Athens

Description

In Canto VI of the Purgatorio, Athens is recalled alongside Lacedaemon as the seat of the ancient laws attributed to Solon, within the context of Sordello da Goito's speech on the degradation of Florence. In Canto XVII of the Paradiso, the mention returns within Caccianimica's prophecy, who compares the sudden departure of Hippolytus from Athens to his own removal from Florence. The verses do not describe the city, but only call upon its name as a term of moral and political comparison. Athens thus enters the poem as a reference to ancient legislative civilization and as a setting for classical myths linked to travel and amorous passion.