Hell After Life of the Two Poets

After life here on earth no one person is absolutely certain what will occur. Many believe that reincarnation will take place, some believe in deification, others believe the soul will eternally sleep, yet others believe paradise awaits the faithful while a cursed damnation exists for the heathen These popular beliefs are only a mere scratch at the surface of the past and present perspectives on the afterlife In the masterpieces of world literature such a topic does not go without mentioning, The Divina Comoediu is the most famous account of the Christian conception of the afterlife written in the Italian vernacular during the middle ages by the poet Dante Alighieri.

In the Inferno, Dante lays out in great detail an extreme depiction of hell unlike un-parallel to any work before or after it His horrifically vivid writings are rooted in an elegant synthesis of classical figures found in Vergil’s Aeneid and Homer’s Odyssey as well as a blend of many Christian figures.

Tartarus, antiquity’s version of eternal damnation and Dante’s account of the Inferno both have many underlying similarities and striking differences between the two unpleasant places. Beginning with the physical location, size, and geography of Tartarus and the Inferno, both are constructed significantly different. For Dante, his account speaks of a cone-shaped pit with different levels varying in punishments This massive funnel shaped pit is wonderfully depicted by Botticelli‘s Chart of Hell. (1480c. 4495c) The different levels of torture described by Dante give rise to an inequality and discrimination among the sinners.

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For example, the betrayers of their benefactors in the Judecca area (Canto XXXIV) are much worse off and damned more than the gluttons in the third circle (Canto VI).

This concept is dissimilar to Vergil’s portrayal of Tartarus, Rather than a funneling pit with descending rings, book 6 of the Aeneid gives a more succinct explanation insub rupe sinistra moenia lata uidet triplici circumdata muro, quae rapidus flammis ambit torrentibus amnis, Tartareus Phlegethon, torquetque sonantia saxa. porta aduersa ingens solidoque adamant columnae, vis ut nulla virum, non ipsi exscindere bello caelicolae valeant; stat ferrea turris ad auras, Tisiphoneque sedens palla succincta cruenta vestibulum exsomnis servat noctesque diesque” (Aeneid 6. Lines 548-556) Instead of traveling to different levels, going around different guards, cliffs, and rivers as in the Inferno, Tartarus is simply a single fortress—like location surrounded by a flaming river with a huge hole for all of those “quae quis apud superos furto laetatus inani distulit in seram commissa piacula mortem.”

The punished souls/creatures are gathered inside then separated according to their crimes in one specific area of the underworld. Dante’s account takes Vergil’s description one giant step further. The setup itself of Tartarus and the Inferno are quite divergent, and so too are the roles different of the one who is the endpoint and ruler of this hellish community, Due to the theological differences and time periods of Vergil and Dante their beliefs concerning hellfire and those in it are inherently different. For Dante the grand heathen and worst figure of all of the Inferno is Satan himself. More or less Satan is the ruler and most notable figure in hell, while in Vergil’s time this Satan character was divided into the gods/goddesses 0f the underworld and witchcraft that were not actively hated and or tortured. Dante describes Satan in Canto XXXIV as “The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice; And better with a giant 1 compare.

Than do the giants with those arms of his; Consider now how great must be that whole, Which unto such a part conforms itselfr Were he as fair once, as he now is foul, And lifted up his brow against his Maker, Well may proceed from him all tribulation.” (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dante’s Inferno Canto XXXIV) Rightfully so, in alignment with the Biblical theology of the time, Dante paints a negative portrait of Satan. On the other hand Vergil does not characterize the emperor/empress “of the kingdom dolorous” with such cynical imagery, instead reverence and a sense of dutifulness are prescribed to these divinities, In fact Vergil assigns Aeneas to perform a special sacrifice with the sibyl to the goddess Hecate. Furthermore Vergil gives Hecate a most reverent epithet “vocans Hecaten caeloque Ereboque potentem” (Aeneid 6r Line 247) Nothing of the sort would ever be imagined or performed in Dante’s Inferno.

As a matter of fact an action that was described in lines 236-263 would most likely land a sole a one-way ticket to the fourth bolgia as described in Canto XXI Additionally the Sibyl claims that Hecate does have a particular knowledge and understanding of Tartarus, but is not the ruler “sed me cum lucis Hecate praefecitAuernis ipsa deum poenas docuit perque ornnia duxit, Cnosius haec Rhadamanthus habet durissirna regna” (Aeneid 6. Line 564— 566) These figures in Vergil‘s Roman mythological underworld are not being actively punished or tortured like Satan, but are reported as wise gods who are respected and not as notorious as Dante‘s Satanr Beyond the theological and architectural differences of Vergil’s Tartarus and Dante‘s Inferno, there lays strong unifying connections between the hells of the two poets. These similarities are fundamentally attributed to the western’s world of eternal damnation.

Since the topic is hell, it is only appropriate that the wicked will spend eternity here. Those whom have done wrong in their lives on earth without trying to undo their evil ways are now sentenced to torture and punishment, both Vergil and Dante subscribe to such a hypothesis. Likewise it is very interesting to see that Vergil and Dante have almost the same characterization of morality. In Tartarus and in the Inferno sinners that have committed the same sins in both poems are suffering punishments “quibus inuisi fratres, dum vita manebat, pulsatusue parens et fraus innexa clienti, aut qui divitiis soli incubuere repertis nec partern posuere suis (quae maxima turba est), quique ob adulterium caesi, quique arma secuti impia nec veriti dominorum fallere dextras, inclusi poenam exspectant. ne quaere doceri quam poenam, aut quae forma viros fortunave mersit.“

In a similar manner at the table of contents to Dante’s Inferno are listed the rings of hell with the sinners contained in them: the lustful (Canto V), the prodigal (Canto VII), the violent (Canto XII), the fraudulent (Canto XVIII), and falsifiers and forgers (Canto XXX), Both Vergil and Dante have a common ground in their tales concerning the merit and repercussions of an evil lifestyle Likewise another important parallel for both of the poet’s stories about the anguishing afterlife is that there is order; a method to the madness. A reoccurring aspect of the underworld in book 6 of the Aeneid and in Dante’s Inferno is the use of rivers, marshes, gates, boatmen, walls, and mini rulers who are subservient to a greater masters Both poets utilize the classic components of the grim underworld mentioning the river of Styx, Charon, Cerberus, the gates of Dis, thick dark iron walls, and powerful demon-lords delivering punishments like the furies, hydras, harpies, and gorgonst.

Both places are not chaotic nor hectic with a sense of confusion and wild frenzy, but rather a hierarchy is established, geographical landmarks and great structures format an ordered environment. Every soul is in the place where it deserves to be forever. There is no questioning about such an ill fate, The different guards and judges make sure that every soul goes where it needs to, much like the level of perfection the military would wantt An ordered hell makes the punishment all the more agonizing which is the exact purpose of Tartarus and the Infernoi Dante masterfully applies Vergil’s aspects of hell to his own monstrous Gehenna. Despite the great time era differences and significant theological differences between Dante‘s Inferno and Vergil’s Aeneid between the two poems even more great similarities are present. These congruencies between the different accounts of hell have helped shaped and thoroughly developed the current conception of the dreaded eternal damnation.