Knowing the otherworldly worlds to understand Dante's journey
THE STRUCTURE OF THE COMMEDIA
“
“Through me the way into the suffering city,
through me the way to the eternal pain,
through me the way that runs among the lost..”
through me the way to the eternal pain,
through me the way that runs among the lost..”
THE STRUCTURE OF HELL, first book
The kingdom of the damned is described by Dante as an inverted cone accessed from the city of Jerusalem and reaching all the way to the center of the Earth, where Lucifer is located.
The most beautiful among the angels of Paradise, as a result of his rebellion against God, he was defeated by the Archangels of the Lord and plunged into the innermost terrestrial depths along with all his followers. This is the first realm visited by the Florentine poet in thecompany of his teacher and guide, the Roman poet Virgil.
The two, after passing through Antinferno (the place where angels who chose not to take sides in battle are punished) and crossing the river Acheron, enter the first circle-Limbo- where all those who have not received baptism and therefore do not know God are located.
From this point on, Dante and Virgil embark on the profound journey to the nine circles where they encounter the
damned souls who serve their punishments in analogy/contrast to their worst sins committed in life
(contrapasso).
II Zone: Antenora. Immersed in icy waters with face up.
III Zone: Ptolomea. Immersed in icy waters with face up and eyes frozen.
IV zone: Giudecca. Immersed in ice in grotesque positions. Special punishment is meted out to Judas, Brutus and
Cassius: eternally mangled by Lucifer's three mouths.
The most beautiful among the angels of Paradise, as a result of his rebellion against God, he was defeated by the Archangels of the Lord and plunged into the innermost terrestrial depths along with all his followers. This is the first realm visited by the Florentine poet in thecompany of his teacher and guide, the Roman poet Virgil.
The two, after passing through Antinferno (the place where angels who chose not to take sides in battle are punished) and crossing the river Acheron, enter the first circle-Limbo- where all those who have not received baptism and therefore do not know God are located.
From this point on, Dante and Virgil embark on the profound journey to the nine circles where they encounter the
damned souls who serve their punishments in analogy/contrast to their worst sins committed in life
(contrapasso).
- II circle: The Lustful. Overwhelmed and beaten by a violent storm.
- III circle: the gluttonous. Lying on the ground in a foul- smelling quagmire while the hound Cerberus rips them apart.
- IV circle: the stingy and prodigal. Divided into two ranks, they push huge boulders. When they meet they fight and insult.
- V circle: the wrathful and slothful. Immersed in the marsh of the Styx they fight each other.
- VI circle: the heretics and epicureans. They lie in fiery sepulchres, whose tombs will be closed after the Last Judgment.
- Circle VII: The violent ones
- Group I: Violent against their fellow man. Immersed in the boiling river Phlegethon according to the severity of punishment. If they emerge they are shot by centaur arrows.
- Group II: violent against themselves. Suicides are turned into dry trees, tormented by harpies. Squanderers are chased and mauled by black bitches.
- Round III: Violent against God, nature and art. They are in a rain of fire and walk on burning sand.
- Circle VIII: malebolge
- Bolgia I: seducers. They run whipped by devils
- Bolgia II: flatterers. Submerged in dung.
- Bolgia III: simoniacs. Stuck upside down with their feet in flames.
- Bolgia IV: soothsayers. They walk painfully with their bodies deformed and their heads turned backwards.
- Bolgia V: bartiers. Submerged in boiling pitch and hooked by devils.
- Bolgia VI: hypocrites. They walk with heavy cloaks lined on the inside with lead and on the outside shining with gold.
- Bolgia VII: thieves. Tormented by serpents who bite them and turn them into terrible snakes, only to transform back and start again.
- Bolgia VIII: bad counselors. Tormented by high tongues of fire.
- Bolgia IX: sowers of discord. Torn and maimed by devils, and whose wounds always heal.
- Bolgia X: counterfeiters. Destroyed by diseases.
- Circle IX: traitors.
