Characters
Characters of the Divine Comedy
Explore the protagonists and figures Dante meets on his journey.
| Personaggio | Tipologia | Menzioni | Versi collegati | Descrizione |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Erichtho | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Erichtho, a cruel sorceress evoked by Virgil in Inferno IX as an example of someone who, through magical arts, summoned the soul back into the bodies of the dead in order to draw out one who had hidden there. |
| Esau | Biblical figures | 1 | 1 | Twin son of Isaac and father of the Edomites, cited in Paradise as a biblical example of two twins of radically different nature and destiny, to demonstrate that the influence of the heavens acts upon the individual person and not upon the lineage. |
| Aesop | Poets and thinkers | 1 | 1 | Greek author of moral fables, cited by Dante in the ditch of the hypocrites as he observes the scene of the two silent pilgrims. |
| Esther | Biblical figures | 1 | 1 | Wife of King Ahasuerus and savior of the Jewish people, recalled by Dante in Purgatory alongside the just Mordecai and King Ahasuerus as an example of humility against pride. |
| Eteocles | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Brother of Polynices cited by Dante in Canto XXVI of the Inferno as a mythical example of a flame that splits in two, in reference to the pyre on which the two brothers, sons of Oedipus, were placed together. |
| Hector | Mythological | 2 | 2 | Trojan hero recalled by Justinian in the Heaven of the Sun as the place where he lies, alongside Antandrus and the river Simois, in the recollection of the stages of the Roman eagle. |
| Euclid | Unclassified | 1 | 1 | Greek mathematician of antiquity, remembered by Dante in Limbo as a representative of the sciences, alongside Ptolemy, Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna, and Averroes. |
| Euryalus | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Euryalus is a young Virgilian hero recalled by Dante in the first canto of the Inferno alongside Camilla, Turnus, and Nisus, as an example of glory and pity uniting victors and vanquished. |
| Euripides | Poets and thinkers | 1 | 1 | Greek tragic poet, the third of the great tragedians after Aeschylus and Sophocles, who lived from 480 to 406 BC, of whom nineteen tragedies survive. |
| Eurypylus | Mythological | 1 | 1 | Character from classical antiquity cited by Dante among the diviners and augurs of the fourth bolgia of the eighth circle, remembered as the one who «gave the starting point» to the Greeks for their departure toward Troy. |
| Europa | Mythological | 1 | 4 | Mythological figure recalled in Par. XXVII 84 with the mention of the sweet burden she carried on the bull, according to the myth of the abduction. |
| Eve | Biblical figures | 2 | 4 | Eve is mentioned twice in the Purgatorio as a biblical figure of original sin: for the bitter food that made her the cause of the Fall, and for the boldness that brought about the reproach. |
| Ezekiel | Biblical figures | 1 | 1 | Prophet of the Old Testament, author of the vision of the four creatures with the face of a man, the back of a lion and of an ox, and the wings of an eagle, cited by Dante in canto XXIX of the Purgatorio as a model for his own creatures of the triumph. |
| Fabricius | Historical | 1 | 1 | Historical character invoked among the souls of Purgatory as an example of virtuous poverty and total detachment from wealth. |
| Farfarello | Mythological | 2 | 2 | Devil of the Malebranche decuria cited by Dante in the bolgia of the barrators; the name recalls Old French Farfadet (sprite) and the Tuscan farfanicchio. |
| Farinata degli Uberti | Rulers and nobles | 2 | 2 | Farinata degli Uberti, a Ghibelline leader of Florence, remembered by Dante among the great citizens of the past; in Canto X of the Inferno he is placed among the heretics in the burning tombs. |
| Pharisees | Families and factions | 1 | 2 | In Canto XXIII of the Inferno Dante mentions the Pharisees, recalling the counsel given to Christ by his killers, an act of supreme hypocrisy. The note on the verse compares modern hypocritical prelates to the 'novi Farisei' (new Pharisees). |
| Frederick Barbarossa | Rulers and nobles | 1 | 1 | Frederick I of Swabia, known as Barbarossa, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, remembered by Dante as 'the good Barbarossa' in Purgatorio XVIII. |
| Federigo Novello | Rulers and nobles | 1 | 1 | Son of Guido Novello of the Guidi counts of Casentino, named by Dante in Purgatorio among the excommunicated. |
| Federigo Tignoso | Poets and thinkers | 1 | 1 | Federigo Tignoso, remembered by Guido Guinizzelli as a neighbor and contemporary of whom the stamp has been lost in the purgatorial passage of the Cornice of the Envious. |
| Felice | Unclassified | 1 | 1 | So designated by the verses: «Oh padre suo veramente Felice!» (Par. XII 79), an expression by which, in the Paradiso, one apostrophizes a father, presenting his condition as authentically happy. |
| Phaethon | Mythological | 3 | 3 | Son of the Sun cited by Dante in the simile of the descent of Geryon and in the description of the point in the east where the solar chariot rises. |
| Ephialtes | Mythological | 1 | 2 | Mythological giant, numbered among the rebels of Phlegra, chained in the ice of the ninth circle of Hell, presented as the most audacious among the challengers of Jove. |
| Flemings | Families and factions | 1 | 1 | Population of Flanders cited by Dante in Inferno XV as a point of comparison for the embankments built by Brunetto Latini in the seventh circle. |