Real
Libya
Sandy desert of Libya, evoked by Dante as the measure of the most terrible species of serpents, surpassed by the seventh bolgia.
Description
In Canto XXIV of the Inferno Dante opens a simile with the serpents of Libya to underscore the variety and terribleness of the species present in the seventh bolgia. The Libyan desert is recalled as a proverbial place of venomous and dangerous reptiles, according to a tradition that goes back to the description in Lucan's Pharsalia, where the march of the Romans through the desert offers a catalogue of serpents to which Dante refers. The mention «Più non si vanti Libia con sua rena» places Libya as a term of comparison now surpassed: what the desert offered as the greatest example of horror is now overcome by the spectacle of the bolgia of thieves, where the damned are tormented and transformed by the serpents.
In the text
Linked verses
1 verses| Cantica | Canto | Verso | Testo | Open verse |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inferno | Canto XXIV | 85 | Più non si vanti Libia con sua rena; | Open verse |