Included in the Codex Altonensis, this diagram functions as a map of Dante’s passage through hell. Flanked by images of Dante and Virgil entering and subsequently exiting hell, the main body of the map consists of a descending spiral of text describing the steps of Dante’s journey. At the center, the map transitions to visual representation, depicting a three-faced Satan devouring Cassius, Brutus, and Judas at the center of Hell. The concentric rings and circular format of the map ressemble a cosmographical map, closely linking the manuscript to a contemporaneously recognizable scientific discourse.

Dante’s Divinia Commedia, though a literary work, depended heavily on the realistic conceptualization of space, especially in the Inferno section. This primed the work for illustrative mapping, which was a common practice when crafting manuscripts of the text in the 14th century. (Patrick Wigent '19)]]> Divina Commedia: Codex Altonensis. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1965.]]> The History of Cartography, vol. 3, part 1 Cartography in the European Renaissance, ed. David Woodward, 450–460. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.]]> Carleton Gould Library Special Collections (Folio) PQ4301 .A1 1965]]>