Aronta

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In Canto XX of the Inferno, among the damned of the fourth ditch, Dante points out Aronta with the verse «Aronta is the one who has his back to his belly» (v. 46), describing him as the one who keeps his beard thrown over his shoulders. The authorized notes to the same canto identify in Aronta the figure of Aruns, a «famous Etruscan soothsayer,» belonging to a more ancient past than the other soothsayers present in the scene. The note to v. 46 also clarifies that, in this group of sinners, the punishment is linked to walking backwards, a contrapasso typical of the pride of the mind, of which the soothsayers are considered guilty. The verse itself and the note to Canto XX thus provide a location (fourth ditch, among the soothsayers), role (soothsayer), and physical description, but do not allow for the addition of other certain biographical or mythological data.