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88-551: Dante portrays Purgatory as an island-mountain in the Southern Hemisphere . This realm is divided into three parts. The bottom slopes of Mount Purgatory ( Purgatorio I–IX) have been designated as "Ante-Purgatory" by commentators. Purgatory proper consists of seven levels or terraces ( Purgatorio X–XXVII) of suffering and spiritual growth, associated with the seven deadly sins . Finally, the Earthly Paradise

176-589: A Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.946, the tenth-highest in the world as of the 2024 report. New Zealand is also well developed, with a nominal GDP per capita of US$ 48,072 and an HDI of 0.939, putting it at number 16 in the world in 2024. The least developed nations in the Southern Hemisphere cluster in Africa and Oceania, with Mozambique and Burundi at the lowest ends of the HDI, at 0.461 (number 183 in

264-453: A Biblical example, drawn from Acts 7:54–60 (Canto XV): Next I saw people whom the fire of wrath had kindled, as they stoned a youth and kept on shouting loudly to each other: "Kill!" "Kill!" "Kill!" I saw him now, weighed down by death, sink to the ground, although his eyes were bent always on Heaven – they were Heaven's gates – Praying to his high Lord, despite the torture, to pardon those who were his persecutors; his look

352-592: A deceased friend of Dante), whom Dante is relieved to discover here, rather than in Hell. The meeting with Belacqua is over by noon (Canto IV). Those not receiving last rites include Pia de' Tolomei of Siena, who was murdered by her husband, Nello della Pietra of the Maremma (Canto V): "may you remember me, who am La Pia; Siena made, Maremma unmade me: he who, when we were wed, gave me his pledge and then, as nuptial ring, his gem, knows that." Also in this category

440-501: A dust cloud that was at least partially the remnant of one or more supernovas that produced heavy elements by nucleosynthesis . Grains of matter accreted through electrostatic interaction. As they grew in mass, gravity took over in gathering yet more mass, releasing the potential energy of their collisions and in-falling as heat . The protoplanetary disk also had a greater proportion of radioactive elements than Earth today because, over time, those elements decayed . Their decay heated

528-783: A medieval legend, once stopped his journey to render justice to a poor widow (Canto X). Also associated with humility is an expanded version of the Lord's Prayer : "Our Father, You who dwell within the heavens but are not circumscribed by them out of Your greater love for Your first works above, Praised be Your name and Your omnipotence, by every creature, just as it is seemly to offer thanks to Your sweet effluence. Your kingdom's peace come unto us, for if it does not come, then though we summon all our force, we cannot reach it of our selves. Just as Your angels, as they sing Hosanna, offer their wills to You as sacrifice, so may men offer up their wills to You. Give unto us this day

616-705: A point to the south of the Tropic of Capricorn, the Moon moves from left to right on the disc of the Sun (see, for example, photos with timings of the solar eclipse of November 13, 2012 ), while viewed from a point to the north of the Tropic of Cancer (i.e., in the Northern Hemisphere), the Moon moves from right to left during solar eclipses. The Coriolis effect causes cyclones and tropical storms to spin clockwise in

704-631: A spherical Earth as the center of the universe. The knowledge of the Greeks was inherited by Ancient Rome, and Christian and Islamic realms in the Middle Ages. Circumnavigation of the world in the Age of Discovery provided direct evidence. Improvements in transportation and other technologies refined estimations of the size of the Earth, and helped spread knowledge of it. The earliest documented mention of

792-517: Is also the only area of Mount Purgatory that is subjected to terrestrial meteorology . In Purgatorio I.4–9, with the sun rising on Easter Sunday, Dante announces his intention to describe Purgatory by invoking the mythical Muses , as he did in Canto II of the Inferno : Now I shall sing the second kingdom there where the soul of man is cleansed, made worthy to ascend to Heaven. Here from

