The Homer-Virgil-Dante Connection
So Dante inherited the legacy of Virgil, and Virgil inherited the legacy of... who?  Turns out Virgil modeled much of his poetry on the ancient Greek poet Homer.  This section explores the legacy handed down between the three poets.
 
Homer
No one is exactly sure who Homer was.  Theories abound, and some even think he never existed.  Regardless, he is traditionally recognized as the original creator of two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey.  Living sometime in the second half of the 8th century B.C., Homer was probably a minstrel - a man who traveled constantly, singing songs and telling stories.  His two works were probably handed down orally for centuries before they were actually put down on paper, which means the versions we have today may or may not be close to the original.
Statue of Homer
Epic Poetry
Homer was the father of epic poetry - he set the standard against which subsequent epicists are judged.  Virgil in particular inherited a great deal from him, and, just like Dante, made it clear in his works that he was aware of this fact.  The first two words of the Aeneid, "arma virumque," each refer back to the opening words (and indeed themes) of Homer's epics.  The Iliad, the story of the wars vs. the Trojans and the Greeks, begins with the word "wrath," which lines up with Virgil's "arms."  The Odyssey, the story of Odysseus' travels and advantures, starts with the word "man," which is reflected in Virgil's "man" as well.  It is no mistake the Virgil's two first words encompass and draw in the Homeric epic - Virgil knows he the heir to Homer's outstanding contribution to the genre.  It is evident in other areas, too: Virgil's evocation of the Muse, his structure of books, etc.  The historian Polybius declared that Virgil had become "Roman Homer," and that the Aeneid would be a great Roman classic "against which later epic poets, and in a sense all Latin poets, had to situate themselves." 

Just as Virgil inherited a great legacy and personalized and adapted it fit his needs, Dante does the same thing with Virgil's legacy.  Indeed, there are many similiarities between Virgil and Dante's literary techniques, much in the way those similarities exist between Virgil and Homer.


Dante meets the great classical poets in Limbo. Click for enlargement.  (Gustav Dore)

Inferno IV
In canto IV of Inferno, Dante recounts an incident wherein he explicitly aligns himself with Homer, Virgil, and other great classical authors.  Virgil explains,
            "That shade is Homer, the consummate poet;
          the other one is Horace, satirist;
          the third is Ovid, and the last is Lucan.
              Because each of these spirits shares with me
          the name called out before by the lone voice,
          they welcome me - and, doing that, do well."
              And so I saw that splendid school assembled...
          for they invited me to join their ranks -
          I was the sixth among such intellects." (Inf. IV 88-102, trans. Mandelbaum)

In this last sentence, Dant puts himself right alongside Homer, Lucan, Horace, Ovid and Virgil, which shows - just as clearly as Virgil did in the Aeneid - that Dante knew he was inheriting the legacy of those great poets.  But was it more than just inheriting a legacy?  Perhaps Virgil played a bigger role for Dante, or maybe he symbolized something more?
 

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last updated 12/15/00