Semele

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Semele is mentioned in the Divine Comedy in two passages, both linked to Juno's jealousy against Thebes. In Canto XXX of the Inferno Dante recalls her as a victim of Juno's fury, who acted «contra 'l sangue tebano»: the goddess, jealous of Semele, daughter of the founder of Thebes, and beloved by Jupiter, took revenge by causing her to be incinerated for the first time. In Canto XXI of the Paradiso Semele is cited as a term of comparison: Beatrice warns Dante that if he were to gaze too intently upon her smile in the heaven of Saturn, «tu ti faresti quale… Semelè», she who «di cener fessi» when she wished to contemplate Jupiter in all his radiance. The notes to Canto XXI specify that Semele, daughter of Cadmus, asked and obtained from the god, at Junon's instigation, the ability to see him in his celestial majesty, but her mortal body was reduced to ashes by that vision.