Biblical figures
Rahab
Rahab is the harlot of Jericho who welcomed and helped the spies sent by Joshua to escape; her house was spared during the destruction of the city. In Paradise she is numbered among the lights of the Heaven of Venus.
Profile
Rahab is the biblical figure recalled by Dante in the Heaven of Venus, alongside Folquet of Marseille and Cunizza da Romano. Her name is cited in verse 116 of Canto IX of the Paradiso. According to the notes to the canto, Rahab was a harlot who in Jericho welcomed into her house the two spies sent by Joshua before the siege of the city and helped them to escape. When Jericho fell, her dwelling was the only one spared from the destruction, and she was received into the people of Israel. The New Testament celebrates her for her faith and her work, and the Christian Fathers interpreted her as a figure of the Church, the sole place of salvation in a corrupt world symbolized by Jericho. The Christian tradition had thus endorsed her before Dante placed her among the blessed. Her splendor is recorded as surpassing that of the other lights of her heaven.
In the text
Linked verses
1 verses| Cantica | Canto | Verso | Testo | Open verse |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paradise | Canto IX | 116 | Raab; e a nostr’ ordine congiunta, | Open verse |