Typhoeus

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In Canto VIII of Paradiso, Charlemagne – or, according to other interpretations, another character of the tercet – recalls Sicily (the fair Trinacria) that covers itself with smoke between Pachynus and Pelorus, on the gulf beaten by the Euro wind. At verse 70 the poet clarifies that that smoke does not rise "per Tifeo ma per nascente solfo" (because of Typhoeus but because of rising sulfur), thus rejecting the mythological explanation of the giant Typhoeus, to whom ancient tradition attributed the origin of Mount Etna's eruptions, in order to indicate instead a natural cause, the rising sulfur. The note to the passage confirms that Dante cites Typhoeus only to exclude him, leaving the phenomenon on a real and geographical plane.