Character guide

Dante Alighieri

major

Also known as Dante, Alighieri, Pietro Dante, Pietro di Dante

Dante is the pilgrim and narrator, a middle-aged exile with a poet's ambition and a sinner's need for grace. Terrified and self-doubting at the outset, he depends on guides he cannot always understand and on a love he can barely deserve. His journey through Hell and Purgatory is the poem's spine: every soul he meets tests his pity, his judgment, and his art, and every step upward measures how far he still has to climb.

Virgil

major

Also known as Virgilius, good Virgilius, my Leader, My Master, the Master, the good Master, Master

Virgil is Dante's master and guide, the voice of human reason at its noblest, and a shade who will never enter the heaven he describes. He commands demons, rebukes Dante's fear, and answers almost every question with patient clarity, yet his authority has limits he cannot cross. His tenderness toward his pupil and his quiet grief at his own exclusion give the journey its emotional undertow.

Beatrice

major

Also known as Beatrice Portinari

Beatrice is the woman Dante loved on earth and lost, transformed into a guide whose beauty increases with every heaven she ascends. She rebukes his straying, commands his repentance, and then smiles him upward past the limits of language. Her authority is absolute and her joy is real: when Dante's love is absorbed in God and she is momentarily eclipsed, she is not displeased but smiles, dividing his single mind among many things.

Jesus Christ

supporting

Also known as Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, Faith In Christ

Christ never appears as a speaking character, yet he is the axis on which the whole Comedy turns: the reason Beatrice can descend, the reason a sinner can climb, the name on which every oath and every hope rests. Virgil cites him when he explains why Aeneas and Paul were permitted their journeys, and Beatrice's whole authority derives from his love. For Dante the pilgrim, Christ is less a figure to meet than the light by which every other figure is finally seen.

St. Francis

minor

Also known as Francis

Founder of the Franciscan order, praised in the Sphere of the Sun.

Thomas Aquinas

minor

Also known as St. Thomas Aquinas, Thomas, Aquinas

Dominican theologian who appears in the Heaven of the Sun.

Pope Boniface VIII

minor

Also known as Boniface VIII, Boniface, Pope Boniface, the Pope

Corrupt pope condemned in Hell for simony.

Count Ugolino

minor

Also known as Ugolino, Count Ugolino della Gherardesca

Traitor frozen in Cocytus, who gnaws on Archbishop Ruggieri's skull.

Corso Donati

minor

Also known as Messer Corso Donati, Messer Corso, the Donati, Corso

Florentine political leader, mentioned in Purgatory.

Sordello

supporting

Also known as Sordello backward, the good Sordello, this Sordello

Sordello appears in Purgatory among the late-repentant, and his sudden, fierce embrace of Virgil on hearing the word 'Mantua' becomes the poem's great rebuke of Italy's warring cities. He is proud, affectionate, and quick to indignation, and his long invective against corrupt rulers gives Dante a mouthpiece for political grief. As a guide he is practical and courteous, pointing out the valleys and the penitents, and his presence shows that poetry and patriotism can survive even in the place of purging.

St. Peter

minor

Also known as Saint Peter, Peter, Milman

Keeper of the keys to Heaven, examines Dante on faith.

Constantine

minor

Roman emperor whose Donation is criticized in the poem.

Cacciaguida

supporting

Also known as ↩ Cacciaguida

Cacciaguida is the one ancestor Dante meets face to face, a knight of the old Florence who speaks in a dialect already archaic and boasts of a city still pure. He answers Dante's questions about his lineage and the decline of Florence with a nostalgia that is also a judgment, and he charges the poet with the hard task of telling the whole truth about what he has seen. His prophecy of Dante's exile and his command to write give the poem its moral spine.

Farinata degli Uberti

minor

Also known as Farinata

Ghibelline leader who rises from a tomb in Hell.

Ciacco

minor

Florentine glutton who prophesies future strife in Hell.