880-502: Is an example of pride in achievements—he was a noted artist of illuminated manuscripts . Provenzano Salvani  [ it ] , leader of the Sienese Ghibellines , is an example of pride in dominating others (Canto XI). In Canto XIII, Dante points out, with "frank self-awareness," that pride is also a serious flaw of his own: "I fear much more the punishment below; my soul is anxious, in suspense; already I feel

968-529: Is conceived as taking place during the vernal equinox , when the days and nights are of the same length. By now the sun was crossing the horizon of the meridian whose highest point covers Jerusalem; and from the Ganges, night, circling opposite the sun, was moving together with the Scales that, when the length of dark defeats the day, desert night's hands; so that, above the shore that I had reached,

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1056-624: Is concerned with measuring parts of the surface. Earth's shape can be thought of in at least two ways: As the science of geodesy measured Earth more accurately, the shape of the geoid was first found not to be a perfect sphere but to approximate an oblate spheroid , a specific type of ellipsoid . More recent measurements have measured the geoid to unprecedented accuracy, revealing mass concentrations beneath Earth's surface. The roughly spherical shape of Earth can be empirically evidenced by many different types of observation , ranging from ground level, flight, or orbit. The spherical shape causes

1144-465: Is located at the top of the mountain ( Purgatorio XXVIII–XXXIII). As described in the Inferno , the first twenty-four hours of Dante's journey took place on earth and started on the evening of Maundy Thursday , 24 March (or 7 April) 1300 ( Inf. I and II), and the next full day ( Good Friday ) was spent exploring the depths of Hell with Virgil as a guide ( Inf. III–XXXIV.69). Dante and Virgil spent

1232-702: Is located in the Southern Hemisphere, and it is deemed by the International Hydrographic Organization as being wholly within the South Pacific Ocean, rather than the North Pacific. More than 850 million people live in the Southern Hemisphere, representing around 10–12% of the total global human population. Of those 850 million people, more than 203 million live in Brazil , the largest country by land area in

1320-533: Is middle afternoon and the poets are walking westward along the terrace with the sun in their faces. A dazzling brightness suddenly smites Dante on the brow, which he supposes is caused by the sun; but when he shades his eyes from it, the new brightness persists, and he is forced to close his eyes. Virgil reminds him that the approach of an angel is still too powerful for his earthly senses but says that this will not always be so. The Angel of Charity, having brushed away another "P" from Dante's brow, invites him to mount to

1408-483: Is mostly concentrated on/around the islands of Bali , Mauritius , and Fiji . The oldest continuously inhabited city in the Southern Hemisphere is Bogor , in western Java , which was founded in 669 . Ancient texts from the Hindu kingdoms prevalent in the area definitively record 669 CE as the year when Bogor was founded. However, some evidence shows that Zanzibar , an ancient port with around 200,000 inhabitants off

1496-408: Is no trap that they cannot defeat." The voices on the air also include examples of envy. The classical example is Aglauros , who, according to Ovid , was turned to stone because she was jealous of Hermes ' love for her older sister Herse . The Biblical example is Cain , mentioned here not for his act of fratricide, but for the jealousy of his younger brother Abel that led to it (Canto XIV). It

1584-647: Is now also planted in Southern Africa and Latin America for pulp production, and increasingly, biofuel uses. One of the most notable animals to be found almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere is the penguin . A species is found around Isabela Island on the Galápagos archipelago in the Pacific Ocean , which straddles the equator. However, most of Isabela and the rest of the archipelago

1672-460: Is primarily concerned with positioning and the gravity field and geometrical aspects of their temporal variations, although it can also include the study of Earth's magnetic field . Especially in the German speaking world, geodesy is divided into geomensuration ("Erdmessung" or "höhere Geodäsie"), which is concerned with measuring Earth on a global scale, and surveying ("Ingenieurgeodäsie"), which

1760-515: Is the Agnus Dei : Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis ... dona nobis pacem ("Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us ... grant us peace"). Marco Lombardo discourses with Dante on free will – a relevant topic, since there is no point being angry with someone who has no choice over his actions (Canto XVI). Dante also sees visions with examples of wrath, such as Procne , Haman and Lavinia . When

