set like stone;
they have refused to repent.
4 Then I said, “But what can we expect from the poor?
They are ignorant.
They don’t know the ways of the LORD.
They don’t understand God’s laws.
5 So I will go and speak to their leaders.
Surely they know the ways of the LORD
and understand God’s laws.”
But the leaders, too, as one man,
had thrown off God’s yoke
and broken his chains.
6 So now a lion from the forest will attack them;
a wolf from the desert will pounce on them.
A leopard will lurk near their towns,
tearing apart any who dare to venture out.
For their rebellion is great,
and their sins are many.
The Bible is the base of Dante's poem.
While lost in the dark, Dante encounters the ghost, or shade, of the great Roman poet, Virgil, who becomes his guide. Virgil tells Dante, the pilgrim, that he cannot reach the mountaintop except by being guided along a different path. He offers to be Dante's guide and teacher. Virgil describes himself:"When I must leave you, you will be with her. For the Emperor who governs from on high wills I not enter His city, where none may appear who lived like me in rebellion to His law. His empire is everything and everywhere, but that is His kingdom, His city, His seat of awe. Happy is the soul He chooses for that place!"
Virgil will take Dante, the pilgrim, through Hell and as far as God allows. But "her" will take Dante from there as Virgil was born before Jesus Christ and died in rebellion against God. He normally lives in "Limbo" (see Canto 2) but, as you will see later, Virgil has made the trek through Hell before.
So who does Virgil symbolize? Most scholars agree that Virgil represents human reason and wisdom. He can take Dante through Hell because he knows it, is familiar with it. He's been there before. But he can only take him so far and then he will give Dante into the hands of Beatrice who represents divine love.
Virgil was a favorite poet of Dante's and was well educated. He knew philosophy and classical literature. Dante, the poet, will mix contemporary characters, situations and scenes with classical literary characters and mythologies. He will pointedly refer to Virgil's own writings in this epic poem. Dante has such respect for Virgil that he will listen to him.
Genesis 3:14-15 The Lord God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,… I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel."
This is the first prophecy in the Bible about the coming Messiah.
Eve had been tempted by the serpent and she disobeyed God and ate of the fruit. Then she took it to Adam who disobeyed and ate the fruit. When God comes, they hide from Him but He draws them out and gets them to confess their sin. Then God addresses first Eve, then Adam and finally, the serpent. The curse on the serpent is the verse above. But it had a double meaning. It was a curse for the serpent on the earth at that time, but had a prophetic, future meaning as well. Satan succeeded in “striking" Jesus’ heel when Jesus was crucified. It was a blow but not a mortal blow! Jesus would crush satan's head with a mortal blow!
So the Old Testament was all about revealing Jesus Christ to prepare the Jews for their Messiah. In reading the Old Testament, we can see the common thread of Jesus Christ's coming.Romans 10 (some excerpts, but I highly recommend you read at least the whole chapter, if not the whole book in the NLT version) ...Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law... For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved... But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “LORD, who has believed our message?” So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
Dante, the pilgrim, needs help and guidance to reach the mountain peak, to find himself. He cannot get there on his own initiative. He cannot be saved by anything he tries to do. So how does he get saved? Virgil is going to guide him.
"A different path from this one would be best for you to find your way from this feral place... Therefore I judge it best that you should choose to follow me, and I will be your guide away from here and through an eternal place.
Excerpts of Inferno are from a new translation by Robert Pinsky.
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