Dante and his Divine Comedy in popular culture

Dante Alighieri and his masterpiece, "Divine Comedy", have been a source of inspiration for countless artists for almost seven centuries. Some examples are listed below:

Literature

*The title of Honoré de Balzac's collective work La Comédie humaine (the "Human Comedy", 1815-1848) is a reference to Dante's "Divine Comedy".
*Mary Shelley, in her novel "Frankenstein" (1818), refers to Frankenstein's creation as "a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived."
*Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who translated the "Divine Comedy" into English, also wrote a poem titled "Mezzo Cammin" (Halfway, 1845), alluding to the first line of the Comedy, and six sonnets under the cumulative title "Divina Commedia" (1867), which were published as flyleaves to his translation.
*Karl Marx uses a paraphrase of "Purgatory" 5:13 as a motto for "Das Kapital" (1867): "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti" ("follow your own road, and let the people talk").
*James Joyce begins his book "Dubliners" (1914), with the words "There was no hope for him this time." This can be interpreted as a nod to Dante's inscription on the gates of hell "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."Fact|date=August 2008
*T. S. Eliot uses extracts from the "Inferno" as both epigraph and preface to "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915).
*Primo Levi quotes Dante's "Divine Comedy" in the chapter called "Canto of Ulysses" in his novel "Se questo è un uomo" (If This Is a Man) (1947) published in the United States as "Survival in Auschwitz", and in other parts of this book.
*Malcolm Lowry paralleled Dante's descent into hell with Geoffrey Firmin's descent into alcoholism in his "Under the Volcano" (1947). In contrast to the original, Lowry's character explicitly refuses grace and "chooses hell."
*Jorge Luis Borges's book "Dreamtigers" (in Spanish "El Hacedor", 1960), includes two short texts: Paradiso, XXXI, 108 and Inferno, 1, 32. Both directly reference Dante's writing in each place in the poem.
*One of James Merrill's books of poetry is titled "Divine Comedies" (1976).
*Richard Matheson's 1978 novel "What Dreams May Come" contains many connections and references to the "Divine Comedy", including its depiction of Hell.
* Authors Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote a modern sequel, "Inferno" (1978), in which a book author dies during a fan convention and finds himself in Hell. He tours Hell, meeting several historical figures, and eventually takes the place of his guide.
*The novels in Piers Anthony's "Incarnations of Immortality" (1983-2007) series depict Heaven and Hell as having structures closely based on those in the "Divine Comedy." (Purgatory does "not" imitate Dante's structure, however, because the Incarnations' universe follows different theological rules.)
*Gloria Naylor’s "Linden Hills" (1985) uses Dante’s "Inferno" as a model for the trek made by two young black poets who spend the days before Christmas doing odd jobs in an affluent African American community. The young men soon discover the price paid by the inhabitants of Linden Hills for pursuing the American dream.
* Author Monique Wittig's "Virgile, Non" (published in English as "Across the Acheron", 1985) is a lesbian–feminist retelling of the "Divine Comedy" set in the utopia/dystopia of second-wave feminism.
*Geoff Ryman's "The Child Garden" (1989), set in a Socialist future London, deals with, in part, an opera adaptation of the "Comedy" which uses holography.
*Bret Easton Ellis’s "American Psycho" (1991) begins with the words “Abandon all hope ye who enter here”.
*In the Anne Rice novel "The Vampire Armand" (1998), Armand briefly includes Marius's love for the Divine Comedy. [cite book
author = Rice, Anne
title = The Vampire Armand
year = 1999
publisher = Arrow
location = London
isbn = 0099271478
oclc = 41619748
pages = p. 75
quote = Surrounding himself with candelabra, he spoke in a hushed andsympathetic voice. He read The Divine Comedy by Dante, the Decameron byBoccaccio, or in French The Romance of the Rose or the poems of FrancoisVillon. ]
*Mark E. Rogers used the structure of Dante's hell in his 1998 comedic novel "Samurai Cat Goes to Hell". Rogers' take on the "Inferno" is a violent, pun-laden, parodical conclusion to his series of Samurai Cat books.
*Craig Charles' book "The Log: A Dwarfer's Guide to Everything" (1999) includes a piece of prose entitled "The London Inferno" which describes the darker aspects of London and the way they parallel the nine circles of Hell witnessed in "The Divine Comedy".
*"Hannibal" (1999), by Thomas Harris, makes several references to Dante and the Inferno.
*Jeff Long's "The Descent" (1999) is based on Dante's work, and makes both blatant and implied references to it.
*The fictional life of Lemony Snicket, author of "A Series of Unfortunate Events" (1999-2006), appears to draw heavily from Dante's life.Fact|date=August 2008
* "The Amber Spyglass" (2000) by Philip Pullman includes several references to Dante's vision of hell, including the concept of Harpies, an ascent along the flinty steps in the Eighth Circle of Hell ("Inferno", Canto 26); and the two main characters emerging from their experience of hell back onto the earth to look at the stars (last line of "Inferno").
*Nick Tosches's "In The Hand of Dante" (2002) weaves a contemporary tale about the finding of an original manuscript of the "Divine Comedy" with an imagined account of Dante's years composing the work.
*Betty Ford's "Healing and Hope" (2003) uses Dante's structure as an analogy for the stages of alcoholism.
*"The Dante Club" is a 2003 novel by Matthew Pearl which tells the story of various American poets translating "The Divine Comedy" in post-civil war Boston. At the same time, a killer takes inspiration from the punishments in Dante's "Inferno".
*Pope Benedict XVI has said that part of his first encyclical, "Deus Caritas Est" (2006), was inspired by Canto XXXIII of "Paradise".Fact|date=August 2008
*Jodi Picoult's The Tenth Circle (2006)
* Dante himself is a character in "The Master Of Verona" (2007), a novel by Shakespearean actor David Blixt that combines the people of Dante's time with the characters of Shakespeare's Italian plays, most notably a young Capulet and young Montague.

