The 5th Bolgia and Real Life Tar Pits

In the 5th ditch of the 8th circle of Inferno where those who committed the sin of graft are punished, there is a ditch of tar and pitch where the sinners swim around. This descriptive scene was interesting to me with its imagery, but it also reminded me of actual pits of tar that I have seen. A few weeks ago I visited Los Angeles, and while there I (after considerable convincing of my mom) went and visited the La Brea tar pits. For those of you who have never heard of them, the La Brea tar pits are a series of naturally occurring ditches of tar that seep up from the ground in the middle of Los Angeles. This geological phenomenon only occurs in a few places across the world, and the ones in Los Angeles are somewhat famous and have their own museum (they are also right next to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for some reason). 

The tar pits themselves are basically small lakes and ponds that have tar below the surface water. On the surface, they sort of look like dirty lakes that smell like asphalt. Below, they are way more interesting, as they contain dozens of fossils each from prehistoric animals that got trapped in the tar. The largest pit has heartbreaking statues of a wooly mammoth family whose mother is dying in the tar (see picture below). The tar pits are a cool site, and I would highly recommend visiting them in Los Angeles.

As far as an actual comparison to Inferno, the tar pits are pretty different from the pitch that the grafters are punished in. The actual tar pits are just lakes with bottoms made of tar, which you can't really dive into like the grafters do. Still, I would not want to be trapped in either of them. I think it's kind of cool that there is a real world phenomenon that comes close to this punishment from Dante's poem. 

Pictures of the tar pits:

:(

Methane bubbles are released periodically from the tar pits (like farts, another similarity to the 5th bolgia)

Inferno in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

One example of Dante's influence that I thought of when reading Inferno is T. S. Eliot's epigraph of The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, a work we read last year. If you remember from last year, Prufrock is a modernist poem by the very influential poet T. S. Eliot that expresses what is apparently the interior monologue of a frustrated and isolated man. Interestingly, Eliot uses a quote from Canto 27 of Inferno as an epigraph for the poem. The quote is:

S`io credesse che mia risposta fosse

A persona che mai tornasse al mondo,

Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse.

Ma perciocchè giammai di questo fondo

Non tornò vivo alcun, s'i'odo il vero,

Senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.

Or translated: 

If I but thought that my response were made

to one perhaps returning to the world,

this tongue of flame would cease to flicker.

But since, up from these depths, no one has yet

returned alive, if what I hear is true,

I answer without fear of being shamed.

It comes from one of the bolgias in the 8th circle, specifically the one for those who are counsellors to people who commit fraud. Dante is having a conversation with Guido de Montefeltro, a Ghibelline who advised Boniface VIII (so Dante was not a fan of his). The quote is basically saying that he feels comfortable talking to Dante as he can't get out of hell and tell his story, which does not end up happening. It's thematically relevant to Prufrock in referencing expressing one's emotions and thoughts, something the speaker of Prufrock struggles to do.

Eliot was apparently greatly influenced by Dante and there are many references to Dante's works in his poetry. I think it is funny but also maybe slightly extra that Eliot uses the original Italian as the epigraph to an English poem. The Inferno has definitely had a great influence on Western literature and I thought this was an interesting example of a work that we have previously read in school.

Circle of Hell for the Self-Congradulatory

Okay, so while I respect Dante as a poet, it has been a bit hard for me to jump the hurdle of his very sly praise of himself. I mean, after all, he has created essentially entire universes separating the good and bad, and compartmentalizing everyone for their actions, so you would think that he would lead a virtuous life of temperance. Apparently he hasn't picked up on his own message though, as some of the things he writes bleed with pride, and while it is a bit funny, it is a bit off-putting for me.

I am amused, though, at his method of commending himself. If he had long passages of Dante the Pilgrim gushing over Dante the Poet, I don't think I could take it, but he really masterfully puts the praise into the hand of third-party members (although the worlds' best known philosophers aren't exactly the layman's third-party counterparts). Ultimately, though, I'm glad he had fun with it.

Dante and Daphne

When reading about the tree's in Dante's seventh circle of hell, I was reminded of the story of Daphne  in Greek mythology. In short, the story goes that Daphne was being pursued so intently by Apollo for her beauty, that she begs to the gods for help, and is eventually turned into a laurel tree.

While this is very different from the stories of the trees in Dante's seventh circle, I think there is a running theme of the body in both. In Daphne's case, she is being pursued by Apollo for her beauty, and by praying for Apollo to stop, it may be interpreted that she is indirectly begging for her body to be changed or taken away. Of course, Daphne was probably just terrified and praying for some divine intervention, but the solution ultimately given is pretty interesting.

In the case of the trees in the seventh circle, the people there "willingly" gave up their bodies as well (of course this is a point of controversy). And while I don't think Daphne necessarily wanted her body to be changed into a laurel, I think there is some similarity between the stories.

