Sinners and Guardians
Sin, Punishment, and Retribution
Landscape
Allegory and Symbolism
Tone
100
The guardians of Phlegethon, the River of Blood who wield bows and arrows to shoot a sinner if he/she tries to escape the boiling blood further than allowed.
Who are the Centaurs, half-man, half-horse creatures from Greek Mythology?
100
The sinners of the round 1 spend eternity in this. Those who committed the sin of this round to a lesser degree are up to their ankles and to a greater degree, they drown.
What is the Phlegethon the River of Blood, which is home to those who were "violent against their neighbors"- murderers and plunderers?
100
An area in Italy that Dante references in line 4 when he says describes the entrance of Circle 7 as "a ruin like the Slides of Mark near Trent".
What are 'Li Slavoni di Marco' (The Slides of Mark) found between Verona and Trent on the bank of the river Adige?
100
For this reason, Virgil tells Dante to let Nessus be the teacher instead of explaining the round to Dante himself.
What is Human Reason not being able to explain everything?
100
"Run now! While he is blind with rage! Into the pass, quick, ad get over the side!" (pg 93 lines 26 and 27)
What is a quote that describes the Dante's tone as being scared of frantic at the beginning of the canto?
200
One of the worst punished in the River of Blood, "up to his lashes" in the boiling liquid.
Who is Alexander the Great, former Emperor of Macedonia?
200
As they wallowed in the blood of those they killed in life, they do in death, forever drowning in their sin.
What is the retribution of being "violent against their neighbors" the sin of murdering or plundering?
200
This is known to have caused the jagged broken rocks of Hell we see at the entrances to both upper and lower hell.
What is the earthquake that shook hell on the day of Christ's death?
200
The minotaur and the centaurs are symbols of this making them the perfect guardians for Circle 7 as a whole and Round 1 separately.
What is the beast within all humans or passion over reason, the reason for the sins committed by these souls?
200
Until Chiron this allows Dante and Virgil passage, the centaurs convey this tone.
What is a tone of anger?
300
In Greek Mythology the ferryman who was killed by Hercules' poison arrow for attempting to abduct Dejanera, who also avenged his death by killing Hercules with his blood stained shirt?
Who is Nessus, the Centaur who guides Dante and Virgil through the first round of the seventh circle?
300
The sinners in Phlegethon, the River of Blood, are arranged in different depths according to the severity of their sin. Those who plundered or only killed one man up to their ankles in blood; those who waged violent wars with great casualties are consumed by the blood.
What is a reference to the Great Chain of Being and proportioned retribution for each sinner?
300
On page 93 in lines 8 and 9 Dante describes the setting "the rock is so badly shattered a man at the top might make a rough stair of it."
What is Dante's way of saying that the landscape looks rather easy to descend into but nearly impossible to ascend from, symbolizing the journey deep into hell being far easier than the escape?
300
"The universe felt love...as some believe" (page 94, lines 40-42)
What is a reference to the belief of Ptolemy and Empedocles that when elemental matter feels out of harmony, chaos will ensue until order is restored?
300
“Oh blind! Oh ignorant, self-seeking cupidity which spurs us so in the short mortal life and steeps us so through all eternity!” (pg 94, lines 48-51)
What is a quote by Dante to shift the tone of the narration of Canto twelve as he contemplates the reasons for murder and thievery, putting him into shock?
400
The guard of the seventh circle of Hell that Virgil angers at the beginning of Canto 12 so that he and Dante may receive passage.
Who is the Minotaur, a creature from Greek Mythology born of a sodomic mating between Pasiphae, wife of Minos, and a bull. Born with a human's body and the head of a bull?
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