Music

* Professor Fate's Mick Kenney (also in Anaal Nathrakh) states that the album "Inferno" was inspired by "The Divine Comedy".
* The video for Depeche Mode song Walking In My Shoes is a representation of Dante's Divine comedy. The video was directed by Anton Corbijn.
* Dante's Ascension are a London based Experi-metal Metal band who's subject matter deals with many fictitious and mythological tales, including "The Divine Comedy".
*In Claudio Monteverdi's 1607 opera "L'Orfeo", the title character is bombarded with the famous line, "Abandon hope all ye who enter", as he attempts to enter the underworld.
* Franz Liszt's "Symphony to Dante's Divina Commedia" (completed 1856) has two movements: "Inferno" and "Purgatorio". A concluding "Magnificat" is included at the end of the "Purgatorio" movement and replaces the planned third movement which was to be called "Paradiso" (Liszt was dissuaded by Wagner on his original plan). Liszt also composed a Dante Sonata (started 1837, completed 1849).
* Pyotr Ilich Tchaikovsky's "Francesca da Rimini" is a tone poem based on an episode in the 5th canto of the Inferno.
* Giacomo Puccini's 1918 one-act opera, Gianni Schicchi, is drawn from a brief reference to the title character in the Inferno.
* Indie band Murder By Death's album "In Bocca al Lupo" is a concept album partially based on the poem.
* An Irish band called The Divine Comedy, centered on Neil Hannon, also exists. Their music style has influences of classic poetry in general.
* Actress/Supermodel Milla Jovovich, as Milla, released her debut album under the name "The Divine Comedy". "The Divine Comedy" consists of a collection of acoustic pop and folk songs drawn from Jovovich's Slavic background.
* Italian progressive rock band Metamorfosi has released two concept albums based on the "Divine Comedy", "Inferno" (in 1972) and the more recent follow on "Paradiso" (2004).
* Robert W. Smith's "The Divine Comedy" is a four-movement symphony for wind ensemble which depicts four stages of Dante's journey in a tone poem-like symphonic structure. The movements are entitled "The Inferno," "Purgatorio," "The Ascension" (though it is not one of the books of the actual work by Dante, the composer felt it appropriate to separate Dante's experiences in Eden from his climb up Purgatory Mountain), and lastly "Paradiso."
* Norwegian Black metal band Ancient's second album "The Cainian Chronicle" contains the song "At The Infernal Portal (Canto III)" which is a song directly inspired by the poem.
* Heavy metal / power metal band Iced Earth paid tribute to the poem with an epic song entitled "Dante's Inferno". Clocking in at 16 minutes and 29 seconds, and featuring long instrumental sections, abrupt tempo changes, and a pseudo-Gregorian chant choir, the song is found on the 1995 album "Burnt Offerings". The song also appears on the 2 disc limited edition version of their "Days of Purgatory" album, in a very slightly modified fashion. It is also performed live on their "Alive in Athens" double live CD and DVD.
* Punk singer Mike Watt's third solo album, "The Secondman's Middle Stand" (Columbia Records, 2004), is a concept album (he likes to call it a "punk opera") that derives its structure from "The Divine Comedy", with three sections of three songs each. He tells his story of a prolonged illness he suffered a few years earlier, each section denoted to be "Hell" (a metaphor for Watt's illness), "Purgatory" (his recuperation), and "Paradise" (celebrating his healing).
* F.M. Einheit of Einstürzende Neubauten and Andreas Ammer collaborated on an experimental recording called "Radio Inferno" that adapts "The Divine Comedy" in the format of a radio play.
* Industrial band Skinny Puppy used an illustration found in the Inferno as the cover to their single "Dig It".
* Progressive metal band Symphony X also pays tribute to the poem with an epic song entitled "The Divine Wings of Tragedy", although it contains some passages of famous classical music, such as "The Planets" by Gustav Holst.
* Thrash metal band Sepultura's latest album is based entirely on "The Divine Comedy." Entitled "Dante XXI", it was released on March 14, 2006
* Zao refer to the Divine Comedy on their 1999 album "Liberate te ex Inferis", covering the first five circles of the Inferno.