Stone-Cold Truth About the Temperature of Hell

Breaking news, everyone!  (Okay, well, actually, 2009 news.)  Apparently the temperature of Hell has been PROVED to be 285 degrees Fahrenheit!  How was this fact proved? you might ask.  Well, I have no idea, but theologian Dr. Stanford Brice has done it!  See the following article (http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/12259/temperature-of-hell/).

He says, “I certainly don’t want to overstate the importance of my research.  But I think people deserve to know what they’re getting into if they don’t live the good life that will ensure their entry into heaven.”  Thank you, Dr. Brice.

The article goes on to describe Brice’s method (which to me doesn’t seem like it actually proves anything, but I’m no expert): he found a bunch of religious texts and saw that they claimed the temperature of Hell was like that of a rock in fire.  So Brice heated up some rocks with fire, took their average temperature, and viola—he found the EXACT temperature of Hell.  Amazing.

I feel like Dante would be pretty sad to hear this news, because it directly contradicts what he claims in his Inferno—that Hell gets colder and colder the lower the circle.  Hmm.

Isaiah 30:26 on Heaven: "Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven days." Wow, that sounds almost as hot as New Orleans in the summer!
So according to the Internet (http://christianchat.com/bible-discussion-forum/7332-heaven-hotter-than-hell.html), Heaven is 798°K (525°C or 977°F).

Revelation 21:8: "But the fearful, and unbelieving ... shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.”  Therefore, Hell is below 446.6 degrees Celsius…which is “colder” than Heaven supposedly is!

So, wait…was Dante…wrong???  No, no, that can’t be.  Dante was SUCH a great guy—one of the best poets who’d ever lived (source: Dante)…Dante could never make such a mistake.  So I guess… the Bible and, more shockingly, Dr. Brice…were wrong.  Oh, well.  I guess those five years of research that Dr. Brice did were all for naught.

BasilICAN’T Believe All This Irony!

This week we discussed some of the churches and cathedrals built in the Romanesque and Gothic fashions.  Someone then mentioned a basilica, and a thought occurred to me.  The word “basilica” (definition: a building similar to a Roman basilica, used as a Christian church; or the name given to certain churches granted special privileges by the Pope) is derived from the Ancient Greek work “basileus” meaning king.  (So a basilica is a “royal house.”)  Yet we saw that Pope Urban II (in Unam Sanctam) argued that spiritual authority took precedence over temporal authority—in other words, the Pope’s authority was higher than a king’s or emperor’s.  I just find it slightly ironic that the word for a church “granted special privileges by the Pope” takes its meaning from the word for “king.”  And although I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation, I still can’t help but find this idea ironic.

Virgil

We all obviously know that Virgil wrote the Aeneid, but he also wrote other major works of poetry in the Eclogues and the Georgics. In Latin class we even read some of the Georgics, and I found some of the backstory pretty interesting. Virgil's patron was Maecenas, a fan of literature and a good friend to the Emperor Augustus. Rome had been in turmoil since the death of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. Finally Augustus was able to take control of the thrown and bring peace throughout the Roman Empire. Since there was no fighting many of the soldiers didn't have anything to fight for. Augustus then asked Maecenas to ask Virgil to write the Georgics to promote the honor and importance of farming and the rural lifestyle. Through the Georgics, Virigil praises farming and the gods of the harvest. Some historians believe Virigl even tells the story of how Maecenas began to sponsor Virgil in the Georgics. The Georgics are broken up into four sections. Each section discusses a different problem of farming, but Virgil still manages to keep the readers engaged and promote the farming as a patriotic and worthy occupation. While Virgil's Aeneid is certainly great, I believe that sometimes it can overshadow the greatness of his other works like the Eclogues or the Georgics.

Oakland Coliseum

On March 27th of 2017, the National Football League officially approved the move of the Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas. The Raiders plan on moving to Vegas before the 2019 season. This move from Oakland to Las Vegas marks the end of an era not only for the Raiders but also for their historic stadium, the Oakland Coliseum. When the Oakland Coliseum was first built in 1966, it was revolutionary. It combined America's two favorite sports, football and baseball, into one stadium. The stadium doubled as a stadium for the Oakland Athletics in the MLB and Oakland Raiders for the NFL. Its unique design and beautiful view of the mountains made it a fan favorite, but as time went on naturally the stadium began to deteriorate and become less popular.



Image of the Stadium in 1966 for an Oakland Athletics game.

In 1995 after the Raiders came back to Oakland after a brief stint in Los Angeles, the stadium underwent renovations to accommodate more people. These renovations blocked the iconic view of the mountains from the stadium, and increased the unpopularity of the stadium.

A picture of the somewhat recent renovations to the Coliseum.

