The World of Dante
InfernoDante's Inferno, widely hailed as one of the great classics of Western literature, details Dante's journey through the nine circles of Hell. The voyage begins during Easter week in the year 1300, the descent through Hell starting on Good Friday.
PurgatorioAs Dante explains in the opening lines of the canticle, Purgatory is the place in which "the human spirit purges himself, and climbing to Heaven makes himself worthy." Dante's Purgatory consists of an island mountain, the only piece of land in the southern hemisphere.
ParadisoThe third realm of the afterlife details Dante's voyage through the nine spheres of Paradise. Following medieval cosmology, Dante's presentation of the planetary system broadly follows the Ptolemaic geometric model.
Text SearchIn addition to reading the Italian and English translations of each canticle, searching is also available. Search the text of the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso for keywords and names. The search function also can find people, creatures, deities, and images that are referenced in the texts.
The World of Dante is a multi-media research tool intended to facilitate the study of the Divine Comedy through a wide range of offerings. These include an encoded Italian text which allows for structured searches and analyses, an English translation, interactive maps, diagrams, music, a database, timeline and gallery of illustrations. Many of these features allow users to engage the poem dynamically through the integrated components of this site.
Deborah Parker's welcome to the World of Dante:  
For an introduction to the Inferno: Inferno Revealed
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