II Zone: Antenora. Immersed in icy waters with face up.
III Zone: Ptolomea. Immersed in icy waters with face up and eyes frozen.
IV zone: Giudecca. Immersed in ice in grotesque positions. Special punishment is meted out to Judas, Brutus and
Cassius: eternally mangled by Lucifer's three mouths.
“
“and what I sing will be that second kingdom,
in which the human soul is cleansed of sin,
becoming worthy of ascent to Heaven”
in which the human soul is cleansed of sin,
becoming worthy of ascent to Heaven”
THE PURGATORY STRUCTURE, book two
Purgatory is the second realm visited by Dante in the company of his teacher and guide Virgil. This realm mirrors Inferno in that it is described as a conical mountain, positioned in the middle of the ocean, divided by circles and sectors in which souls rest.
In contrast to Hell, here spirits wait to conquer their thinking in order to ascend to Heaven.
It is the realm of hope, moral purification and love as the engine of all human works.
For while in the realm of the damned, the damned can never hope to see God and are forced into their contrapasso in eternity, the souls in Purgatory will be able to be reconciled with God the Father in the future, when the day of the Last Judgment arrives.
Antipurgatory
In contrast to Hell, here spirits wait to conquer their thinking in order to ascend to Heaven.
It is the realm of hope, moral purification and love as the engine of all human works.
For while in the realm of the damned, the damned can never hope to see God and are forced into their contrapasso in eternity, the souls in Purgatory will be able to be reconciled with God the Father in the future, when the day of the Last Judgment arrives.
Antipurgatory
- I array: excommunicated. They wait for 30 years for each year of excommunication.
- II cohort: lazy to repent. They wait for the time of their lives.
- III cohort: dying violent deaths. They wait indefinitely.
- IV cohort: negligent princes. Kings and rulers wait indefinitely.
- Purgatory gate.
- I frame: proud. They walk hunched over as they carry great boulders on their backs.
- II frame: envious. Their eyes are stitched by iron wire.
- III frame: wrathful. They walk in darkness that causes their eyes to be irritated.
- IV frame: slothful. They run restlessly along the frame, contrary to what they did in life.
- V frame: stingy and prodigal. Lying with their faces to the ground and with their hands and feet bound.
- VI frame: gluttonous. They suffer hunger and thirst before trees laden with fruit and waterfalls.
- VII frame: lustful. They walk through flames
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“the Love that moves the sun and the other stars”
THE STRUCTURE OF PARADISE, book three
Defined by the poet as the third of the three realms of the Christian Otherworld, Paradise is visited by Dante in the company of his beloved Beatrice.
The poet imagines the Earth at the center of the Universe, surrounded by ten Heavens revolving around it, with a sphere of fire delimiting the earthly world from the celestial
world. Each Heaven is governed by an angelic intelligence, while in the Empyrean (10th Heaven) is the seat of God, angels and the blessed.
The first seven heavens are named after the planets that rotate with them, and where in the first seven Dante meets the souls of the blessed.
The poet imagines the Earth at the center of the Universe, surrounded by ten Heavens revolving around it, with a sphere of fire delimiting the earthly world from the celestial
world. Each Heaven is governed by an angelic intelligence, while in the Empyrean (10th Heaven) is the seat of God, angels and the blessed.
The first seven heavens are named after the planets that rotate with them, and where in the first seven Dante meets the souls of the blessed.
- I Heaven of the Moon: spirits who did not complete the vows they made;
- II heaven of Mercury: spirits working to eternal glory;
- III heaven of Venus: loving spirits;
- IV sky of the Sun: wise spirits;
- V sky of Mars: spirits fighting for the faith;
- VI heaven of Jupiter: righteous spirits;
- VII sky of Saturn: contemplating spirits;
- VIII heaven of fixed stars: cherubim;
- IX prime movable or crystalline heaven: angelic choirs;
- X heaven/ Empyrean: the seat of the blessed, angels and God.
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