Characters
Characters of the Divine Comedy
Explore the protagonists and figures Dante meets on his journey.
| Personaggio | Tipologia | Menzioni | Versi collegati | Descrizione |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rahab | Biblical figures | 1 | 1 | 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. |
| Rabano Mauro | Popes and clergy | 1 | 1 | Benedictine monk and Archbishop of Mainz, author of theological and exegetical works cited by Dante in Paradise among the wise. |
| Rachel | Biblical figures | 3 | 4 | Ancient wife of Jacob, recalled by Dante in Limbo as an image of the contemplative life. Her mention characterizes the Beatrice of the initial scene as theology and contemplation. |
| Ravignani | Families and factions | 1 | 1 | Ancient Florentine family mentioned by Cacciaguida in Paradiso XVI as a noble but decayed house, from whose daughters descended the Conti Guidi and other civic lineages. |
| Rhea | Deity | 1 | 1 | Rhea, mother of the gods, is recalled by Dante as the one who chose Crete as a safe place to hide her son Jove, entrusting him to a faithful cradle. |
| King Midas | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Mythological king recalled by Dante in Purgatorio as an emblematic example of punished avarice: greedy for riches, he obtained from Bacchus the power to transform into gold whatever he touched, ending up unable to eat or drink. |
| Ripheus | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Trojan hero of the Aeneid, recalled by Virgil as the most just of the Teucrians; Dante places him in Paradise among the blessed of the Heaven of Jupiter, fifth within the eye of the eagle. |
| Rinier | Historical | 1 | 2 | In Purgatorio XIV he is indicated as the merit and honor of his lineage; his neighbor Guido del Duca recognizes him in the terrace of the envious. |
| Rinier da Corneto | Unclassified | 1 | 1 | Road robber cited by Dante in Canto XII of the Inferno, mentioned alongside Rinier Pazzo among the violent against their neighbors. |
| Rinier Pazzo | Families and factions | 1 | 1 | A bandit named by Dante in Canto XII of the Inferno, remembered among the Ghibelline leaders of the Valdarno in mid-thirteenth-century Tuscany and linked to episodes of violence against an embassy. |
| Robert Guiscard | Rulers and nobles | 2 | 2 | A Norman warlord recalled by Dante in two passages of the poem: among the Christians who fought against him (Inf. XXVIII, 14) and among the lights of the cross in the Heaven of Mars (Par. XVIII, 48). |
| Rehoboam | Rulers and nobles | 1 | 1 | Biblical king cited by Dante in Purgatorio as an example of punished pride: a figure sculpted on the cornice of the proud, presented as reduced to terror and flight. |
| Rhodopeia (Phyllis) | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Phyllis, daughter of the king of Thrace, called Rhodopeia from Mount Rhodope. In love with Demophon, she killed herself believing herself abandoned. |
| Romoaldo | Popes and clergy | 1 | 1 | San Romoaldo, monk and founder of the hermitage of Camaldoli, is counted by Dante among the blessed contemplatives of the Heaven of Saturn in Paradiso XXII. |
| Rubicante | Mythological | 1 | 2 | Devil of the squad escorting Dante and Virgil through the bolgia of the barrators; he is addressed by Malacoda, who orders him to attack a damned soul with his hook. |
| Sabellius | Popes and clergy | 1 | 1 | Heretic of the early Christian centuries cited by Saint Thomas in Paradiso as an example of anti-Trinitarian doctrine opposed to that of Arius. |
| Sabellus | Historical | 1 | 1 | Soldier in Cato's army who, while crossing the Libyan desert, is bitten by a poisonous snake and dissolves into ash, as recounted by Lucan. |
| Sacchetti | Families and factions | 1 | 1 | Florentine family recalled by Cacciaguida among those that were already great in his time in the quarter of Porta San Piero. |
| Sapphira | Biblical figures | 1 | 1 | Sapphira is cited by Dante in the twentieth canto of Purgatorio as an emblematic example, recalled together with her husband in a survey of cases of punished avarice. |
| Samuel | Biblical figures | 1 | 1 | Old Testament prophet cited by Dante alongside Moses among the most exalted creatures, who share the Heaven of the Moon in Paradise. |
| Callixtus | Popes and clergy | 1 | 1 | Callixtus is mentioned by Dante, in Paradiso, among the popes of the early centuries listed as martyrs of the faith, alongside Linus, Anacletus, Sixtus, Pius, and Urban. |
| St. Lawrence | Popes and clergy | 1 | 1 | A martyr saint recalled by Dante as an example of steadfastness of soul in resisting violence, cited together with Mucius Scaevola in the Heaven of the Sun. |
| Sixtus | Popes and clergy | 1 | 1 | A pope of the early centuries recalled by Peter in the Heaven of Mars, numbered among the martyr-popes who made the Church a sower of blood and not of wealth. |
| Saint Zita | Popes and clergy | 1 | 1 | Mentioned in canto XXI of the Inferno as the place of origin of one of the Malebranche devils, described as «un de li anzïan di Santa Zita». |