Characters
Characters of the Divine Comedy
Explore the protagonists and figures Dante meets on his journey.
| Personaggio | Tipologia | Menzioni | Versi collegati | Descrizione |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capocchio | Historical | 2 | 2 | Florentine alchemist condemned as a forger, placed among the falsifiers of metals in Canto XXIX of the Inferno; remembered by Dante as a fellow student. |
| Caponsacchi | Families and factions | 1 | 1 | Florentine family mentioned by Cacciaguida in the Heaven of Mars: the name Caponsacco is recalled as already established in the city's market. |
| Cappelletti | Families and factions | 1 | 1 | Guelf family of Cremona, recalled by Sordello da Goito together with the Montecchi as an example of the factions that had devastated Lombardy in the thirteenth century. |
| Charlemagne | Rulers and nobles | 3 | 3 | King of the Franks crowned emperor in 800, remembered by Dante as heir to the Roman eagle, defender of the Church against the Lombards, and champion of the faith against the Saracens, celebrated in the songs of the Carolingian cycle together with his nephew Roland. |
| Charon | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Demon guardian of the infernal swamp, the old ferryman who transports the damned souls across the waters of Acheron in Canto III of the Inferno. |
| Casella | Poets and thinkers | 1 | 1 | A spirit and friend of Dante, encountered on the shore of Purgatory. He is recognized by his sweet voice; he greets Dante with an embrace, declares that his earthly affection has not changed after death, and sings a sweet song before Cato rebukes them. |
| Cassius | Historical | 2 | 2 | The killer of Caesar who, together with Brutus, is placed by Dante in the mouth of Lucifer as a traitor to the Empire. |
| Castor and Pollux | Mythological | 1 | 1 | The Dioscuri of Greek mythology, sons of Jupiter and Leda, evoked by Virgil to indicate the zodiac constellation of the Twins, by which the position of the sun in relation to the equator is measured. |
| Cato | Historical | 1 | 1 | Figure evoked in Inferno XIV as the protagonist of the crossing of the Libyan desert: his feet trod the arid sand that Dante likens to the sandbank where the flakes of fire fall. |
| Cerberus | Mythological | 4 | 4 | A many-headed, barking monster that sets its teeth upon the damned of the third circle, where the gluttonous lie beneath a rain mixed with hail and snow. |
| Julius Caesar | Rulers and nobles | 2 | 11 | Caesar armed with the falcon's eyes is recalled by Dante in Limbo among the great figures of Roman history, heroes of the active life listed in Canto IV. |
| Chiron | Mythological | 2 | 2 | Wise centaur, leader of the centaurs in the seventh circle of Hell, tutor of Achilles; Virgil addresses him so that he may speak with authority. |
| Ciacco | Historical | 2 | 2 | A Florentine citizen damned in the third circle of Hell among the gluttonous, who rises from the mire and recognizes Dante, addressing him and prophesying about the corruption of Florence. |
| Cianfa | Families and factions | 1 | 1 | Character mentioned in Inferno XXV, among the damned in the bolgia of the thieves. He is a Florentine identified by commentators with a member of the Donati family, remembered for a public office held in 1282. |
| Cianghella | Families and factions | 1 | 1 | Cianghella is recalled by Cacciaguida in Paradise as an example of a woman of brazen morals in the contemporary world, in antithesis to the morality of the Florentine women of the past. |
| Cimabue | Poets and thinkers | 1 | 1 | A painter recalled by Oderisi in Purgatorio (XI 94) as the peak of the figurative tradition later surpassed by Giotto, in a parallel with the transition from Guinizelli to Cavalcanti in poetry. |
| Cincinnatus | Historical | 1 | 1 | Historical figure mentioned by Cacciaguida in Paradiso as an example of ancient virtue, paired with Cornelia, in a list of moral models from the past. |
| Circe | Mythological | 2 | 2 | Sorceress of the island of Circeo, recalled by Ulysses as the woman who detained him at her side with her seductions before his final voyage. |
| Cirïatto | Mythological | 1 | 2 | Demon of the Malebranche squad in the fifth bolgia of the Inferno, remembered for the cut that his mouth inflicts on Ciampolo of Navarre. |
| Cyrus | Rulers and nobles | 1 | 1 | Persian king cited by Orosius in his Histories as a victim of Tomyris, recalled in Purgatorio in an example of punished pride sculpted on the pavement. |
| Clement IV | Popes and clergy | 1 | 1 | Pope Clement IV is mentioned in Purgatorio in relation to the excommunication of Manfred, who nevertheless obtained divine pardon for his final repentance. |
| Cleopatra | Unclassified | 1 | 2 | Queen of Egypt placed by Dante among the lustful of the second circle of Hell, where she is cited alongside Semiramis and remembered as an example of lust. |
| Clymene | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Clymene is cited in the prologue of Canto XVII of Paradise as the mother of Phaethon, within the simile by which Dante portrays his own disturbance in the encounter with Cacciaguida. |
| Clotho | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Clotho is the figure who, according to the verse in Purgatorio XXI, imposes and fills the spindle of human life, cited by Statius in a passage of lament over the condition of the damned. |