Characters
Characters of the Divine Comedy
Explore the protagonists and figures Dante meets on his journey.
| Personaggio | Tipologia | Menzioni | Versi collegati | Descrizione |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cornelia | Unclassified | 2 | 2 | Roman matron celebrated by Dante as an example of feminine virtue, cited among the illustrious women of Limbo and then recalled as a moral model in Paradise. |
| Constantine | Rulers and nobles | 2 | 2 | Roman emperor recalled by Dante as the protagonist of the so-called Donation to Pope Sylvester and of the transfer of the seat of the Empire from the West to the East, events that marked the origin of the Church's temporal power. |
| Constance | Rulers and nobles | 2 | 6 | Norman empress, last heir of the kingdom of Sicily, wife of Henry VI of Swabia and mother of Frederick II; she shines in the Heaven of the Moon with a light of particular intensity. |
| Creusa | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Creusa is recalled by Folco da Firenze as an example of a person offended by Dante's own amorous passion, alongside Sicheus, the husband of Dido. |
| Christ | Deity | 9 | 41 | In Purgatorio XX he is recalled as the one who was seized (catto) by his vicar; in Purgatorio XXI he appears to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus; in Purgatorio XXIII he is mentioned as joyful while saying 'Elì'. |
| Cunizza | Rulers and nobles | 1 | 1 | Blessed spirit who appears to Dante in the Heaven of Venus in Canto IX of Paradiso; she introduces herself by name and shows joy for her own past. |
| Cupid | Deity | 1 | 1 | Cupid, the winged boy son of Venus, armed with a bow and arrows with which he wounded the hearts of men, recalled by Dante in the Heaven of Venus. |
| Curio | Historical | 1 | 1 | Roman tribune of the Caesarian era, cited by Dante among the sowers of discord in the ninth bolgia of Hell (XXVIII), with his tongue cut off like the other sinners. |
| Currado da Palazzo | Rulers and nobles | 1 | 1 | Corrado of the conti di Palazzo of Brescia, podestà of Florence in 1276 and captain of the Guelph faction in 1277; praised by Marco Lombardo in Purgatorio for his honorable life and lordly liberality. |
| Daniel | Biblical figures | 3 | 3 | Hebrew prophet cited by Dante as an example of temperance in ancient Hebrew women, who drank only water during the siege of Jerusalem. |
| David | Rulers and nobles | 2 | 2 | King of Israel cited by Dante in Limbo among the figures of sacred history and recalled in the ninth bolgia as the father deceived by Ahithophel and Absalom. |
| Daedalus | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Figure from classical mythology recalled by Albero da Siena in Canto XXIX of the Inferno as the only man who knew how to fly. |
| Deianira | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Deianira is remembered as the cause of the death of a centaur cited in Canto XII of the Inferno. |
| Deidamia | Mythological | 2 | 2 | Deidamia, daughter of Lycomedes king of Scyros, loved by Achilles and abandoned by him for the Trojan War; Dante names her in the Inferno and the Purgatorio. |
| Deipyle | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Wife of Tydeus, one of the seven kings who besieged Thebes, remembered by Dante in Purgatorio among the characters of Statius's poems. Mentioned in the Thebaid together with her sister Argia. |
| della Pressa | Unclassified | 1 | 1 | Blessed one mentioned in Paradiso XVI among those whom Cacciaguida indicates as already part of the celestial host. The only textual datum available is the phrase «Quel de la Pressa». |
| del Vaio | Families and factions | 1 | 1 | Florentine family recalled by Cacciaguida in Paradiso XVI, indicated as descending from the column (the lineage) that bears its name. |
| Demophon | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Son of Theseus, recalled in the tercet of Paradiso IX (v. 101) as one of the celebrated lovers of antiquity, alongside Hercules for Iole. |
| Diana | Deity | 3 | 5 | Diana, the virgin goddess of Greek mythology, is cited in Purgatorio among the examples of chastity shouted by the souls in the seventh terrace of Purgatory. |
| Dido | Mythological | 1 | 2 | Queen of Carthage, a Virgilian figure recalled by Dante as an emblematic example of death for love and of betrayal suffered. Her name designates the band of the lustful in Canto V of the Inferno. |
| God | Deity | 3 | 128 | God is mentioned in the final verses of Paradise as the author of the greatest gift and as the resplendent light thanks to which Dante sees in the Empyrean. |
| Diogenes | Poets and thinkers | 1 | 1 | Ancient philosopher placed by Dante among the wise in Limbo, recalled in a trio with Anaxagoras and Thales. |
| Diomedes | Mythological | 1 | 1 | The Greek hero Diomedes, companion of Ulysses in the ditch of the fraudulent counselors, is recalled by Virgil for the theft of the Palladium and for the episode of the Trojan Horse. |
| Dione | Mythological | 2 | 2 | Dione is mentioned in the Heaven of Venus in the Paradiso as a figure from ancient mythology honored together with Cupid, on account of her kinship with Venus. |