1848-561: Is the troubadour Sordello who, like Virgil, is from Mantua . When Sordello discovers the great poet's identity, he bows down to him in honour. This helps keep Virgil in the foreground of the poem, since (as a resident of Limbo) Virgil is less qualified as a guide here than he was in Hell. As a resident of Purgatory, Sordello is able to explain the Rule of the Mountain : that after sunset souls are incapable of climbing any further. Allegorically,

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1936-507: Is what causes tides in the oceans ' water, which can flow freely along the changing potential. The spherical shape of the Earth was known and measured by astronomers, mathematicians, and navigators from a variety of literate ancient cultures, including the Hellenic World, and Ancient India. Greek ethnographer Megasthenes , c.  300 BC , has been interpreted as stating that the contemporary Brahmans of India believed in

2024-723: The Age of Discovery , the Southern Hemisphere was largely cut off from the cultural constructs of the Western and Eastern worlds . Some view both the West and the East as being Northern Hemisphere-centric concepts. The most widespread religions in the modern Southern Hemisphere are Christianity , prevalent in South America, Africa, Oceania, and East Timor , followed by Islam in East Africa and Indonesia , and Hinduism , which

2112-509: The Antarctic which is colder than the Arctic . This is because the Southern Hemisphere has significantly more ocean and much less land; water heats up and cools down more slowly than land. The differences are also attributed to oceanic heat transfer and differing extents of greenhouse trapping. In the Southern Hemisphere, the Sun passes from east to west through the north, although north of

2200-640: The Inferno (the space reserved for the lukewarm and the neutral angels found in Inferno III) and in the Paradiso (the heavens under the shadow of Earth traversed by the pilgrim in Paradiso I–IX). This region is therefore characterized by a lingering attachment to earthly life and affairs, so that the crowds of souls whom Dante and Virgil meet here all marvel at Dante's body in the flesh ( Purgatorio II–III). As Statius will later explain, Ante-Purgatory

2288-481: The Norte Chico civilization and Casma–Sechin culture from the northern coast of Peru. These civilizations built cities, pyramids, and plazas in the coastal river valleys of northern Peru with some ruins dating back to 3600 BCE . Easter Island , located about 3,500 kilometres from Chile and French Polynesia , is considered to be the most remote place on Earth to have been permanently inhabited by humans before

2376-543: The Sun and the ecliptic plane , summer is from December to February (inclusive) and winter is from June to August (inclusive). September 22 or 23 is the vernal equinox and March 20 or 21 is the autumnal equinox. The South Pole is in the centre of the southern hemispherical region. Southern Hemisphere climates tend to be slightly milder than those at similar latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere , except in

2464-515: The Tropic of Capricorn the mean Sun can be directly overhead or due south at midday. The Sun follows a right-to-left trajectory through the northern sky unlike the left-to-right motion of the Sun when seen from the Northern Hemisphere as it passes through the southern sky. Sun-cast shadows turn anticlockwise throughout the day and sundials have the hours increasing in the anticlockwise direction. During solar eclipses viewed from

2552-515: The beatitude for this terrace is Beati qui lugent ("Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted," Matthew 5:4) (Canto XVIII and XIX). Southern Hemisphere The Southern Hemisphere is the half ( hemisphere ) of Earth that is south of the Equator . It contains all or parts of five continents (the whole of Antarctica , the whole of Australia , about 90% of South America , about one-third of Africa , and some islands off

2640-542: The redemption of Christ and to "the conversion of the soul from the sorrow and misery of sin to the state of grace". Dante recognizes his friend Casella among the souls there (Canto II). The poets begin to climb in the early hours of morning. On the lower slopes, Dante and Virgil first encounter the excommunicate, who are detained at the base of the cliff for a period thirty times as long as their period of contumacy . The excommunicate include Manfred of Sicily . Manfred explains that prayer from those currently alive and in