* Thom Yorke of the band Radiohead has also referenced Dante's "Inferno" as a recurring source of inspiration for his music and many references to the poem can be found in the band's lyrics.
* Tangerine Dream has released albums setting all the three parts of "The Divine Comedy" to music: "Inferno" is a recording of a live performance at the St Marien zu Bernau Cathedral in 2001, and "Purgatorio" is a studio album from 2004. Both feature an unusual mix of female vocals and their trademark electronics. The conclusion of the trilogy, "Paradiso", also recorded live, was released in 2006, and features the Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra in addition to the synthesizers and voices. A DVD was released of the 1911 film by Giuseppe de Liguoro set to the album "Inferno" in 2005 in the United Kingdom [http://www.silentera.com/DVD/infernoDVD.html] , and a DVD with a live performance of "Inferno" at Castle Niedeggen was released in December 2006.
* The Tea Party's 2004 release of "The Seven Circles" is said to be inspired, in part, by Dante's work, allusions to which can be seen in lyrics within some of the tracks.
* Folk singer Loreena McKennitt's song "Dante's Prayer", the final track on her 1997 album "The Book of Secrets", is based on Dante's work.
* Grunge band Nirvana featured artwork based on 'Inferno' on their debut album Bleach.
* Canadian post-rock group As The Poets Affirm took their name from a passage in Dante's Inferno.
* Asaki's first album, "Shinkyoku", is also the name of Divine Comedy in Japanese Kanji.
* Acoustic-rock band [http://www.myspace.com/YFL Your Forgotten Love] has a song entitled "The Dark Wood of Error", the name of the first canto of the 'Inferno'. The lyrics to the song are arranged from lines in that canto.
* The Bright River is a hip-hop retelling of Dante's Inferno by a traditional storyteller, Tim Barsky, with a live soundtrack. performed by some of the best hip-hop and klezmer musicians in the Bay Area. A dizzying theatrical journey through a world spinning helplessly out of control, the show sends audiences on a mass-transit tour of the Afterlife. see http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/timbarskyee
*In Weezer's album "Make Believe", released May 10, 2005, there is hidden text in the pictures. The text reads "Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita".
*The song "Roll Right" on the album "Evil Empire" by Rage Against the Machine contains the refrain 'Send 'em to tha seventh level!' referencing the seventh circle (or level) of Hell, where the violent are held.
* Bad Religion, an influential hardcore punk/punk rock band from Southern California, took inspiration from Dante's Hell for the back of the cover of their first album "How Could Hell Be Any Worse?". The liner notes booklet for their 2007 album "New Maps of Hell" features Doré's illustrations of the Wood of Suicides and the Hypocrites in their heavy robes.
*Cowboy Mouth describes the Superdome during and after Hurricane Katrina as "Dante's Inferno" in the song "Home" on their album, "Voodoo Shoppe"
*Australian goth-electro band The Tenth Stage has a self-titled track (2006) which describes the singers descent past the nine stages of Dante's poem to a 10th stage of Hell.
*My Dying Bride song "Deeper Down" the lyrics and music video is related to Dante's Inferno
*Mark Hoppus of +44 says the song "Chapter 13" is about the 13th Chapter of "Inferno".
*Christian Indie rock band, Hope Dialect composed an 11-minute song titled "Dante." It chronicled the journey of Dante through the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The song is often broken into three separate songs, each being labeled as "Dante Part 1, Part 2, Part 3."
*Melodic Death/Thrash metal band Decadence debut album features the first song, "Wrathfull and Sullen", inspired by the fifth level of Hell.
*Technical death metal guitarist Fredrik Thordendal (from the Swedish Death metal band Meshuggah) used quotes from the Divine Comedy in the song "Dante's Wild Inferno" from his solo album "Sol Niger Within".
*The song "Canto IV (Limbo)" from Progressive music group Discipline's album "Unfolded Like Staircase" describes the sorrow of those souls whose never knew a deity.

