Dominations

Profile

In canto XXVIII of the Paradiso Beatrice describes to Dante the ordering of the angelic hierarchies as established by Dionysius the pseudo-Areopagite, distinguishing three triads of choirs. Within the second triad, after Principalities, the text mentions the Dominations at v. 122, placing them before the Virtues and then the Powers: "first Dominations, and then Virtues." The notes to the passage clarify that this sequence corresponds to the order indicated by the pseudo-Areopagite in the De coelesti Hierarchia, the source to which Beatrice declares she is adhering. The same choir is among the angelic intelligences that the Convivio, following Gregory, indicated instead in a different arrangement, recalled here by contrast. The mention occurs in a descriptive and theological moment, without direct intervention of the choir in the scene.