2728-843: The Age of Discovery. It was settled by a Polynesian group known as the Rapa Nui . Areas of the Southern Hemisphere that had no contact with humans before the Age of Discovery include Christmas Island and Mauritius (in the Indian Ocean ), the Galápagos Islands , Juan Fernández Islands and Lord Howe Island (in the South Pacific), the Falkland Islands and Tristan da Cunha (in the South Atlantic ) and

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2816-482: The Angel of Humility salutes them and brushes Dante's forehead with his wings, erasing the letter "P" ( peccatum ) corresponding to the sin of pride, and Dante hears the beatitude Beati pauperes spiritu ("Blessed are the poor in spirit", Matthew 5:3) (Canto XII). Dante is surprised to discover that climbing now seems easier than it did before. Virgil tells him that one of the initials has been removed from his forehead by

2904-487: The Bold , and Henry III (Cantos VII and VIII). John Ciardi writes that these Negligent Rulers are "elevated above their negligent subjects because their special duties made it difficult for them to think about the welfare of their own souls". Dante also speaks with the souls of contemporary Italian statesmen Currado Malaspina and Nino Visconti , the latter being a personal friend whom Dante rejoices at not having found among

2992-413: The Earth is more accurately described as an ellipsoid , which was realized in the early modern period . Earth is massive enough that the pull of gravity maintains its roughly spherical shape. Most of its deviation from spherical stems from the centrifugal force caused by rotation around its north-south axis. This force deforms the sphere into an oblate ellipsoid . The Solar System formed from

3080-708: The Life of the Virgin in this terrace of purgation is the Finding in the Temple . Whereas most parents would be angry at their child for worrying them, Mary is loving and understanding of Christ's motives behind his three-day disappearance. In a classical example, the wife of Peisistratos wanted a young man executed for embracing their daughter, to which Peisistratos responded: "What shall we do to one who'd injure us / if one who loves us earns our condemnation?" Saint Stephen provides

3168-408: The Southern Hemisphere include Bali , Buenos Aires , Cape Town , Easter Island , Lima , Rio de Janeiro , Sydney and Tahiti . According to a 2017 report, the most popular Southern Hemisphere " bucket list " destinations among Australians were Antarctica , New Zealand , the Galápagos Islands , South Africa and Peru . Quito, Ecuador is the closest major city to the equatorial line on

3256-792: The Southern Hemisphere include São Paulo , where the B3 (stock exchange) is headquartered, along with Sydney, home to the Australian Securities Exchange , Jakarta, the seat of the Indonesia Stock Exchange , Johannesburg , home to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange , and Buenos Aires, headquarters of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange , the oldest stock market in the Southern Hemisphere. Common tourist destinations in

3344-412: The Southern Hemisphere with brighter and more numerous stars. Forests in the Southern Hemisphere have special features which set them apart from those in the Northern Hemisphere. Both Chile and Australia share, for example, unique beech species or Nothofagus , and New Zealand has members of the closely related genera Lophozonia and Fuscospora . The eucalyptus is native to Australia but

3432-1021: The Southern Hemisphere). Portuguese is the most spoken language in the Southern Hemisphere, with over 230 million speakers in six countries – mostly in Brazil, but also in Angola , Mozambique , East Timor , and small parts of Equatorial Guinea and São Tomé and Príncipe that lie south of the Equator . Among the largest metropolitan areas in the Southern Hemisphere are Jakarta (34 million people), São Paulo (22 million), Kinshasa-Brazzaville (19 million), Buenos Aires (16 million), Rio de Janeiro (12 million), Johannesburg , Lima (11 million each), Surabaya (10 million), Bandung (9 million), Luanda (8 million), Dar es Salaam , Santiago (7 million each), Belo Horizonte , Semarang (6 million each), Sydney , Melbourne and Cape Town (5 million each). Important financial and commercial centres in

3520-401: The Southern Hemisphere, as opposed to anticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. The southern temperate zone , a subsection of the Southern Hemisphere, is nearly all oceanic. The Sagittarius constellation that includes the galactic centre is a southern constellation as well as both Magellanic Clouds . This, combined with clearer skies, makes for excellent viewing of the night sky from