culpture

* The Gates of Hell sculptural group by Auguste Rodin. Dante is the figure sitting at the top of the gate contemplating the horrors of hell. This figure was later isolated and became Rodin's The Thinker.

Visual arts

* Sandro Botticelli made the most famous set of illustrations during the Renaissance. Another interesting series was done by Stradanus.
* John Flaxman's illustrations were influential across Europe in the Eighteenth century because of their radically minimalist style.
* Eugene Delacroix made his name with "The Barque of Dante". depicting Dante and Virgil crossing the styx.
* Before his death in 1827, William Blake, the English poet and painter, planned and executed several watercolour illustrations to the "Divine Comedy." Though he did not finish the series before his death, they remain a highly powerful visual interpretation of the poem.
* William-Adolphe Bouguereau, the prolific 19th century academic artist, painted "Dante And Virgil In Hell" in 1850.
* Gustave Doré made the most famous illustrations in the 19th century.
* Franz von Bayros, mainly known for his erotic drawings, illustrated a 1921 edition.
* Salvador Dalí made a series of prints for the "Comedy" in the mid-20th century. [http://www.library.uiuc.edu/rbx/exhibitions/Dante/fame.html] [http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles/artworks/dali/divinecomedy.htm]
* "Jimbo in Purgatory: being a mis-recounting of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy in pictures and un-numbered footnotes", a 33-page graphic novel by Gary Panter, an adaptation of Dante's "Purgatorio" (melded with Boccaccio’s Decameron and a bit of the "Canterbury Tales," Milton, John Dryden, and pop culture references). [http://www.teachingcomics.org/cartoonstudies/panter.php] [http://64.23.98.142/indy/winter_2005/review_panter/index.html]
* Contemporary artist Jennifer Strange has made charcoal drawings inspired by the "Commedia". [http://dante.ilt.columbia.edu/images/strange/index.html]
* Wayne Barlowe's book, "Barlowe's Inferno", containing paintings of Hell and an accompanying narrative, is partially inspired by Dante's "Inferno".
* [http://www.losttrails.com/pages/Dante/purgatorio.html Purgatorio] - Surrealist Illustrations based on Doré's engravings by Shlomo Felberbaum,
*"Mickey's Inferno" is a comic-book adaptation written by Guido Martina and drawn by Angelo Bioletto featuring classic Disney characters including Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Donald Duck published by the then-Italian Disney comic book licensee Mondadori in the monthly Topolino from Oct. 1949 to March 1950. An English-language version appeared in Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #666 [March 2006] .
*"Chick Publications" published a tract called "The Letter". In this tract, many of Gustave Dore's illustrations for the "Inferno" are plagiarized.
*Paige Fox from "FoxTrot" mentions that Dante was wrong when it was raining right after it was snowing, quoting that "Hell is 33 Degrees Fahrenheit".
*British artist Tom Phillips illustrated his own translation of the "Inferno", published in 1985, with four illustrations per canto.
*Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" comic series features a heavily Dante-inspired Hell, including the woods of Suicide, the Malebolge, and the City of Dis.
*DC/Vertigo comics's Lucifer, based on characters from Neil Gaiman's Sandman, featuring aspects of a Dante-inspired Hell and Heaven, particularly the Primum Mobile.
*DC/Vertigo comics's "Kid Eternity", in which Kid and his companion Jerry Sullivan travel to a Dante-inspired Hell to free a partner of Kid's. The structure of the comic also draws features from Dante's Inferno.
*An issue of the first volume of comic book adaptations of Star Trek by DC Comics, entitled "Hell in a Handbasket," involves Captain Kirk and his crew being subjected to a telepathic hallucination of Hell, as described in The Divine Comedy.
* Ty Templeton parodied Dante in his "Stig's Inferno".
* X-Men vol. 1, King-Sized Annual #4 features a storyline in which Nightcrawler is slain and the X-Men, teamed with Dr. Strange, are forced to go through Dante's hell in order to save him.