Brunetto Latini

minor

Also known as Ser Brunetto, Ser Brunetto Latini, This Ser Brunetto Latini

Dante's former teacher, punished among the sodomites in Hell.

Francesca da Rimini

minor

Also known as Francesca, Madonna Francesca

Lover condemned to the second circle for adultery.

Ulysses

minor

Greek hero who recounts his final voyage in the eighth circle.

Pope Nicholas III

minor

Also known as Nicholas III, Nicholas

Simoniac pope punished head-down in a hole in Hell.

St. Bernard

supporting

Also known as Bernard

Bernard belongs to the great chain of contemplatives whose burning love for the divine outruns mere doctrine, and in the poem's final cantos he replaces Virgil and Beatrice as Dante's last guide. His devotion is so total that he bares his feet and runs, thinking himself still too slow, and his prayer to Mary becomes the hinge on which the pilgrim's vision turns. He matters because he embodies the poem's claim that only love, not intellect, can carry a soul the final distance.

Piccarda Donati

minor

Also known as Piccarda

Blessed soul in the Heaven of the Moon, explains lesser vows.

Justinian

minor

Byzantine emperor who recounts Roman history in the Heaven of Mercury.

Statius

supporting

Also known as Statius , Thebaid

Statius is the Latin epic poet of the Thebaid who, in Dante's imagining, was secretly baptized and thus saved, though his hidden faith kept him circling Purgatory for centuries. When he finally joins the two travelers he becomes both companion and mirror, a poet who reveres Virgil as a father while surpassing him in grace. His arrival and the earthquake that announces his freedom mark the poem's turn from penitential waiting toward the joy of ascent.

Matilda

minor

Also known as the Countess Matilda

Lady who prepares Dante for ascent to Paradise in the Earthly Paradise.

Forese Donati

minor

Also known as Forese

Dante's friend, purging gluttony on the terrace of Purgatory.

Guido Guinizzelli

minor

Also known as Guido Guinicelli

Poet purging lust, hailed as father of the dolce stil novo.

Arnaut Daniel

minor

Also known as Daniel, Arnaud Daniel

Provencal poet purging lust in Purgatory.

Peter Damiano

minor

Also known as St. Peter Damiano, Damiano

Monk and cardinal who appears in the Heaven of Saturn.

Benvenuto da Imola

minor

Also known as Benvenuto

Early commentator on the Divine Comedy.

Charles Martel

minor

Also known as Martel, Charles

Crowned prince of Hungary who appears in the Heaven of Venus.

Folco of Marseille

minor

Also known as Folco

Troubadour turned bishop, appears in the Heaven of Venus.

Cunizza da Romano

minor

Also known as Cunizza

Blessed soul in the Heaven of Venus, sister of Ezzelino.

Solomon

minor

Biblical king who speaks on the resurrection in the Heaven of the Sun.

Hugh of St. Victor

minor

Also known as Hugo de St. Victor

Mystical theologian, appears in the Heaven of the Sun.

David

minor

Also known as King David

Biblical king and psalmist, appears in the Heaven of Mars.

Judas Maccabeus

minor

Jewish warrior, appears in the Heaven of Mars.

Charlemagne

minor

Holy Roman Emperor, appears in the Heaven of Mars.

Godfrey of Bouillon

minor

Crusader leader, appears in the Heaven of Mars.

Trajan

minor

Also known as the Emperor Trajan

Roman emperor saved by Gregory's prayers, appears in the Heaven of Jupiter.

Ripheus

minor

Also known as the Trojan Ripheus

Trojan hero saved by grace, appears in the Heaven of Jupiter.

Peter the Sinner

minor

Benedictine monk, appears in the Heaven of Saturn.

St. Benedict

minor

Also known as Benedict

Founder of Western monasticism, appears in the Heaven of Saturn.

Romualdus

minor

Also known as St. Romualdus

Hermit and founder of Camaldolese order, appears in the Heaven of Saturn.

St. John the Evangelist

minor

Also known as John

Examines Dante on charity in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars.

