Mythological_Beasts_In_Dante’s_Inferno

Mythological Beasts In Dante’s Inferno Throughout The Divine Comedy, Dante journeys through the Inferno with his guide Virgil. The great poet uses various characters, which he draws from ancient mythology and Greek stories, throughout his encounters to represent abstract ideas or concepts. In doing so, he also incorporates each of the characters qualities into their duties in Hell. Minos, Cerberus, and the Centaurs are examples of these characters. In Canto V, as Dante and Virgil descend into the Second Circle of Hell, they encounter the monster Minos, who was once a Cretan King, and was transformed into a monstrous demon. He also judges the sinners and assigns them their torment by wrapping “his tail around himself as many / times as the circles the sinner must go down” (Canto V, line10). As they make their way further into the Third Circle of Hell, they encounter yet another mythological beast, Cerberus, the three headed dog, who tries to stop Virgil and Dante from moving on. Virgil calms the beast as he “gathered up earth and then, his two fists full, / He threw the lot down those rapacious throats” (Canto VI, line 25). Cerberus dante, virgil, hell, half, encounter, cerberus, mythological, circle, characters, canto, yet, way, two, tries, through, three, something, represents, monstrous, minos, man, first, dante’s, centaurs, beasts, beast, addition, 516, in, wrapping, while, watchdog, virgil’s, violence, vi