Performing arts

*The 1911 silent film "L'Inferno", directed by Giuseppe de Liguoro, starring Salvatore Papa and released on DVD in 2004, with a soundtrack by Tangerine Dream.
*The 1935 motion picture "Dante's Inferno" directed by Harry Lachman, written by Philip Klein and starring Spencer Tracy is about a fairground attraction based on the Inferno.
*The 1946 Merrie Melodies cartoon "Book Revue" starring Daffy Duck, the Big Bad Wolf falls into the Book "Dante's Inferno" after hearing Frank Sinatra singing.
* The Swedish 1972 comedy "The Man Who Quit Smoking" (Mannen som slutade röka) directed by Tage Danielsson is partly inspired by The Divine Comedy. For example is the main character both named Dante Alighieri and both character goes through a personal hell.
*The 1979 Disney feature film "The Black Hole" contained a reference to "Dante's Inferno". Ernest Borgnine's character, Harry Booth, compared the black hole phenomenon to a scene "right out of Dante's Inferno."
*Stan Brakhage created in 1987 a six minute hand-painted film, "The Dante Quartet", that is inspired by the Divine Comedy.
*Peter Greenaway adapted Cantos I to VIII for BBC Two as "A TV Dante" (1987-1990).
*The 1990 film "Jacob's Ladder" features a scene where Jacob Singer is looking through the pages of Purgatorio.
*Krzysztof Kieslowski planned to create a new trilogy inspired by Dante's "The Divine Comedy", after finishing "Three Colors" Trilogy. This intention, however, was abandoned after his death in 1996, until Tom Tykwer decided to shoot the "Heaven" in 2002, using Kieslowski's original screenplay. In 2005, Bosnian director Danis Tanović directed the "Hell" based on Kieslowski's screenplay sketches. The screenplay was completed by Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Kieslowski's screenwriter.
*The 1994 movie "Clerks" is said to be loosely based upon the 9 levels of hell with 9 sections of the movie and the main character's name Dante.
*1995 motion picture "Se7en" (also known as "Seven") a film directed by David Fincher, starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. The story is about two detectives, one new to the district and one about to retire, investigating a series of ritualistic murders inspired by the seven deadly sins. This film makes many references to Dante's "Divine Comedy".
*The 1998 film "What Dreams May Come", based on Richard Matheson's 1978 novel, contains many connections and references to the "Divine Comedy", including its depiction of Hell.
*The 1999 movie "Hannibal", based on the book by Thomas Harris, makes several references to Dante and the Inferno.
*The TV series "Angel" refers to the book and the nine circles of hell in the Season 3 Episode "A New World" (2001).
*The Dante Experience is a 2001 audio theatre series written by Scott Southard and produced by Mind's Ear Audio Productions, about a group of five Gen-X students taken from Earth by Dante Alighieri and given a tour of the afterlife, similar to the one he himself received.
*Fullmetal Alchemist used the idea of the Seven Deadly Sins, incorporating them as demonic homunculi; the character that controls them borrows the name "Dante" (2001-Present). In addition, the "Alchemist's Gate" in the anime is modeled after Rodin's sculpture of the Gates of Hell.
*The movie "Infernal Affairs" (2002) was named to play on Dante's Inferno and "internal affairs", which plays a large part in the movie. The Chinese name (無間道) references the lowest level of Hell. The Hollywood remake of the movie, "The Departed" (2006), is also named to carry religious connotations.
*The 2003 movie "The Core" featured a direct reference to the Inferno, as the ship used to tunnel to the Earth's core was named Virgil, followed by a direct quotation from the Inferno.
*In the 2003 movie "", Captain Jack Sparrow states that Captain Barbossa and his crew will suffer horrible fates because "The deepest circle of hell is reserved for betrayers and mutineers." The Australian metalcore band Parkway Drive excerpted this line for their song titled "Mutiny".
*Jean-Luc Godard's 2004 film "Notre musique" is structured in three parts, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise respectively, alluding to the Divine Comedy.
*The 2005 BBC drama series "" focuses on a serial killer who takes inspiration from the "Inferno" to punish his or her victims.
*"Dante's Inferno" (2007) based on Sandow Birk's contemporary drawings of the Divine Comedy, this feature film version uses Toy Theater puppetry made up of paper puppets and sets. A darkly comedic update of the original, the film sets Dante's tour of the underworld against a modern and familiar urban backdrop.
*"Down at the Inferno" (2006) is a rock musical by Rick Mckim based on "The Divine Comedy"
*The 1999 movie "The Boondock Saints", features the quote, "Abandon all hope ye who enter here" as Connor, Murphy, and Rocco are entering the adult entertainment palor.
*The miniature whorehouse in the 1988 movie "Beetlejuice" is called "Dante's Inferno Room"
*In the 2007 movie, "The Bucket List", Jack Nicholson makes a reference to the "Divine Comedy" when he asks his fellow board members, "Have you ever read the Divine Comedy?" Suggesting that the plot of the movie did in fact follow a similar role to the work.
* [http://www.dantesinfernodocumentary.com Dante's Inferno (2008 Documentary)] based on Dante's "Divine Comedy", original illustrations and some by Gustave Dore. The first documentary of a trilogy, followed by the sequels Dante's Purgatorio and Dante's Paradiso.
* [http://www.masterfilmsproductions.com Dante's Inferno (2011 Feature Film)] based on Dante's masterpiece, "The Divine Comedy". The first live action film of a trilogy, followed by the sequels Dante's Purgatorio and Dante's Paradiso.

