List of Cultural References in Divine Comedy - H

H

• Hadrian V: Pope for 38 days in 1276.
  • Dante encounters him repenting for his greed in the terrace of the greedy. Purg. XIX, 88–145.
• Hannibal: Ancient military leader of Carthage, who led an invasion of "Arabs" over the Alps into Italy in the Second Punic War in the late 3rd Century B.C.E.
  • His defeat cited as a triumph of the early Roman Republic. Par. VI, 49–51.

• Harpies: Monsters from Greek mythology with human female faces on the bodies of birds.
  • Tormentors of the suicides in the seventh circle, round 2. Their description is derived from Virgil (Aeneid iii, 209 on), which tells how they drove the Trojans from the Strophades. Inf. XII, 10–15 & 101.
• Hector: The greatest Trojan warrior, in the Trojan War.
  • Seen in Limbo. Inf. IV, 121–8.
• Hecuba: Wife of Priam king of Troy, mother of Hector, Paris, Polyxena and Polydorus. Captured after the fall of Troy, she went mad after seeing her daughter Polyxena, sacrificed on the tomb of Achilles and the corpse of her son Polydorus, murdered by Polymestor, King of Thrace (Euripides, Hecuba, Ovid Metamorphoses XIII, 429–575). According to Ovid she growled and barked like a mad dog.
  • Her "fury" at the deaths of Polyxena and Polydorus. Inf, XXX, 13–21.

• Helen: Wife of the Spartan king Menelaus and lover of the Trojan Paris, her abduction caused the Trojan War.
  • Found amongst the sexual sinners. Inf. V, 64–5.
• Helicon: Mountain in Boeotia sacred to the Muses. Purg. XXIX, 40.
• Heliodorus: Minister to Seleucus IV, Hellenistic ruler of the Seleucid Empire. According to II Maccabees 3:21-28, he was sent to Jerusalem to plunder the treasury of the Temple, but was turned back by supernatural figures, including a man mounted on a horse.
  • Cited by souls on the terrace of the greedy as an example of greed. Purg. XX, 113.
• Heliotrope stone: Also called bloodstone, is dark green with spots of red. In the Middle Ages the red spots were thought to be the blood of Jesus, and it was believed to have miraculous powers, including making its wearer invisible. Boccaccio writes about it in his Decameron (VIII, 3). Inf. XXIV, 93.
• Hellespont: Narrow strait connecting the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea and separating Europe from Asia Minor. In Herodotus' account of the Persian Wars, Xerxes, king of the Persians, spanned the Hellespont with a bridge to invade Greece. When a storm destroyed the bridge, the king ordered his soldiers to flog the waters as punishment.
  • Dante compares the narrow Lethe River to the narrow Hellespont. Purg. XXVIII, 70–72.
  • The ancient towns of Abydos and Sestos were on the shores of the Hellespont. Purg. XXVIII, 74.
• Henry of England (Arrigo d'Inghilterra): Henry III (1216–1272)
  • Dante sees him in the "Valley of the Princes," waiting as a late-repenter to enter Purgatory. Purg. VII, 130.
• Heraclitus (c. 535 BCE–c. 475 BCE): Greek Presocratic philosopher.
  • Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 138.
• Hera (Juno in Roman mythology): Greek goddess, she is the wife of Zeus (Jupiter). A jealous goddess, she often sought revenge against Zeus' many lovers. One of those was Semele, who was the daughter of Cadmus, King of Thebes and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus. One of Hera's many acts of revenge against Semele, was to cause Athamas, husband of Semele's sister Ino, to be driven mad. Mistaking Ino, holding their two infant sons Learchus and Melicertes, for a lioness and her cubs, he killed Learchus, and Ino still holding Melicertes jumped off a cliff into the sea. (Ovid, Metamorphoses IV, 416–542). Another lover of Zeus, and victim of Hera was Aegina, daughter of the river-god Asopus (see Aegina above).
  • Her revenge against "Aegina's people". Inf. XXIX, 58–65.
  • Her (Juno's) revenge against Semeles' "Theban family". Inf. XXX, 1–12.
• Heracles (Latin: Hercules): Son of Zeus and Alcmene, he is probably the most famous Hero of Greek mythology. Of his many achievements, the most famous are the Twelve Labours.
  • His victory over Cacus. Inf. XXV, 29–33.
  • Ulysses recounts his passing the Pillars of Hercules at the Strait of Gibraltar, where "Hercules set up his boundary stones that men might heed and never reach beyond". Inf. XXVI, 108–9.

• Hippocrates (c. 460 BCE–380 BCE): Ancient Greek physician, often called "the father of medicine.".
  • Encountered by Dante in Limbo. Inf. IV, 143.
  • Dante identifies St. Luke in the Pageant of the Church Triumphant as a disciple of Hippocrates. Ancient tradition holds that Luke was a physician. Purg. XXIX, 137.
• Holofernes: According to the Book of Judith, an Assyrian general who invades Israel. He is killed by Judith, who seduces him in his tent.
  • Depicted on the pavement in Purgatory as an example of arrogance. Purg. XII, 59.
• Homer: Greek poet credited with the authorship of the epic poems the Iliad, which tells the story of the Trojan War, and the Odyssey, which tells the story of the Greek hero Odysseus' adventures returning from that war.
  • Encountered in Limbo, leading, "as lord", the three Latin poets Horace, Ovid and Lucan. Inf. IV, 83–90.
  • "The lord of song incomparable who like an eagle soars above the rest." Inf. IV, 95–6.
  • The poets ask Dante "to join their ranks", Inf. IV, 100–102.
  • Dante and Virgil leave the company of the poets. Inf IV, 148.
• Horace: Latin lyric poet.
  • One of a group of classical poets (see Homer) encountered in Limbo. Inf. IV, 89.
• Hugh Capet: (c. 939–996) First King of the Franks and founder of the Capetian Dynasty.
  • Dante encounters him on the terrace of the greedy, where Hugh laments the greed of his successors to the French throne. Purg. XX, 34–123.
• Hypsipyle: Queen of Lemnos, she was seduced and abandoned by Jason while in route to the Colchis with the Argonauts.
  • Pitied by Virgil for Jason's actions. Inf. XVIII, 88–95.
  • Resident of Limbo. Purg. XXII, 112.