Dante, Inferno
Crossing the Centre of the World
Virgil carries Dante down the shaggy body, then turns where the thigh meets the haunch and begins to climb. Dante initially fears they are returning into Hell and sees Lucifer’s legs pointing upward. The guide explains that they have passed the point toward which heavy substance is drawn from every direction. They now stand beneath the opposite hemisphere, where morning corresponds to evening on the other side.
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In the sources
The encounter
LiteraryVirgil carries Dante down the shaggy body, then turns where the thigh meets the haunch and begins to climb. Dante initially fears they are returning into Hell and sees Lucifer’s legs pointing upward.
Further detail
LiteraryThe guide explains that they have passed the point toward which heavy substance is drawn from every direction. They now stand beneath the opposite hemisphere, where morning corresponds to evening on the other side.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows the supplied Thompson & Thomas edition of H. F. Cary’s translation. It describes Dante’s literary vision, distinguishing its assignments and reported claims from historical biography, other classical traditions and independently established accounts of an afterlife.
Original passages
Source 1
Dante's Inferno
Turn'd round his head where his feet stood before, And grappled at the fell as one who mounts ; That into hell methought we turn'd again.Open this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 236
Passage read in the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace-normalised anchor and original-leaf mapping checked. Associated plates separately inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0236
- Original scan leaf
- 243
- Recorded leaf number
- 243
- Current Reader position
- 235
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Dante's Inferno
All heavy substance. Thou art now arrived Under the hemisphere opposed to that, Which the great continent doth overspread, And underneath whose canopy expired The Man,Open this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 237
Passage read in the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace-normalised anchor and original-leaf mapping checked. Associated plates separately inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0237
- Original scan leaf
- 244
- Recorded leaf number
- 244
- Current Reader position
- 236
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Illustrations
Continue exploring
The Return to the Stars
The hidden ascent that restores a view of the sky at the close of Inferno.
Shared source pageJudecca, the Innermost Ice
The final frozen division, where the souls are entirely enclosed and Lucifer occupies the centre.
Same subject and traditionAgnello’s Merged Form
A man and serpent lose their distinct outlines in the thieves’ ditch.
Same subject and traditionAlichino and Calcabrina’s Quarrel
The failed pursuit that sends two guardians into their own sticky pool.