Ezekiel

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Ezekiel is the prophet to whom Dante expressly refers in Purgatorio XXIX, where the mystical procession presents four winged creatures around the triumphal chariot. The poet refers back to his vision for the composite aspect of the figures, with the face of a man, the back of a lion and of an ox, and the wings of an eagle; Ezekiel in fact describes his creatures as having «four aspects» and four wings for each one. The notes further specify that Dante recalls the stormy wind that opens the Ezequielian vision, translating with dramatic power its arrival from the north. The Christian tradition, also through Saint Jerome, reads the four creatures of Ezekiel as a symbol of the four Gospels, a reading that Dante knows. In Dante's depiction the number of wings diverges from that of Ezekiel: Dante chooses to align himself with the vision of the Apocalypse of John, which assigns six wings to each creature, thus departing from the prophet, who envisaged only four. The mention thus serves to specify the scriptural source from which the poet draws for the scene of the triumph.