The Oakland Coliseum shares many similarities with the Roman Colosseum built by Vespasian.  One of the defining features of the Oakland Coliseum is its ability to switch between a baseball or football stadium depending on its needs. This versatility is also present in the Roman Colosseum. In Rome, the Colosseum could be used for gladiator fights on day, then the next it could be flooded for naval battles for its viewers. Many people who visited the Coliseum in its early years said it reminded them of the Roman Colosseum due to its size and grand nature relative to other stadiums at the time. To Oakland this Coliseum served as the common space for many sporting events and seemed to be the center of Oakland sometimes. This is also true of the Roman Colosseum. During gladiator fights of naval battles, the Colosseum would be packed with eager fans rooting for violence, similarly to many football fans in Oakland. The Roman Colosseum could also be seen as the center and life of Rome at the time.

Roman Values Today

When researching and presenting for our Roman values presentation,  I began to notice that many of the values of the Roman people then are still valued now.  (I realize that this is somewhat late, but I meant to write about this last week but I fell asleep before I could.) Some values such as manliness are not as valued today obviously, but still many of the Ancient Roman values still stand today. As the basketball season begins, I am certainly reminded of the importance of some of these values, mainly pietas. It is somewhat hard to define pietas now, but some scholars have define it as duty, loyalty, or devotion. Kevin Durant one of the best basketball players in the world was playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder, but two seasons ago during the offseason he signed with the Golden State Warriors. The Golden State Warriors were already arguably the best team in the world, so the addition of another top 5 player made them the definitive best. The Golden State Warriors won the NBA Championship with Kevin Durant last year, and continue to dominate. Many NBA fans saw this move as distasteful and egregious, and Kevin Durant over night became the most hated player in the NBA. Fans saw this move as a cheap and easy way to win the championship and a general lack of loyalty to his former team. After leaving the team, Durant even began to insult the Oklahoma City Thunder players and coaches on twitter, furthering the hatred. Even though the Ancient Romans lived more than 2000 years ago, we can still see how similar they truly are to us.

Story of Proserpina

The Queen of Hell, Proserpina, is a Roman mythological goddess and is known for having a pretty interesting story that was used to explain many natural occurrences. It started when she was abducted by the god of the Underworld, Hades (Pluto). Her mother, Ceres (Demeter), the goddess of agriculture, was desperate to find her daughter and searched the entire world but was unsuccessful. Ceres became so upset that she stopped the growth of fruits and vegetables and even refused to go back to Olympus, creating desert wherever she stepped. Out of concern, Jupiter asked Hades to let Proserpina, who he had married, go back to her mother. However, before letting her go, Hades gave Proserpina six pomegranate seeds to eat. Because those who have ate the food of the dead cannot return to the world of the living, Proserpina was limited to only spending six months of the year with her mother. The remaining six months she was forced to live with Hades in the Underworld. Thus, for the six months of the year that Proserpina can reunite with her mother, Ceres is happy and vegetation on earth blooms (springtime). On the other hand, during the six months that Ceres cannot see her daughter, Ceres is upset and causes plants to wither (wintertime). There are variations of this story that exist to accommodate other seasons such as fall and summer; however, this story is still a great example of how mythology was used to explain natural occurrences such as the formation of deserts and seasons. There's also lots of artwork depicting Proserpina's abduction and implied rape. I attached a few pics below.
 
Rape of Proserpina by Ulpiano Checa


The Rape of Proserpina by Vincenzo de'Rossi

Christ Church Cathedral

I was looking for some cathedrals close to us that resemble some of the ones we studied, and I found the Christ Church Cathedral on St. Charles. It was added to and renovated a few times over the past 200 or so years. The most recent constriction of the church was in the Gothic style and incorporated pointed vaults, a prominent apse, lots of stained glass windows, a central tower, and exterior buttresses. Also, it was founded as Roman Catholic but is now part of the Episcopal diocese.

Here are some pics:

Also, please forgive how awfully the pictures are formatted.

Rouen Cathedral

More of my summer travels! This past summer my family and I also visited France and visited the cities of Rouen and Caen as well as Paris. Many of the churches and landmarks we visited reminded me of the architecture we presented on a few days ago. Specifically, the Rouen Cathedral came in mind.

The Rouen Cathedral is a Gothic style church built in the late 4th century but last enlarged and renovated in the 12th century. Like many churches we studied, the Rouen Cathedral has a West front facade, a transept, and a spacious nave. It also has a lady chapel stemming away from the apse. The overall architecture is pretty similar to the cathedral in St. Denis we studied and several other Gothic churches. 

Floor plan of the cathedral

The criss crossed, pointed vaults for support

The Real Labyrinth

After doing some research, I uncovered that the labyrinth has a less elaborate structure than I initially thought. I used to believe that the labyrinth was this long, humongous, elaborate maze-like structure that spanned a large plot of land. Depictions of the labyrinth actually prove the labyrinth to be more or less a fairly simple maze.
             I first envisioned the maze to be like this structure:


A large seemingly never ending maze, but after searching fro ancient depictions of the maze I found the maze portrayed as this:




The labyrinth is actually a simple circle like structure. Though the structure itself is not elaborate in terms of modern view; the labyrinth is, nonetheless, an elaborate structure for the time it was created in.

