Dante Alighieri was born this day in history, May 9, 1265. This Italian poet wrote The Divine Comedy. The narrator gets taken on a guided tour of the afterlife, from hell up through the glories of heaven.
Really, what everybody remembers now is the inferno part- his vision of hell. He takes historical bad people (ie Judas) and contemporary political figures that he dislikes, and gives them all beautifully creative wicked visual punishments to fit their crimes.
Indeed, Dante comes to mind for me anytime the phrase "poetic justice" comes up. He pretty much invented it.
Article comments
1 - murphy
DANTE RULES!!!
Dude wrote one hell of a book. you know what's funny to me? He kind of invented all these various levels of heaven and hell and purgatory. Now, those things have become part of many Christians' ideas of what hell is like, but they don't even know where their concepts came from.
2 - Hazy Dave
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote a cool update (also entitled "Inferno") in 1983...
Sci-Fi Inferno
3 - Temple Stark
Dante was a bastard. At least in Mario Puzo's "The Last Don.