Cleopatra

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In the Commedia Cleopatra is recalled as an example of lust. In Canto V of the Inferno, among the carnal sinners swept by the whirlwind of the second circle, Dante places her in the series opened by Semiramis, defining her as lustful. The notes to the canto explain that the band is made up of those who submit reason to appetite, and that Cleopatra appears there precisely as a figure of the sin of sensual love. Much later, in Paradiso VI, Cacciaguida names her again, recalling that the unhappy Cleopatra is still mourned: the mention is inserted into the recollection of the consequences of the war between Octavian and Mark Antony, in which Cleopatra was involved. No other biographical details about the queen appear in the verses and the authorized notes: her presence in the Commedia is limited to these two passages, and her placement in the journey is explicitly the second circle of Hell.