Ismenus

Description

In the verse Purgatorio XVIII 91, Dante mentions Ismenus alongside the river Asopus, in a comparison with the progress of the procession's chariot. The authorized note for canto XXII 88 of the same canticle clarifies the reference: in book IX of the Thebaid, it is recounted how the Greek army, sent to aid Polynices, arrived beneath Thebes at the rivers Ismenus and Asopus. Dante thus evokes the two Theban waterways as a term of comparison to indicate the rapidity with which the procession unfolded. The mention is inserted into the simile with which the poet describes the advance of the triumphal chariot of the Church, recalling to the reader's memory the ancient scene of the Theban war sung by Statius.