Sun

Profile

In Purgatorio the Sun is recalled as the celestial body whose course forms the arc of the day: "onde fa l'arco il Sole e Delia il cinto" (Purg. XXIX 78). In the notes to Paradiso the Sun is described as "la lucerna del mondo" (Par. I 38), an expression from the classical and medieval tradition that indicates the star as the source of light for the universe, and its rising from different "foci" marks the passage of time in the poem. Its path is used by Dante to fix the coordinates of the journey: evening in the Inferno, dawn in the Purgatorio, noon in the Paradiso.