List of Cultural References in Divine Comedy - I

I

• Icarus: In Greek mythology, the son of the inventor Daedalus. They escaped from imprisonment in Crete using wings of feathers and wax invented by Daedalus. However, Icarus flew too near the sun, the wax melted, and he fell to his death.
  • Used as a simile for fear in Inf. XVII, 109–11.
• Ilium: See Troy.
• "In te, Domine, speravi" ("In Thee, o Lord, have I hoped"): Incipit of Psalm 31 in Latin (Psalm 30 in the Vulgate Bible)
  • First nine verses of the psalm sung by the angels when Dante meets Beatrice. Purg. XXX, 82–84.
• "In exitu Isräel de Aegypto": ("When Israel came out of Egypt"): Latin incipit of Psalm 114 (Psalm 113 in the Vulgate Bible).
  • Sung by souls arriving in Purgatory. Purg. II, 46.
• Ino: See Hera.
• Alessio Interminelli: Member of a White Guelph noble family of Lucca. He probably died in 1295.
  • Found among the flatterers. Inf. XVIII, 115–26.
• Iphigenia: In Greek legend, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Her father intended to sacrifice her in order to placate the gods who withholding winds to carry the Greek fleet to Troy.
  • Beatrice cites the vow to sacrifice Iphigenia as an example of an injudicious vow that never should have been kept. Par. IV, 68–72.
• Isaac: The biblical father of the patriarch Israel.
  • Raised by Jesus from Limbo into Paradise. Inf. IV, 59.
• Isidore of Seville: Archbishop of Seville, and one of the great scholars of the early Middle Ages.
  • Encountered in the Fourth Sphere of Heaven (The sun). Par. X, 130–1.
• Ismenus and Asopus: Rivers in Boeotia in Greece, where festivals for Dionysus were held. Purg. XVIII, 91.
• Israel: One name given to the biblical patriarch Jacob.
  • Raised by Jesus from Limbo into Paradise. Inf. IV, 59.