Mythological
Polissena
Daughter of Priam, the last victim of the ruin of Troy: sacrificed by the Greeks on the tomb of Achilles, she is recalled by Dante as the cause of Hecuba's grief.
Profile
In Dante's narrative Polissena is recalled as the daughter of Priam, killed by the Greeks on the tomb of Achilles. Her death is presented as one of the last blows to fall upon her mother Hecuba, a prisoner stripped of everything after the fall of Troy. The verse "poscia che vide Polissena morta" shows Hecuba, while on the seashore, catching sight of her daughter's lifeless body, and shortly afterward she also recognizes the corpse of her son Polydorus, killed by Polymestor. The episode is drawn from the Ovidian tradition of the Metamorphoses (XIII 481-568), the explicit source of the notes to the canto.
In the text
Linked verses
1 verses| Cantica | Canto | Verso | Testo | Open verse |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inferno | Canto XXX | 17 | poscia che vide Polissena morta, | Open verse |