"Med" Squared: (Med)ea and Catherine de' (Med)ici

Last night our AP Euro class watched a French movie (luckily for me, with English subtitles) called Queen Margot.  The movie follows a princess of the Valois dynasty, the daughter of Queen Catherine de' Medici and King Henry II of France.  She lived from 1553 to 1615.  She enters into an arranged marriage with Henry of Navarre (future King of France Henry IV), which supposedly will bring peace between the Catholics and Huguenots (French Protestants); however, far from bringing "peace," St. Bartholomew's Day massacre follows her union with Henry, during which the fanatic Roman Catholic factions assassinated a ton of Huguenots who were at the wedding.

However, one thing that I've been thinking about, and which Mrs. Quinet pointed out, is the connection between Catherine de' Medici and Medea.  Catherine was a very powerful woman in France; she was both queen consort of France of Henry II and regent of France for her son King Charles IX after the death of Henry.  She was rather infamous for her ruthlessness, dedication to her sons and keeping the Valois line on the throne, and her dabbling in poison.  Some people even consider her the most powerful woman in 16th-century Europe.

Oh, wait, did you catch the part about poison?

Hmm...sounds like Medea.

Not only were these two both known throughout the lands in their time, both were also known for being rather cunning and clever women, not to mention women associated with sorcery and, specifically, poison.  I thought this was especially interesting in light of all our conversations about how women in Medea's time had to resort to stealthier ways to obtain their goals since, in most cases, they couldn't simply use force and boldness like men.

I was actually thinking about the link between these women even before watching Queen Margot because I've recently been watching a show on Netflix called Reign.  Reign mostly follows Mary, Queen of Scots.  She was married to Francis II of France, who was a son of Catherine de' Medici; although not super historically accurate, the show does point out things like Catherine's adept use of poison.  (Though I must say, Queen Margot's Catherine is rather creepier.)

Anyway, I've been finding a lot of parallels between the women in Reign and Medea.  Some of the lines of the female characters sounds like they could've been taken straight out of Euripides' play.  For example, Queen Mary realizes that, as a female ruler, she can't just send a bunch of warships into Scotland to stop the Protestant takeover, and she can't really threaten the Protestants into submission like a king might be able to do.  Instead, she says to one of her friends that, since she is a woman, she must find a subtler route.  She uses her smarts and wiles to get what she wants (I won't say exactly what in case anyone wants to watch it!).

Fellow Reign watchers: did y'all notice these similarities too?

Delightful religious puns

How does Moses make his coffee?

Hebrews it.

Who was the greatest comedian in the Bible?

Samson. He brought the house down.

What’s a missionary’s favorite kind of car?

A convertible.

Why wouldn’t the Pharaoh let the Hebrews go?

He was in ‘de Nile.

Need an ark?

I noah guy.

Gothic Revival and Duke University

Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or Neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. Its popularity grew rapidly in the early 19th century, when admirers of neo-Gothic styles sought to revive medieval Gothic architecture, in contrast to the neoclassical styles prevalent at the time. This movement led to Collegiate Gothic style in North America in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. A good example of the style is Duke University's architecture.

I visited Duke University in the spring, and it has a nice campus. Almost all buildings are of Gothic style, but the most impressive one is Duke Chapel, which is at the center of the campus.

Duke chapel is characterized by pointed arches, lancet windows, ribbed vaults, and flying buttresses, which allow for vast open spaces, uninterrupted by columns needed for support. In the chapel, steel trusses are used in place of traditional wooden ones to eliminate the need for large flying buttresses.

On the outer arch above the entrance portal are carved three (!) figures pivotal to the American Methodist movement: Bishop Francis Asbury, Bishop Thomas Coke, and George Whitefield. On the left wall within the portal are carved Girolamo Savonarola, Martin Luther, and John Wycliffe. On the right wall are Thomas Jefferson, Sidney Lanier, and Robert E. Lee was removed.

The Architecture of Scare Coeur

Sacre Coeur, A roman catholic monument, combines the architecture of both Basilica of St. Vital and also tat of the Basilica of St. Francis. The Sacre Coeur Basilica has the impact structure of the Basilica at St. Vitale, but maintains the extravagant gothic and romanistique exterior of the St. Francis Basilica. In terms of floor plan, Sacre Coeur has a relatively short nave which is topped by a larger apse. Similar to that of St. Francis, paintings of whom the church is dedicated (Jesus Christ) can be found.


Seen here, a painting of Jesus can be found on the dome. In terms of lighting, the building is relatively well lit, a few different forms of windows can be found located around the structure. Just on a final note, the three arch ways in the entrance of the building could, go figure, be a representation of the holy trinity's welcoming aura.

