Image 2.9 WILLIAM BLAKE, THE INSCRIPTION OVER HELL-­‐GATE, THE DIVINE COMEDY1 The greatest literary work of the Middle Ages was Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. A massively long and complex poem written in the early 1300s and divided overall into three books, each composed of 33 cantos, it tells the story of the author’s imaginary journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Guided by the Roman poet Virgil, Dante descends a deep abyss marked by nine concentric rings before ascending into Purgatory and Heaven. Aside from its creative brilliance and theological significance, the book is important for its conception that all of reality except God is intelligible to human reason. Dante thus formulated a powerful idea of the Christian West, an idea that helped pave the way toward the Scientific Revolution. The image below was painted by William Blake (1757–1827). In the painting, Dante and Virgil approach the gates of Hell. The inscription above the gate reads, “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'entrate,” or, “Abandon all hope, those who enter.” For the image’s original Internet location, click here. 1 Image provided by Wikimedia Commons and painted by William Blake.