The Greek-Roman world of mythological names in the Purgatorio from Alighieri’s Commedia
The Greek-Roman world of mythological names in the Purgatorio from Alighieri’s Commedia

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the onymic space in the Purgatorio, cantica two of the Commedia by Alighieri. The article will argue that the variety of the mythological names (mythonyms) represented a quite numerous group of names serving to depict the then recent idea of Purgatory both in the regions of the second kingdom, i. e. Ante-Purgatory, Purgatory itself, as well as Earthly Paradise, which shows that the cantica contributed to spreading ancient myths in Renaissance culture. The ancient mythonyms are pre¬sented in every region of Purgatory, while the share of the ancient historical names is lower. Overall, though the onymic space in the cantica addressed the actual events contemporary to Alighieri, the mythology occupied a sufficient share in the Purgatorio.

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