Cyprus

Description

In Canto XXVIII of the Inferno, the island of Cyprus appears in a Dantean geographical periphrasis that designates the entire Mediterranean: «Tra l'isola di Cipri e di Maiolica». According to the commentary notes, Cyprus marks the eastern limit of this periphrasis, while Majorca represents the western one. The author of the commentary observes how such a procedure – evoking a vast stretch of sea through just two islands placed at its extremes – is typical of Dante, who «instead of names evokes places and images, but always based on real data». In support of this, the ancient historian Orosius is cited, in whose work (I 2) the enumeration of the islands of the Mediterranean begins precisely from Cyprus in the east and ends with the Balearics in the west.