Achilles

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Dante evokes Achilles in several places of the poem as a model of the classical hero. In Canto V of the Inferno he recalls him among the figures of Limbo, where so long a time of mourning turned because of him and other heroes. In Canto XII the centaur Chiron is indicated as the one who reared him. In Canto XXVI of the Inferno Deidamia is remembered as still suffering for him, recalling the episode of Scyros narrated by Statius. In Canto XXXI Achilles is mentioned in relation to his father Peleus and to the ruin of the Greeks. In Canto IX of the Purgatorio the awakening of Dante recalls that of the young Achilles described in Statius' Achilleid, when he was taken from the tutelage of Chiron on the island of Scyros. In Canto XXI of the Purgatorio finally Statius recalls having sung of Thebes and then of the great Achilles.