Other Thoughts on Language Development

I had a few more thoughts in discussing the development of Italian language that didn't really fit in the last post, so I thought I would make another one to mention them. For one, the way that The Divine Comedy and other works played an important role in setting a gold standard for Italian language reminded me of similar examples in other languages. One that comes to mind is the Quran, which was seen as the gold standard for Classical Arabic, which later developed into the modern dialects of today. Arabic has an interesting relationship with the Quran and all of the dialects of Arabic, as there are three main categories of Arabic: Classical Arabic, which is based on the language of the Quran and later works; Modern Standard Arabic, a language used for most formal writing and spoken only in contexts like the news and which is based on Classical Arabic but is somewhat simplified; and the various dialects of spoken Arabic, of which there are many. Most people who speak Arabic and especially Muslims speak a dialect particular to their region, but can also read and speak MSA and Classical Arabic. The development of Arabic is somewhat similar to that of Italian in the large variety of regional variants, but these local dialects have remained even as the lingua franca of MSA has emerged, whereas in Italian the Florentine dialect became the dominant spoken and written form. And much like in Italian where works of literature like The Divine Comedy and the Decameron have had great influence on the development of the language, the Quran has had a great impact on Arabic.

Another interesting comparison I discovered in researching the development of Italian is the institution of the Accademia della Crusca, a linguistic society established in 1583 devoted to maintaining the purity of the Italian language, which was used as a model for the Academie Francaise, which has a similar role for the French language. Both were established as concerted efforts to make bodies to standardize their language and grammar. Both did this by introducing dictionaries and grammatical standards, and both still exist today. I've learned about the Academie Francaise in French class, and it's an interesting solution to the problem of language standardization. It's also weirdly cultish, consisting of members who are called "Immortals", but regardless, it has provided an effective means of codifying and promoting French language. It is not without its critics, though, as some people claim the Academie stifles development and can be conservative and sometimes even somewhat petty. As an example, the Academie maintains that the French word for email is not the commonly-used, anglicized "e-mail," but instead the artificially constructed word "Courriel." The Accademia della Crusca attempted to maintain a similar function, but was somewhat less influential in immediately standardizing the language as the Accademia was harshly criticized by those who held different opinions on the questione della lingua. Interestingly, there is no equivalent organization to either Academy for the English language, which results in no definitive standard for the English language in terms of an official dictionary. The Accademia della Crusca and similar organizations like the Academie Francaise are representative of the development of languages like Italian, which again was a very messy process that Dante played a major role in.

Dante and "La Questione della Lingua"

Building off of Jun's post, I did some more research on Dante's impact on Italian and the development of the language more generally. It's interesting to see how this dialect from Florence came to become the standard for modern Italian, but as you might imagine this was not a straightforward process. In fact, there is an Italian phrase, "La questione della Lingua" (The question of the language) that refers to the debate over how the Italian language should be established in standardized that lasted centuries.

As Jun alludes to, Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch played an important role by being some of the first writers to take writing in the vernacular seriously. Dante did this very knowingly, and he even wrote an unfinished essay in latin named De Vulgari Eloquentia that considered languages and writing in the vernacular. Dante attempts to discuss the idea of an "illustrious vernacular" that would be suitable for writing serious works in instead of Latin. Later Italians especially in the 16th century pointed to this work and the great literature of Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch as the gold standard for Italian, which helped  the Florentine dialect being adopted around the entire country of Italy. Interesting, some thinkers like Pietro Bembo pointed to Petrarch as the gold standard with his more formal and lyrical verse rather than Dante.

Just as important as Florence's literary dominance, however, was its political and economic dominance for much of Italy's history. For the centuries after Dante lived and especially during the Renaissance, Florence held great influence on the rest of Italy. This was particularly important because there was a lack of united Italian identity well until the Risorgimento in the 19th century. Because of this lack of identity, it was not an easy process where everyone just decided "Well Florence has good literature so the Florentine dialect will be the standard for Italian" as there was no strong conception of being Italian. By the 16th century or so, many academics and noble people advocated for the Florentine language to be held as the standard across the Italian peninsula, but many common people did not follow suit. Technological developments such as the printing press led to more widespread written works, which helped standardize the language some. The development of the Florentine dialect into a standard language for all of Italy was as complicated as the development of Italian identity itself, but Dante and other Middle Age writers played an important role in promoting the vernacular.

Other Italian poets who wrote in the vernacular

Through the Divine Comedy, Dante (1265–1321) proved that in literature the vulgar tongue could rival Latin. There were other notable poets that followed his footsteps.

Francesco Petrarca, commonly anglicized as Petrarch (1304–74), was a scholar and poet in Renaissance Italy, who was one of the earliest humanists. Dante was a friend of his father, who was in exile from Florence as well. Petrarch's philological work was highly respected, as were his translations from Latin to the vernacular, and also his own Latin works. But it is his love poetry, written in the vulgar tongue, that keeps his name alive today. His Canzoniere had enormous influence on the poets of the 15th and 16th centuries.

