From Latin Dis, Ditis, Roman name of the deity corresponding to the Greek Pluto who presides over Avernus, the pagan beyond.
Dante borrows this name from Virgil (Aen. VI, 127, 269 and 397; VII, 568, etc.) to designate Lucifer. By extension, it refers to the last part of Hell (or the lower Hell, from the sixth to the ninth circle, called “the city of Dis”) (“we approach the city known as Dis” Inf. 8, 68), in contrast to the expression “city of God” which designates Paradise (“I should make my way to His city;” “There is His city” Inf. 1, 126 and 128).
In the Comedy, the city of Dis is confined by iron-looking ramparts (“Its walls seemed made of iron,” Inf. 8, 78), launched from high red towers, as if they were rising from fire (v. 72 ff.). A swamp, generated by the waters of the Styx, surrounds the city which is guarded by devils.
According to the moral structure of Hell (expounded by Virgil in Inf. 11, 16 ff.), the outside of the city walls corresponds to the circles two to five which punish sins of incontinence (lust, gluttony, greed-prodigality, anger). Inside the enclosure, in lower Hell, the most serious sins are punished, those accomplished by force or by fraud (Inf. 11, 24), like heresy (difficult to categorize, falling between malice and “mad brutishness,” Inf. 11, 82), violence (against others, against oneself or against one’s own property, but also against God, against nature, and against art), and treason (subdivided into four categories).
Dante imagines that he arrives with Virgil in front of the city of Dis after having crossed the Styx on the boat of Phlegias. The devils who guard the city prevent access, closing the doors of the rampart. Virgil can do nothing against them but reassures Dante that they can find help “by whom the city shall be opened” (Inf. 8, 130). On the towers above the gates of Dis appear fierce Furies (Inf. 9, 45) – Megeara, Tisiphone, and Alecto – who invoke the coming of Medusa by gestures of despair and anger. Virgil hastened to tell Dante to cover his eyes in the presence of Medusa, “for if the Gorgon head appears and should you see it, / all chance for your return above is lost” (v. 55-57). Finally, heavenly messenger reaches the two pilgrims and delivers them from the situation. He opened the gates of the city and admonishes the devils “with a wand,” (v. 89) then leaves.
The whole episode contains an allegorical meaning that is difficult to grasp. Dante himself emphasizes its symbolic value, addressing the reader directly: “O you who have sound intellects, / consider the teaching that is hidden / behind the veil of these strange verses” (vv. 61-63). Consequentially, the long exegetical tradition of this text has advanced multiple interpretations of the meaning attributed to the three Furies, Medusa, and the celestial Messenger.
Consult the entry of the Enciclopedia Dantesca in Italian.
Entry taken from the Enciclopedia Dantesca published by the Istituto Treccani — Texts revised by the Centre d’études médiévales of the Université de Montréal.
Editing: Gabrielle Hamelin, Martyna Kander.
English translation: Brittany Buscio.