3608-636: The Southern Hemisphere, the altered position of the sun, and the various time zones of the Earth. For instance, at the start of Canto II, the reader learns that it is dawn in Purgatory; Dante conveys this concept by explaining that it is sunset at Jerusalem (antipodal to the Mount of Purgatory), midnight (six hours later) over India on the River Ganges (with the constellation Libra overhead there), and noon (six hours earlier) over Spain . The journey

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3696-516: The Southern Hemisphere, while more than 150 million live in Java , the most populous island in the world. The most populous country in the Southern Hemisphere is Indonesia , with 275 million people (roughly 30 million of whom live north of the Equator on the northern portions of the islands of Sumatra , Borneo , and Sulawesi , as well as most of North Maluku , while the rest of the population lives in

3784-540: The angel and that the effort will be increasingly lessened as he climbs higher. Dante compares the stairway to the easy ascent from the Rubiconte, a bridge in Florence, up to San Miniato al Monte , overlooking the city. Envy is the sin that "looks with grudging hatred upon other men's gifts and good fortune, taking every opportunity to run them down or deprive them of their happiness". (This in contrast to covetousness,

3872-416: The angel's challenge, Virgil declares that a lady by the name of Lucia brought them there and directed them to the gate. On Virgil's advice, Dante mounts the steps and pleads humbly for admission by the angel, who uses the point of his sword to draw the letter "P" (signifying peccatum , sin) seven times on Dante's forehead, bidding him "take heed that thou wash / These wounds, when thou shalt be within." With

3960-455: The classification is based on love: the first three terraces of Purgatory relate to perverted love directed towards actual harm of others, the fourth terrace relates to deficient love (i.e. sloth or acedia ), and the last three terraces relate to excessive or disordered love of good things. Each terrace purges a particular sin in an appropriate manner. Those in Purgatory can leave their circle voluntarily, but may only do so when they have corrected

4048-524: The coast of Tanzania , may be older than Bogor. A Greco-Roman text written between 1 and 100 CE , the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea , mentioned the island of Menuthias ( Ancient Greek : Μενουθιάς) as a trading port on the east African coast, which is probably the small Tanzanian island of Unguja on which Zanzibar is located. The oldest monumental civilizations in the Southern Hemisphere are

4136-604: The concept dates from around the 5th century BC, when it appears in the writings of Greek philosophers . In the 3rd century BC, Hellenistic astronomy established the roughly spherical shape of Earth as a physical fact and calculated the Earth's circumference . This knowledge was gradually adopted throughout the Old World during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages . A practical demonstration of Earth's sphericity

4224-426: The continent of Antarctica . Entirely — Partly — Entirely — Partly — Entirely — Mostly — Partly — Entirely — Spherical Earth Spherical Earth or Earth's curvature refers to the approximation of the figure of the Earth to a sphere . The concept of a spherical Earth gradually displaced earlier beliefs in a flat Earth during classical antiquity and the Middle Ages . The figure of

4312-690: The continental mainland of Asia ) and four oceans (the whole Southern Ocean , the majority of the Indian Ocean , the South Atlantic Ocean , and the South Pacific Ocean ), as well as New Zealand and most of the Pacific Islands in Oceania . Its surface is 80.9% water, compared with 60.7% water in the Northern Hemisphere , and it contains 32.7% of Earth's land. Owing to the tilt of Earth's rotation relative to

4400-417: The daily manna without which he who labors most to move ahead through this harsh wilderness falls back. Even as we forgive all who have done us injury, may You, benevolent, forgive, and do not judge us by our worth. Try not our strength, so easily subdued, against the ancient foe, but set it free from him who goads it to perversity." After being introduced to humility, Dante and Virgil meet

4488-569: The damned. As night approaches, the souls sing the Compline hymns Salve Regina and Te lucis ante terminum . Dante's beautiful description of evening in this valley was the inspiration for a similar passage in Byron 's Don Juan : Dante falls asleep at 8:30 PM; his dream takes place just before the dawn of Easter Monday , one where a golden eagle sweeps him up into the sky. Awakening just after 8 AM, Dante finds that he has been carried up to