Digital arts and computer games

* Beyond Software wrote "Dante's Inferno" in 1986 for the Commodore 64.
* "In the Footsteps of Dante" is a "Neverwinter Nights" module which combines concepts, setting, characters, and plot events from "Inferno" with a continuation to the storyline of .
* [http://www.nova.priv.pl/dante.htm Project Dante] , of the Polish artist Dariusz Nowak-Nova, is an example of how the Internet and new technologies can contribute to the formation of various approaches to literature, and a new way to conceive the book.
* "Devil May Cry" in the game, the protagonist's name is Dante, his brother is Vergil, and Dante's partner-in-crime's name is Trish which is a derivative of the name Beatrice.
* "", a video game in the "Devil May Cry" series, very loosely based on the "Divine Comedy" by the use of allusions, including the game's protagonist Dante, and other characters like Vergil and Cerberus; Dante will fight Cerberus at the end of Mission 3, whereas Cerberus is on the third level of Hell. Many of the enemies are named after the Seven Deadly Sins, such as "Hell Pride" or "Hell Lust" Also, Lady, the female devil hunter, has the name Mary.
* "Devil May Cry 4", Upon dying in the game the screen will shatter and read 'Abandon all hope...'. Also, a portion entitled 'The Ninth Circle' is designed around a massive statue of a devil in resemblance to The Inferno's ninth circle. Also the game has special mode where one of the protagonists must progress through 101 stages. On the Xbox 360 version the player receives a gaming achievement for every ten levels completed up to the ninth. These achievements are named after the nine circles of hell.
* "Doom", a video game where the third episode, appropriately called Inferno, takes place in Hell, in such places as Limbo and Dis.
* Cervantes of the Soul series of fighting games has weapons named after the circles and other geographical features of Hell in the second installment.
* "Final Fantasy IV", which features four Elemental Lords named Rubicante, Scarmiglione, Barbariccia, and Cagnazzo, after members of the Malebranche. Rubicante also says "the frozen winds of Hell's ninth circle could'nt penetrate this cloak of flame I wear". A mid-game boss, Calcabrina, also has the name of a Malebranche demon. "Final Fantasy V" features yet another Malebranche, Farfarello, as a normal enemy.
*In "Final Fantasy VI", released in 1994, the final boss, Kefka, is guarded by his own twisted version of the "Divine Comedy". First the player must defeat a demon buried to his waist, a nod to Lucifer and who represents Hell. Next are several tormented humans, animals, and machines, representing Purgatory on Earth. After that are what appear to be an uncaring, apathetic angel and a saint, in a pose not unlike that of the "Pieta", representing Heaven. Finally, the player battles Kefka, who—in a pose taken from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel—has placed himself as God.
*"Tamashii no Mon", translated as 'Gate of Souls' is a computer game developed by Koei and released on the PC98 computer system in 1994 and was never released outside of Japan. It is an Action Adventure game that closely follows Dante's journey through Inferno.
* ' and ' which feature several spear-wielding flying demons named after the Malebranche: Cagnazzo, Rubicant, Scarmaglione, Dragghinazzo, Malacoda. Rubicant and Scarmaglione are mistranslated as "Lubicant" and "Skull Milone," respectively.
*Before its cancellation, "The Lost" was an adventure horror game in which a protagonist Amanda ventured into Hell to rescue her daughter, Beatrice. The levels were said to be a modern reimagining of the circles of Hell as presented in the Inferno.
*"" contains a monologue where Gabe Logan threatens to send a traitor to the lowest rings of hell, according to Dante, where he will be "frozen to his neck in ice and shit on by demons".
*"" has some levels in a casino in construction called "Dante", who also has a cinema, and a mission takes place there, called "Cinema Dante". Also, there's a mission called "Hell Gates", where the player has to go down to the casino construction yard, but it's on fire because of an explosion of a giant bell. All this is reference to Dante's Inferno
*"Wild Arms 2", there is a group of villains called Cocytus, and its members are named Caina, Antenora, Ptolomea, and Judecca.
*"World of Warcraft", a sign before the entrance to Deadwind Pass states "Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here."
*"", Judecca, Levi Tolar's personal unit, uses attacks named after the four zones of the ninth circle of hell.
*"VMK", One of the rarest pins in the game is a magic pin called the dancing inferno where the player dances in a circle of fire.
*"" The final level of the game takes place in hell, and is named "Lou's Inferno."
*"Persona 3 FES" The areas in the Abyss of Time are named Malebolge, Cocytus, Caina, Antenora, Ptolomea, Judecca and Empyrean.