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–75) was a writer, poet, and correspondent of Petrarch. His famous Decameron was written in the vernacular of the Florentine language. The poem is structured as a frame story containing 100 stories told by a group of seven young women and three young men sheltering in a secluded villa just outside Florence to escape the Black Death. In structure, it is similar with the Arabian Nights. The work was to become a model for fiction and prose writing. Boccaccio was the first to write a commentary on Dante, and he christened Dante's Commedia by adding Divina.

It is interesting that all three of these figures were from Florence or near the city. Therefore, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Florence is the birthplace of the Italian language.

Language for the People

During the Middle Ages, the established written language in Europe was Latin. With the overwhelming majority of people illiterate, however, only a tiny handful were well versed in the language. In Italy, as in all other countries, the majority would instead speak the vernacular of their region. Dante's The Divine Comedy is significant not only because it was written in the vernacular, but it also helped make the Tuscan/Florentine language the standard one for Italy. Through his poem, Dante standardized the Italian language and demonstrated that such a masterpiece can be born from language used by the common people.

The emergence of Italian culture and language with the help of Dante is actually similar to the evolution of a very different language: Korean. Before the 15th century, the main script for writing Korean was Hanja (한자), which was an adapted version of Chinese characters (arrived in Korea together with Buddhism). Mainly privileged elites were educated to read and write Hanja, however, and most of the population was illiterate. In the 15th century, King Sejong the Great (세종대왕) felt that Hanja was not adequate to write Korean and lamented the fact that there were no letters native to the country. He also realized how ignorant the general public were, so he wanted to create a writing system that would be easy for commoners to learn. The result in 1443 was the alphabetic featural writing system known today as Hangul (한글). Introduced in the document Hunminjeongeum (훈민정음), it became popular and increased literacy in Korea, but due to its suppression by the aristocratic class during the Joseon (조선) era, Hangul as a national script truly took hold later.

Like Dante, Sejong the Great has had huge influences on national language and culture. Today, Hangul remains the only letter system for which the creator, date of publication, and principles of invention are known. It has been praised for being one of the most efficient and scientific letters in the world, as each character resembles the oral cavity's shape when it is pronounced. In terms of efficiency, one example is enough to explain: "see you tomorrow" = "내일 봐" in Korean (this is especially useful if you hate the character limit on Twitter). Unsurprisingly, Hangul is also one of the most digital-friendly letters, meaning that it is easy to type, unlike Chinese or Japanese. But it is true that Hangul (or Korean in general) is hard for westerners to learn, much as easterners struggle to learn English and pronunciation.

But getting back to Dante's use of the vernacular and his contributions to the Italian language, I think it is best when a language/writing system is designed for the public.

The Divine Comedy: No Laughing Matter

You’re probably all disappointed to know that this post’s title is, in fact, a pun about the grim and increasingly tangible souls of Hell.

I mean, not even the poets are laughing here, and they arguably have the best deal of all among the condemned!  They get to live where the light is, right?  Though I do think it’s kind of weird that they get a big castle, which is the epitome of material reward.  Why would God give them a material reward for being awesome pagans?  Like…first of all, if they were so virtuous, wouldn’t they not be greedy and prideful and want a castle to live in?  They’d probably be more content with some books.  Second of all…yeah, again, I just find it weird that God would consider a castle to be the best thing He could give these cool pagan people, since I thought material goods wouldn’t really matter that much to the virtuous.  I mean, I just don’t see why God would consider it a reward.  (Although I guess that’s where the light is—well, what little light there is in Hell, anyway.)  But maybe Dante didn’t really think about that, and actually just wanted a castle to live in, in the case that he joined these poets.

Anyway.  So the souls/beings of Hell become increasingly more concrete as Dante ventures further and further through the nine circles (and then in Paradise, the beings aren’t really material at all), culminating in none other than Satan, who is frozen at the center of Hell.  And obviously, nobody in Hell is having a good time, but they become more and more despairing as Dante and Virgil go on.  Oh, well, I guess that in itself is a sort of contrapasso.  The worse the crime, the more weight it adds to a person’s life (or soul).  Wait—is that the theme of weight again?  I thought we left that behind with Kundera!  (*heavy sigh*)  I guess it’s some pretty heavy material we’re working with here.

A Da(u)nt(e)ing Prospect

So I read this 2012 article (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/9140869/Dantes-Divine-Comedy-offensive-and-should-be-banned.html), which reports claims (from a human rights organization with international influence—it acts as a consultant for the UN, apparently) that Dante’s work should no longer be taught in school.

Then the article backtracks a bit with a quote from the president of the organization, Valentina Sereni.  She clearly states that the group (Gherush 92) does NOT support censorship.  However, the article does include this quote from Sereni: “We would like it acknowledged, clearly and unambiguously, that in the Divine Comedy there is racist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic content. Art cannot be above criticism.”

