There's an
interesting distinction to be made when speaking about Inferno between the
God of Christianity, and the Greek and Roman pagan influences. In Inferno,
Dante weaves these two cosmologies together, with the Pagan influences ultimately suborned to
the higher, cosmic divinity represented in Christian revelation. With that in mind, first of
all, we should recognize that the universe of Dante is monotheistic, with power and authority
radiated downwards from heaven and the God of Christianity reigning supreme. He can never really
be escaped within the pages of this poemthis is a Christian universe, and the demons of hell are
ultimately subordinate to the will of heaven.
At the same time, however,
Dante's depiction of hell does have powerful parallels with ancient pagan mythologies. For
example, we see Minos, one of the judges of the Greek underworld, resuming his role as a judge
of the damned. We also see the presence of mythological figures,...
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