יודישי ריטר

Divina commedia.

Codex Altonensis (c. 1360).

Lucifero, from The Divine Comedy, 1450-75

“Illuminated initial”, Divina Commedia, Yates Thompson 36, f. 189 by Dante Alighieri, Tuscany, Italy c. 1444-1450 via The British Library, Public Domain

the eagle composed of just rulers

in the 6th sphere of heaven in an illustrated copy of dante's 'divine comedy', italy, c. 1350–1375

source: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Holkham misc. 48, p. 137

dante and virgil riding the "gerione"

in an illustrated copy of the "divina commedia", italy, c. 1350–1375

source: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Holkham misc. 48, p. 26

flaming rain

in an illuminated copy of the "divina commedia", italy, c. 1350–1375

source: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Holkham misc. 48, p. 23

Brunetto Latini was (among other things) a politician Dante knew. He wrote him into the section of hell for sodomites. Despite this, Dane is very respectful to him. Other people have written papers about the way he is sometimes illustrated. Here is another illustration:

Dante and Virgil meet the Sodomites. From Dante’s “Divina Commedia”, Cantica del Inferno. Ms.597/1424,folio 113.Italian,first half 14th.

See, for example, Michael Camille, “The Pose of the Queer: Dante’s Gaze, Brunetto Latini’s Body,” in Queering the Middle Ages, Glenn Burger and Steven F. Kruger, eds. University of Minnesota Press, 2001. (Link.) Some (much?) of the paper can be read here in the google books preview.

(We discussed this in episode 9 of Ask a Medievalist.)

ohh, interesting!

he also makes an appearance one page prior:

it's so interesting to me how dante is depicted patting (?) brunetto latini's head, who's looking almost child-like, considering that latini was actually dante's guardian and teacher... that's such a weird inversion...

these are the other sodomites btw:

Hell: The eighth circle. Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia ~ ca.1375 Bodleian Library • via Bibliothèque Infernale on FB

Thanx: Discarding Images on FB

nine circles of Hell

Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia, Italy c. 1420-1430

BnF, Italien 74, fol. 1v

dragon hats

Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia, Italy 14th century

BL, Egerton 943, fol. 17r

dante’s vision of matilda gathering flowers by dante gabriel rossetti, circa 1855.

just seen someone criticize the divine comedy by saying that it's not relatable which is of course incommensurably stupid because relatability should never be the only criterion through which one can judge the validity and quality of a piece of work &c but also. just because you tedious unimaginative losers have never been on a journey to hell and purgatory with your long dead favorite writer doesn't mean others haven't. happened to me

Another project for my master's degree!

This time is a small retelling of the Divine Comedy, in the form of some kind of self-repeating board game.

i love thinking about dante and virgil as somehow metaphorical of the author and reader’s relationship to each other in general….. the author as a phantom  who seems tremendously close to you, who comforts you, who seems to be able to read your mind, who proverbially guides you through hell…. and yet who cannot ultimate follow where you go.

Something that will never not be funny to me is how in his Divine Comedy, Dante goes out of his way to specify that every single Trojan is in Limbo (aka: the place all good Pagan souls go).

He only mentions a few by name, like Hector and Aeneas, but he says they're all there.

All of them.

Every single Trojan ever.

And he then proceeds to move on to the 1st circle of hell and who do we find?

Paris.

Paris is literally the only Trojan in hell.

Dante really said "man, the Trojans were all so amazing and cool and brave...except for Paris, fuck that guy, am I right?" and I find it hilarious.

Illustrations from Dante's Paradiso by Ezio Anichini (1931)

Illustrations from Dante's Divine Comedy by Franz von Bayros (1921)