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"Se tu segui tua stella": postille sugli Argonauti di Dante
Journal
Tre corone
Volume
5
Pages / Article-Number
97-120
Keywords
Dante, Commedia, Paradiso, Argonauts, Gemini, Guido delle Colonne
Abstract
The article examines the impact of the myth of Castor and Pollux on Dante's decision to choose the Argonauts as a symbol of the Comedy's third Cantica. The brothers, who took part in the Argonauts' quest for the Golden Fleece, were transformed by Zeus into the constellation Gemini, the sign of the zodiac under which Dante himself was born. The poet could thus have chosen the myth of the Argonauts because he believed that the constellation of Gemini had determined his destiny as a modern Christian Argonaut. The second part of the essay analyses the opposition between Ulysses' voyage and that of the Argonauts, which Dante modelled on the account transmitted by the 'Historia destructionis Troiae' of Guido delle Colonne. The last sectione of the article odders a reading of Paradiso XXVII in light of the interpretation of Castor and Pollux as Argonauts.
