PAUL DE SAINT ROBERT AND HIS TRUE MEANING OF A TERCET OF DANTE
PAUL DE SAINT ROBERT AND HIS TRUE MEANING OF A TERCET OF DANTE

Author(s): Gianfranco Medici, Federica Maffioli
Subject(s): History, Philosophy, Philosophy of Middle Ages, Philosophy of Science
Published by: Scientia Socialis, UAB
Keywords: Allegorical; astronomy; Chant I; Commentators; Dante; Equinoxes; masterpiece; Paul de Saint Robert; Precession; Purgatory;
Summary/Abstract: Count Paul Ballada de Saint Robert (1815–1888), man of great genius and scholar of various scientific disciplines, shows with the help of science what is the exact meaning of the verses 22.24 of the I chant of Purgatory. Many commentators on these verses of Dante’s (1265–1321) masterpiece, in order to avoid the difficulties of a literal explanation and ignoring the fact that Dante knew very well astronomy, provide only an allegorical and fanciful meaning. The explanation of Saint Robert, on the contrary, is based on the astrophysical phenomenon called “precession of the equinoxes” which was well known to Dante.

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