The Inferno atop a bookshelf.
The Divine Comedy is a poem written by the human poet Dante Alighieri in the 14th century on Earth. The Divine Comedy is widely considered the central epic poem of Italian literature and seen as one of the greatest works of Earth literature.
History[]
On 18 May 1974, Roberta Lincoln expected young Khan Noonien Singh to be reading Curious George or Green Eggs and Ham in his school class at the Chrysalis Project in India, but she spotted him reading Dante's Divine Comedy in Italian. (TOS - The Eugenics Wars novel: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 1)
In 2370, while attempting to undo a disastrous alternate reality aboard Deep Space 9 in an extremely fatigued condition, Constable Odo tried to recover a Bekkir key near the station's fusion reactors, collapsing into a near liquified state. As he struggled forward, he compared his passage to each of the three canticas in Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. (DS9 novel: Fallen Heroes)
In 2374, as Jean-Luc Picard wondered how much he was able to trust Q, he reflected that in the Divine Comedy the Dante character was at least certain that his teacher Virgil was entirely honest. (TNG - The Q Continuum novel: Q-Space)
To learn more about Lionardo Battaglia's Italian culture, he and Sara Nave both read Divine Comedy together aboard the USS Enterprise-E. (TNG novel: Resistance)
Inferno[]
The Inferno is one of the three canticas that describe Dante's journey through the three realms of the dead. Inferno specifically describes Hell and its nine levels.
After being infused with catoms by the Caeliar scientist Inyx, former NX-02 Captain Erika Hernandez reflected that a petrified tree and her current existence reminded her of the Inferno, where traitors were not sent to fire and brimstone, but the Ninth Level of Hell and sealed into Cocytus where all thought and feelings died. (ST - Destiny novel: Mere Mortals)
In 2286, Lt. Castille read the book. When he started to suffer from Le Guin's Syndrome, Castille placed a majority of the USS Enterprise-A in a version of Inferno. (TOS - Who Killed Captain Kirk? comics: "Haunted Honeymoon", "Hell in a Handbasket")
In 2366, a sculpture made by Dissenters on the planet Rampart represented a parody of a scene from Inferno in which a character forever devoured the head of his treacherous partner in the ninth circle of Hell. The large monument was made of sheet metal, wood and bits of garbage. It was observed by Major Ferris from a hovercraft and destroyed by Cephalic Security. (TNG novel: Gulliver's Fugitives)
Appendices[]
Appearances and references[]
- TOS movie: The Wrath of Khan
- TOS - Who Killed Captain Kirk? comics: "Haunted Honeymoon", "Hell in a Handbasket"
- TNG novel: Gulliver's Fugitives
- DS9 novel: Fallen Heroes
- TNG - The Q Continuum novel: Q-Space
- TOS - The Eugenics Wars novel: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 1
- TNG novel: Resistance
- ST - Destiny novel: Mere Mortals
External links[]
- Divine Comedy article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Divine Comedy article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.