As one piece of evidence, the group cites that, in the work, Muhammad had to undergo a gruesome punishment for his “heresy.”  After doing a bit more investigation, I found that Muhammad is actually in the eighth circle of Hell, for fraud (which, as we learned, Dante considered worst of all).  So, yeah.  Dante clearly didn’t like him.

The article goes on to cite some guy named Giorgio Rembado (the president of an Italian head teachers' association): “Works of literature need to be placed in the historical context.”

Hmmm.  Interesting.  I believe it’s true that we should put works of literature in historical context, in order to glean the full and true meaning (or, rather, a deeper interpretation or understanding).  But how much does historical context really excuse?  (Although I'm not saying I agree with everything Muhammad said, either—that's beside the point.)  Since I haven’t read Dante’s full work, I can’t claim to actually know a lot about these charges, or be able to support/refute them with my own evidence; but the question still stands.  Yeah, Dante was born in the 1200s, but he was clearly educated and brilliant.  But was he simply a product of his time, inculcated with these beliefs and born to circumstances out of his control?  Then again…that excuse could probably apply to everyone, including the people who broke out of those preconceived notions of their time and challenged them.

I don’t think that Dante’s Comedia should be banned from schools.  To me, that’s ridiculous.  Obviously I don’t agree or support racism, Islamophobia, or anti-Semitism.  Those views are absolutely wrong, from both logical and (more importantly) moral standpoints, and it SHOULD make us angry that there are people who support that kind of thinking and discrimination (not very Christian if you ask me).  But…we’re just going to stop reading influential works of literature because they include elements that are wrong?  Are we going to stop learning about the horrible parts of history, too?  Goodbye, most of American history!  What would be the point of that?  No, actually—what’s the point?  So we can ignore the fact that these kinds of people existed and still exist?  Teaching or learning the material does not mean these views are being praised.  Yes, it should be made clear what Dante was doing in the Divine Comedy by putting Mohammad into Hell, but we shouldn’t just chop out that part of his work.  We can’t eradicate everything that’s wrong in the world, and we deserve to know it’s there (often while vehemently disagreeing, of course).

After all, isn’t that one of the purposes of literature?  To spark discussion?  If we never learned about this kind of thing, how are we going to know that we disagree with it?  How are we going to learn how to think for ourselves, to come to moral conclusions for ourselves?  Teachers can’t hold our hands for the rest of our lives.  They can’t always be there to tell us what’s right and what’s wrong—but they can teach us to think for ourselves, and that’s something we’ll know how to do long after we go out into the “real world.”  That’s something we need to know how to do.  And that’s why I think it would be wrong to ban Dante’s Comedia, because the fact is, we can’t blot out the parts of human existence that we’re ashamed of, but we can use them to hopefully make the future brighter.

Boniface vs. Celestine: A Murder Mystery?

As we talked about, Pope Celestine V resigned five months after becoming the pope due to "deficiencies  of physical strength" and a "longing for the tranquility of the former life", and Pope Boniface VIII succeeded him. Boniface wasn't the nicest guy...by any means. In fact, he believed that the Pope had ultimate authority and even released a decree that said "every human creature is subject to the Roman pontiff." Humble. He did all kinds of crazy things like sending mercenaries to destroy castles and taking land away from families. Up there with his crazy stunts is probably his wild goose chase to imprison his predecessor, Celestine. Boniface thought issues would arise if there were two popes so he declared that Celestine be captured. Celestine heard about this and was able to escape imprisonment for 9 months before finally getting caught. He eventually died less than a year later in the castle he was held in. Throughout history, people have speculated that perhaps Boniface himself killed Celestine. Even more interesting is that Celestine's skull has a deep hole in it due to blunt force trauma, possibly from a nail lodged into his head. This long debate was put to rest a few years ago when a doctor took a look at Celestine's skill and declared that the hole in his skull was created postmortem, probably during one of his reburials. So, no, Celestine was not killed by a sharp nail to the skull, the conspiracy regarding his death (a murder?) is still very much alive.


Here's a pic of Celestine's skull.

The Myth of Er

In Plato's Republic, Plato gives his take on the afterlife in the Myth of Er. Er, sort of like Dante, recounts his experiences in the after life. However, Er does this after dying and then coming back to life when his body is being burned on a pyre.

Er describes coming to a mysterious place and observes two holes that lead into the ground, and two holes that lead into the heavens. Between these gateways there were judges, who sent people to the heavens or underworld respectively. When Er approaches the judges, he is told that he should stick around and then go back into the world and tell people what he saw. Here, I think the judges are a bit like Charon.

In the place where Er is, however, there is a strange convergence of souls. Souls from the underworld and the heavens are basically able to meet up and chat about what it is like where they were sent.  In each place, people experience tenfold what they had done on the earth. For the virtuous, they experience ten times the good, and for the sinners, they experience ten times the damage they have inflicted upon others.

