Nimrod

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Nimrod is presented by Dante as one of the giants who emerge from the pit situated between the eighth and ninth circles of Hell, at the entrance of the icy circle where Lucifer is confined. In the medieval tradition, founded on Scripture, Nimrod was considered the king of Babylon and the builder of the Tower of Babel, and his episode was assimilated to that of the giants who attempted to scale heaven. Dante shows him in chains, reduced to impotence, with a language that has become obscure and confused. At verse 67 of Canto XXXI of the Inferno the giant pronounces nonsensical sounds, "Raphèl maì amècche zabì almi," words that Virgil himself immediately defines as a sign of violence and pride; at verse 77 it is Virgil who identifies him, declaring "questi è Nembrotto per lo cui mal coto / nel mondo sù si creò un linguaggio tale." Nimrod thus symbolizes the proud challenge against God and, at the same time, the intellectual presumption of man, of which the confused language is meant to be a sign.