WEBVTT

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here… ”

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Inscribed above the Gate of Hell,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
these ominous words warn dark 
tidings for Dante

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
as he begins his descent into inferno.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Yet despite the grim tone,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
this prophecy sets into motion what is 
perhaps the greatest love story ever told;

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
an epic journey that encompasses both 
the human and the divine.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
But for Dante to reach 
benevolent salvation,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
he must first find his way through Hell.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
This landscape of torture is the setting 
for Inferno,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the first in a three-part narrative poem

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
written by Dante Alighieri 
in the 14th century.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Casting himself as the protagonist,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Dante travels deeper and deeper 
into Hell’s abyss,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
witnessing obscene punishments distinct 
to each of its nine realms.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Beginning in Limbo, he travels through the
circles of Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Heresy, Violence, and Fraud,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to the horrific ninth circle of Treachery,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
where sinners are trapped under the 
watchful eyes of Satan himself.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
The following two parts, Purgatorio and 
Paradiso, continue Dante’s journey,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
as he scales the Mount of Purgatory

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and ascends the nine celestial 
spheres of Heaven.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Written together over 10 years, these
three sections comprise the Divine Comedy–

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
an allegorical imagining of the soul’s 
journey towards God.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
But Dante’s Divine Comedy is more than 
just religious allegory.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It’s also a witty, scathing commentary on 
Italian politics.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
A soldier and statesman from Florence, 
Dante was staunchly faithful to God,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
but often critical of the 
Roman Catholic Church.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
He particularly disliked its rampant 
nepotism and practice of simony,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the buying and selling of religious 
favours such as pardons from sin.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Many groups took advantage of these 
corrupt customs,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
but few supported them as much as the 
Guelfi Neri, or Black Guelphs.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
This was a political and religious faction

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
which sought to expand the pope’s 
political influence.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Dante was a member of the Guelfi Bianchi, 
or White Guelphs–

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
who believed Florence needed more 
freedom from Roman influence.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
As a public representative for the 
White Guelphs,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Dante frequently spoke out against 
the pope’s power,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
until the Black Guelphs leveraged their
position

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
to exile him from Florence in 1302.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
But rather than silencing him,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
this lifelong exile led to Dante’s 
greatest critique of all.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Dishonored and with little hope of return,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the author freely aired his grievances 
with the Church and Italian society.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Writing the Divine Comedy in Italian,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
rather than the traditional Latin of the 
educated elite,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Dante ensured the widest possible audience
for his biting political commentary.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
In the Inferno’s circle of the Wrathful,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Dante eagerly witnesses sinners

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
tear Black Guelph Filippo 
Argenti limb from limb.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
In the circle of Fraud,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Dante converses with a mysterious sinner 
burning in the circle’s hottest flames.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
He learns that this is Pope Nicholas III,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
who tells Dante that his two successors 
will take his place when they die—

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
all three guilty of simony and corruption.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Despite the bleak and sometimes violent 
imagery in Inferno,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the Divine Comedy is also a love story.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Though Dante had an arranged marriage

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
with the daughter of a powerful 
Florentine family,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
he had also been unrequitedly in love with
another woman since he was nine years old:

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Beatrice Portinari.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Despite allegedly meeting just twice, 
she became Dante’s lifelong muse,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
serving as the inspiration and subject for
many of his works.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
In fact, it’s Beatrice who launches his 
intrepid journey into the pits of Hell

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and up the terraces of Mount Purgatory.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Portrayed as a powerful, heavenly figure,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
she leads Dante through Paradiso’s 
concentric spheres of Heaven

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
until he is finally face-to-face with God.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
In the centuries since its publication,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the Divine Comedy’s themes of love, sin, 
and redemption

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
have been embraced by numerous artists–

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
from Auguste Rodin and Salvador Dali, 
to Ezra Pound and Neil Gaiman.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And the poet himself received his own 
belated, earthly redemption in 2008,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
when the city of Florence finally revoked 
Dante’s antiquated exile.