The Divine Comedy is an epic poem by the Florentine writer Dante Alighieri, written in the early fourteenth century and finished shortly before his death in 1321. It describes an imaginary journey through the afterlife, in three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. Dante is guided first by the Roman poet Virgil through Hell and Purgatory, and then by Beatrice, the woman he loved, through the heavens. The poem is written in rhymed three-line stanzas known as terza rima and is made up of one hundred cantos. By writing in the Tuscan vernacular and not in Latin, Dante helped to establish the Italian literary language, and the poem remains among the greatest works of world literature.
Before and after
- 1313Birth of Giovanni Boccaccio
- 1315Origins of Gračanica monastery
- from 1315 to 1317Great Famine of 1315–1317
- from 1320 to 1413Tughlaq dynasty
- 1320The Divine Comedy
- from 1321 to 1328Byzantine Civil War of 1321–1328
- 14 September 1321Death of Dante Alighieri
- c. 1323Origins of Vilnius
- from 1324 to 1861Kingdom of Sardinia
More in Art, literature & culture
- c. 500sRise of medieval music
- from 8th century to 9th centuryRise of Carolingian Renaissance
- 11th centuryPublication of The Song of Roland
- from 1140 to 1530Gothic art
- 1353Publication of The Decameron
- from 1478 to 1834Spanish Inquisition
The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 14th century.