Danteâs Hercules

Giampiero Scafoglio

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Chapter 7 Danteâs Hercules

In: Herakles Inside and Outside the Church

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Giampiero Scafoglio

Giampiero Scafoglio
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 155â170

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004421530_009

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Abstract

Scafoglio gives an overview on the âHercules-themeâ in Dante Alighieriâs thoughts and poetry, paying special, but not exclusive, attention to The Divine Comedy.

Dante explicitly mentions his sources in the Convivio as Ovid, Lucan and âother poetsâ, among whom Virgil must number and treats specific incidents from Herculesâ life, e.g. Herculesâ killing of the Lernean Hydra (Epistle 7), where the hero becomes a model of virtue and strength, an example to emulate, for addressee, Emperor Henry VII, with the divine origin of Hercules providing feedback on the divine origin of imperial power (as asserted by Dante in the treaty De monarchia).

In The Divine Comedy, two short references to Herculesâ death due to Nessusâ posthumous revenge (Inf. 12.67-69) and Herculesâ love for Iole (Par. 9.101-102) seem to be no more than cultural allusions, aimed demonstrating mythological erudition. It is significant, however, that Dante does not express a moral judgment on Herculesâ love for Iole, remains silent on adultery and does not refer to lust; instead, he points to this love as a (positive) example of a strong and deep feeling.

On the other hand, the references to the capture of Cerberus (Inf. 9.98-99) and the killing of Cacus (Inf. 25.25-33) are far more important to the moral background of the poem, since Hercules is viewed as the champion of Good defeating Evil. Although Dante shows this more frequently through Herculesâ fight against the giant Antaeus (Inf. 31.112ff. and in particular 132; but cf. Conv. 3.3.7-8; De mon. 2.7.10 and 2.9.11). Thus, in Dantesâ thought and especially in The Divine Comedy, the Hercules-figure is a symbol of Good in the eternal struggle against Evil, although the hero is not an allegorical pre-figuration of Christ (as he is already in some Medieaval texts, and will be, increasingly, in the Renaissance).

Finally, Danteâs Hercules works as a trait dâunion, a connecting and mediating figure, between the hero of flesh and blood of classical antiquity (sometimes already interpreted as champion of Good, e.g. in the Aeneid) and the symbol of Christ, as he will become in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.

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Herakles Inside and Outside the Church

From the first Apologists to the end of the Quattrocento

Series:Â Metaforms, Volume: 18

Cover Herakles Inside and Outside the Church

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004421530

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 29 Jan 2020

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Chapter 7 Danteâs Hercules

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Herakles Inside and Outside the Church

From the first Apologists to the end of the Quattrocento

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Chapter 7 Danteâs Hercules