Architecture

* The Danteum is an unbuilt monument designed by the Italian modernist architect Giuseppe Terragni at the behest of Benito Mussolini's fascist government.

Miscellaneous

* Asteroid 2999 Dante, named after the poet
* For potential allusions to Dante in Bob Dylan's oeuvre, see "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" ("I saw a black branch with blood that kept dripping . . .", cf. Inferno XIII) and "Tangled Up in Blue" ("then she opened up a book of poems and handed it to me, written by an Italian poet from the thirteenth century . . .").
* The fourth "Uncanny X-men" Annual, entitled "Nightcrawler's Inferno", chronicles the descent of Dr. Strange and the X-men into a facsimile of Hell based on Dante's Inferno.
* The role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons named some levels of the Nine Hells after locations in Dante's "Inferno". The game also borrowed the name "malebranche" for one diabolical race, although the original write-up mistranslated that word as "evil horn".
* The cross-genre role-playing game Shadowrun features Dante's Inferno as the most popular club in the Seattle metroplex. The club is nine stories tall and the bottommost floor is a private floor marked "Hell".
* Several levels of ZE?T Online Riddle are based on Dante's Inferno.
* [http://www.pbarolo.com.ar Palacio Barolo, Buenos Aires] . This 100 meter tall building was designed by the Italian architect Palanti. He was an avid scholar of the Divine Comedy, and he filled the palace with reference to it. The procession through the building is adapted from Dante’s journey through hell, purgatory and paradise reaching a dome designed as a Hindu temple dedicated to love and an emblem which realizes the tantric union between Dante and his beloved Beatrice.
* In the trading card game there is a world, called Phyrexia, reminiscent of Dante's Hell. This world is constructed of nine concentric spheres and the horrors of each get progressively worse until one reaches the Ninth, home to its dark 'god' Yawgmoth.
* "University of Chicago: the level of hell that Dante forgot" is a traditional t-shirt produced by the University of Chicago housing system, in keeping with its tradition of selling shirts which promote the level of academic difficulty.
* Dante Alighieri Academy is a Catholic Secondary School located in Toronto, Canada.
* There is a ride in Coney Island called Dante's Inferno.
* Dante's View is one of the most popular sites in Death Valley National Park, USA.

Notes

External links

* [http://learn.bowdoin.edu/italian/dante/ Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture] . A website designed to archive occurrences of Dante and his works in popular and contemporary culture of the twentieth century and beyond.
* [http://inspiredbydante.home.att.net/gluttons.html Artwork representing the sin of Gluttony] as described by Dante in the Inferno, Canto VI - Circle III.