Er then comes to the Spindle of Necessity, and near here Er witnesses lots being passed out with numbers on them, and a board displayed with corresponding new lives. Here we see some familiar names as well such as Orpheus, who picks a swan,  Ajax, who picks a lion,  Atalanta, who picks a monkey. All of these are animals that correspond to their living selves.

And Er wakes up soon after.

I thought this story was interesting, especially the part in which people are reincarnated in different forms, as the only thing that comes near to the concept of reincarnation in the Inferno is the Harrowing. Also, I think the Myth of Er is an intriguing fusion of Dante’s Paradise, Purgatory, and Inferno.

Eating Chocolate in Hell

Okay, this is so far fetched but also so bizarre that I felt the need to share.

So, I was looking up some facts about Dante’s Inferno just to see if some eclectic fact sparked my curiosity, and I came across this out-there fan theory concerning Willy Wonka.

So, apparently the 1971 film adaption has some crazy creepy similarities to Dante’s inferno. Firstly, there is Charon and his boat that lead Dante and Virgil into hell, and, if you recall, in Charlie and the Chocolate factory there is that scene on the boat where Gene Wilder sings/yells about rain, snow, hell, and reapers. (I went back and watched it and it is actually pretty disturbing).

Also, all of the kids who go into the factory have some kind of vice (greed, pride, gluttony, sloth, and even Charlie could be accused of envy), and have fates that generally line up with their sins.

The theory is pretty outlandish, but I think it is just eccentric enough to be pretty entertaining.

Whirling Banner of Futility

When I read Dante's description about the vestibule of hell from Canto lll, the 'whirling banner' that 'could never find rest' unnerved me the most; strangely enough, paintings depicting the American Revolutionary War came to mind. In many of these paintings, a flag is held up high by one or two soldiers or by George Washington himself. These men dedicated themselves to a cause that cost numerous lives. But it was for something they believed in. Dante's Inferno would probably see them in Paradiso. For such a patriotic image to be inversely reflected (by my mind, of course, not Dante's, since he and the revolutionary war are centuries apart :P) in purgatory is disturbing. All the same, I appreciate the eerie symbolism.

Unbaptized Babies Did Nothing Wrong

I know we already talked about this, but...
I find it absolutely abhorrent that babies who weren't baptized still went to hell. I know it's what Dante believed in, but it's not a baby's fault she or he died before being "saved." Why couldn't somebody beg on behalf of these babies for God's grace? Why is Dante more deserving than they?
Normally I don't pull out Hamilton, but I think this Lin-Manuel Miranda quote from the musical is relevant: “Death doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints, it takes and it takes and it takes, and we keep living anyway....”
I'll stop here before I venture into what-kind-of-God questions.

Hell is empty and all the devils are here

Gotta say, Shakespeare's quote from The Tempest rings true for the movie Se7en.
In Se7en, two homicide detectives, Mills and Sommerset, hunt for a serial killer whose murders correspond with the seven deadly sins. Throughout the films, the detectives make a dozen references to Dante's Inferno. In both the book and the movie, people are punished according to the sin they have committed. In Se7en, the person guilty of gluttony is forced to eat until he no longer can. The killer kicks him and, well, the dude's stomach bursts. In Purgatorio, the gluttonous are forced to experience excruciating hunger and thirst. In Se7en, the killer decapitates a woman who he found to be envious. In Purgatorio, the envious must stand with each other, their eyes sewn shut. It is Morgan Freeman's character, Sommerset, who reads up on the Divine Comedy and recognizes a symmetry between the murders and the book.
I find myself wondering what Dante would think of Se7en, in which people are killed according to his idea of contrapasso as opposed to divine justice in hell. Would he be put off by this modern interpretation of his idea? Would he be indifferent? While the movie's direct, less imaginative use of contrapasso is purposeful and appropriate for its genre, naturally I find it unsettling since hell and earth are brought closer together than anyone would like. 'Least that's what I think. 

The Lord of the Rings and Inferno

While reading Dante's Inferno, I have been pleasantly surprised by the extent to which the poem's images resemble those in The Lord of the Rings. As a medievalist and deeply religious person, J. R. R. Tolkien would have been very familiar with The Divine Comedy. I haven't read Tolkien's original novel before, but even the movies are similar to what we have been reading.

Gollum is to Frodo as Virgil is to Dante. Like Dante, Frodo is sometimes reluctant to continue his journey, but Gollum encourages him to move on. I remember a scene in one the movies where Frodo, Sam, and Gollum pass a swamp where there are zombie-like creatures beneath the murky water that seduce Frodo, who falls, only to be saved by Sam. This scene is similar to Dante's journey through the Styx, beneath which the Slothful sing a hymn that gurgle in their throats. The resemblance to Inferno is intensified by the presence of The Watcher outside the Gates of Moria, who resembles the guardians that block the ways of Virgil and Dante at each circle of Hell.

As we continue to read Inferno, it will be interesting to see other parallels between the poem and The Lord of the Rings.