Meet the man who introduced us to Hell! Scientists reconstruct Dante's face
2024-02-27 13:36:23
TiranaPost
After more than 700 years, the face of Dante Alighieri has been recreated. Scientists have used his skull to recreate his face.
Now we have in our hands the image of the one who created for us the vision of Hell, Heaven, Purgatory.
Dante Alighieri became an icon of Western literature with his writing and his masterpiece is the Divine Comedy, which depicted a journey through heaven, hell and purgatory.
His description of hell is now the standard - a hell of nine rings where the worst offenders are confined to the deepest reaches and sinners receive ironic punishment for their misdeeds.
Brazilian graphics expert Cicero Moraes, lead author of the study, described why traditional depictions of the poet were truncated.
He said: 'Most are based on the information contained in the biography of Dante by the writer Boccaccio.'
Namely, that he was an individual of medium height, somewhat stooped, with a long face and large eyes.
However, Boccaccio did not know Dante personally and gathered reports from people close to the poet.
The authors began by digitally recreating the Italian poet's skull, using a 1921 analysis of his bones, augmented with data from a 2007 article about his face.
