Aulis

Description

In the twentieth canto of the Inferno, Aulide appears as the place of departure for the Achaean expedition against Troy. The mention is inserted in a simile that compares the pilgrim's fixed thought to the memory of someone intent on a precise gesture: the evocation of the cutting of the first rope moored at the Greek port is enough to concentrate attention entirely. The name is linked, in the classical tradition, to the moment when the Greek fleet was preparing to set sail, an event that in the Commedia is recalled in a comparative key, to describe the state of mental tension of Dante after a brief distraction.