So I do not know if anyone else is loving it, but I am loving how much Greek mythology Dante includes in his depiction of hell. It is almost as if the monotheistic Christian hell and the polytheistic Greek hell had a child. Even more interesting is the fact that Dante's depiction of hell reveals a lot about the time period he lived in. The world of thought around him was swirling with ancient mythology and Christianity alike.
I can only imagine the different ideologies that fought for prevalence and the badge of truth during Dante's day and age. So many differing opinion were colliding and creating explosions of art, literature, and entertainment. That indeed is clear enough because now we have amazing works such as The Divine Comedy. We see the same thing in western culture today. We are a conglomeration of so many different ideas, backgrounds, upbringings, and religions. All these different factors come together to create fantastic things that we would never be able to create on our own.
I commented on Ian Blair's post.
I love that you point this out. I often tend to forget the historical context in which things are written but it explains so much of his writing. He is inspired by Greek authors, so obviously, despite his Christian beliefs, he would pull in mythology.
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