How The Divine Comedy drew on Judith
A documented line of influence: Dante Alighieri demonstrably engaged Unknown’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
Judith
Unknown · c. 100 BCE
BibleThe influenced
The Divine Comedy
Dante Alighieri · 1320
MedievalRelevance
5/10
On The Divine Comedy’s page
- One of the figures in Dante's highest heaven comes from this short, fierce book
- Judith is named in Paradiso XXXII, seated in the White Rose among Sarah, Rebecca, and Ruth; Holofernes turns up as a cautionary emblem of pride
- Knowing her story — the widow who beheads a general — sharpens both her place among the saved and his among the warned
On Judith’s page
- Dante seats this book's heroine among the blessed in Paradise
- Judith appears by name in Paradiso XXXII, in the celestial White Rose alongside Sarah, Rebecca, and Ruth as St. Bernard names the Old Testament women
- Her victim Holofernes goes the other way — fixed among Dante's exempla of fallen pride