Adam

minor

Also known as Master Adam

First man, appears in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars.

The Virgin Mary

supporting

Also known as Mary, Sweet Mary, Lady of Heaven

Mary stands at the summit of the poem's hierarchy of intercession, the figure whose compassion sets in motion the whole journey from the dark wood to the empyrean. Where other characters argue and explain, she acts through presence and pity, and her name recurs as the last word Dante reaches for. She matters because the poem's architecture assumes that divine justice is softened by a mother's love, and Dante's salvation depends on it.

St. Lucia

minor

Also known as Lucia

Saint who aids Dante's journey, sending Beatrice to Virgil.

Cato of Utica

minor

Also known as Cato

Guardian of Purgatory's shore, a symbol of moral freedom.

Casella

minor

Musician friend of Dante who sings on the shore of Purgatory.

Belacqua

minor

Lazy friend of Dante, purging in Ante-Purgatory.

Jacopo Rusticucci

minor

Also known as Rusticucci

Florentine sodomite encountered in the seventh circle of Hell.

St. Dominic

minor

Also known as Dominic

Founder of the Dominican order, praised in Paradise.

Bonagiunta da Lucca

minor

Poet encountered among the gluttonous in Purgatory.

Rahab

minor

Also known as the harlot Rahab

Biblical harlot who appears in the Heaven of Venus.

Bonaventure

minor

Also known as St. Bonaventura, Bonaventura

Franciscan theologian who praises St. Dominic in Paradise.

Peter Lombard

minor

Also known as Peter the Lombard

Medieval theologian, appears in the Heaven of the Sun.

Sigier of Brabant

minor

Also known as Sigier, Master Sigier

Philosopher mentioned by Thomas Aquinas in Paradise.

Albertus Magnus

minor

Also known as Albert the Great, Albert

Scholastic philosopher and teacher of Aquinas in Paradise.

Gratian

minor

Canon lawyer who appears in the Heaven of the Sun.

Peter of Spain

minor

Logician and pope, appears in the Heaven of the Sun.

Nathan the Prophet

minor

Biblical prophet, appears in the Heaven of the Sun.

John Chrysostom

minor

Church father, appears in the Heaven of the Sun.

Anselm of Canterbury

minor

Theologian and archbishop, appears in the Heaven of the Sun.

Elijah

minor

Also known as Elias

Biblical prophet, referenced in the Heaven of the Sun.

Joachim of Flora

minor

Also known as Joachim

Mystic and abbot, appears in the Heaven of the Sun.

Richard of St. Victor

minor

Also known as Richard de St. Victor

Mystical theologian, appears in the Heaven of the Sun.

Boethius

minor

Also known as The Senator Boethius, Severinus Boethius

Roman philosopher, appears in the Heaven of the Sun.

Isidore of Seville

minor

Also known as Isidore

Church father and encyclopedist, appears in the Heaven of the Sun.

Bede

minor

Also known as The Venerable Bede

English historian and theologian, appears in the Heaven of the Sun.

Donatus

minor

Also known as Aelius Donatus

Roman grammarian, appears in the Heaven of the Sun.

Rabanus Maurus

minor

Also known as Rabanus

Carolingian scholar and archbishop, appears in the Heaven of the Sun.

Joshua

minor

Biblical leader, appears in the Heaven of Mars.

Robert Guiscard

minor

Also known as Guiscard

Norman conqueror, appears in the Heaven of Mars.

St. Macarius

minor

Desert father, appears in the Heaven of Saturn.

St. James

minor

Also known as James

Examines Dante on hope in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars.

Moses

minor

Biblical lawgiver, appears in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars.

Samuel

minor

Biblical prophet, appears in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars.

St. Luke

minor

Also known as Luke

Evangelist, appears in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars.

St. Matthew

minor

Also known as Matthew

Evangelist, appears in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars.

St. Paul

minor

Also known as Paul

Apostle, referenced as examiner of faith in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars.