Dante invents an original version of the final chapter of Ulysses'
life, a voyage beyond the boundaries of the known world that ends in
shipwreck and death. Ulysses is killed by Telegonus, son of the
enchantress Circe in the original myth.
T. S. Eliot uses the lines:
Still very much part of the collective memory in Dante's world were the crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries, when Europe's Christian armies fought--mostly unsuccessfully and with heavy losses--to drive Muslims from the "holy land" (Jerusalem).
Dante puts both Mohammed--the founder of Islam--and Mohammed's cousin and son-in-law (Ali) as sowers of religious schism (not just boxers). The schism creates the break between Sunnis and Shiites in Islam. One popular view for Dante's contemporaries is that Mohammed was rumored to have been a cardinal who, his papal ambitions thwarted, caused a great schism within Christianity when his followers splintered off into Islam.
Dante selects the French poet--Bertran de Born (c 1140-1215)--because he supposedly instigated a rift between King Henry II of England and his son, the young prince Henry. Bertran is now himself physically divided: he carries his decapitated head, which manages to speak. Nice touch there, Dante!
Sinon is the bastard who in the Trojan War convinces the Trojans to build the large wooden horse to placate the goddess (Athena) whose statue Ulysses and Diomedes stole from Troy. The Greeks sneak in and hide in the horse's belly to be rolled into the city. Thus, good-bye Trojans.
Master Adam is an English counterfeiter who passed off his false coins to the Italians for trade goods.
XXXI allows us a rare glimpse into the ninth circle of Hell, where the betrayers reside.
T. S. Eliot uses the lines:
"If I thought my answer wasThe sowers of schism or derisiveness are found in the ninth pouch.
to someone who might return to the world,
this flame would move no more;
but since from this depth it never happened
that anyone alive returned (if I hear right),
without fear of infamy I'll answer you." as the epigraph to his famous poem: "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."
Still very much part of the collective memory in Dante's world were the crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries, when Europe's Christian armies fought--mostly unsuccessfully and with heavy losses--to drive Muslims from the "holy land" (Jerusalem).
Dante puts both Mohammed--the founder of Islam--and Mohammed's cousin and son-in-law (Ali) as sowers of religious schism (not just boxers). The schism creates the break between Sunnis and Shiites in Islam. One popular view for Dante's contemporaries is that Mohammed was rumored to have been a cardinal who, his papal ambitions thwarted, caused a great schism within Christianity when his followers splintered off into Islam.
Dante selects the French poet--Bertran de Born (c 1140-1215)--because he supposedly instigated a rift between King Henry II of England and his son, the young prince Henry. Bertran is now himself physically divided: he carries his decapitated head, which manages to speak. Nice touch there, Dante!
Sinon is the bastard who in the Trojan War convinces the Trojans to build the large wooden horse to placate the goddess (Athena) whose statue Ulysses and Diomedes stole from Troy. The Greeks sneak in and hide in the horse's belly to be rolled into the city. Thus, good-bye Trojans.
Master Adam is an English counterfeiter who passed off his false coins to the Italians for trade goods.
XXXI allows us a rare glimpse into the ninth circle of Hell, where the betrayers reside.
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