hBjcDQfnMguRXVnjTNgM Mark Scarbrough's WALKING WITH DANTE: Did Dante Think The Characters In Classical Poems Were Real? - Walking With Dante

Episode 179

Did Dante Think The Characters In Classical Poems Were Real?

Published on: 4th June, 2025

Did Dante think that the characters in Virgil's and Statius's poems were real? Did he believe that the characters who changed shape, being, and even substance in Ovid's METAMORPHOSES were actual and historical?

This complicated questioning has no final answer . . . which means it can drive most of us modern, post-scientific-revolution people nuts?

But it all goes back to Dante's relationship with his own primary text, the Bible? He didn't doubt its stories. Perhaps he didn't doubt other texts as quickly as we might.

But he also didn't assign meaning quite as quickly as we do.

Let's explore some answers to this thorny question: Did Dante think Aeneas, Dido, and other classical characters were real?

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About the Podcast

Walking With Dante
A passage-by-passage stroll through Dante’s DIVINE COMEDY with Mark Scarbrough
Ever wanted to read Dante's Divine Comedy? Come along with us! We're not lost in the scholarly weeds. (Mostly.) We're strolling through the greatest work (to date) of Western literature. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I take on this masterpiece passage by passage. I'll give you my rough English translation, show you some of the interpretive knots in the lines, let you in on the 700 years of commentary, and connect Dante's work to our modern world. The pilgrim comes awake in a dark wood, then walks across the known universe. New episodes every Sunday and Wednesday.
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Mark Scarbrough

Former lit professor, current cookbook writer, creator of two podcasts, writer of thirty-five (and counting) cookbooks, author of one memoir (coming soon!), married to a chef (my cookbook co-writer, Bruce Weinstein), and with him, the owner of two collies, all in a very rural spot in New England. My life's full and I'm up for more challenges!