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4576-400: The dark color is the color of mourning and the crack is in the shape of a Christian cross . The last step is blood red, symbolising the burning Love that ends a good confession, the blood of Christ, and the restoration of true life. (Canto IX). The gate of Purgatory, Peter's Gate, is guarded by an angel bearing a naked sword, his countenance too bright for Dante's sight to sustain. In reply to

4664-427: The dead let poetry rise up, O sacred Muses, since I am yours. Here let Calliope arise... At the shores of Purgatory , Dante and Virgil meet Cato , a pagan who was placed by God as the general guardian of the approach to the mountain (his symbolic significance has been much debated). The Purgatorio demonstrates the medieval knowledge of a spherical Earth , with Dante referencing the different stars visible in

4752-409: The early Earth even further, and continue to contribute to Earth's internal heat budget . The early Earth was thus mostly liquid. A sphere is the only stable shape for a non-rotating, gravitationally self-attracting liquid. The outward acceleration caused by Earth's rotation is greater at the equator than at the poles (where is it zero), so the sphere gets deformed into an ellipsoid , which represents

4840-429: The energy release from these processes halts, then they tend to erode away over time and return toward the lowest potential-energy curve of the ellipsoid. Weather powered by solar energy can also move water, rock, and soil to make Earth slightly out of round. Earth undulates as the shape of its lowest potential energy changes daily due to the gravity of the Sun and Moon as they move around with respect to Earth. This

4928-416: The excessive desire to have things like money.) As one of the envious souls on this terrace says: "My blood was so afire with envy that, when I had seen a man becoming happy, the lividness in me was plain to see." On entering the terrace of the envious, Dante and Virgil first hear voices on the air telling stories of generosity, the opposite virtue. There is, as in all the other terraces, an episode from

5016-710: The fair Aurora's white and scarlet cheeks were, as Aurora aged, becoming orange. In marked contrast to Charon 's ferry across the Acheron in the Inferno , Christian souls are escorted by an angel pilot from their gathering place somewhere near Ostia , the seaport of Rome at the mouth of the Tiber , through the Pillars of Hercules across the seas to the Mountain of Purgatory. The souls arrive singing In exitu Israel de Aegypto. In his Letter to Cangrande , Dante explains that this reference to Israel leaving Egypt refers both to

5104-413: The flaw within themselves that led to committing that sin. The structure of the poetic description of these terraces is more systematic than that of the Inferno, and associated with each terrace are an appropriate prayer and beatitude . Robert Hollander describes the shared features of all the terraces as "(1) description of the physical aspect of the terrace, (2) exemplars of the virtue that counters

5192-429: The fourth terrace, Virgil is able to explain to Dante the organization of Purgatory and its relationship to perverted, deficient, or misdirected love. The three terraces they have seen so far have purged the proud ("he who, through abasement of another, / hopes for supremacy"), the envious ("one who, when he is outdone, / fears his own loss of fame, power, honor, favor; / his sadness loves misfortune for his neighbor."), and

5280-475: The gate of Purgatory proper, Virgil guides the pilgrim Dante through the mountain's seven terraces. These correspond to the seven deadly sins or "seven roots of sinfulness": Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Avarice (and Prodigality), Gluttony, and Lust. The classification of sin here is more psychological than that of the Inferno , being based on motives rather than actions. It is also drawn primarily from Christian theology, rather than from classical sources. The core of

5368-402: The gate of Purgatory proper. Here there are three steps, representative of the tripartite Sacrament of Penance . The first is of white marble so polished it is reflective like a mirror, representing a candid, self-reflective confession and purity of the penitent's true self. The next step is dark and cracked, representing the sorrow and broken-heartedness of contrition. It has also been noted that

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5456-689: The grace of God may reduce the amount of time a soul spends in purgatory. The meeting with Manfred is over by about 9 AM. (Canto III). The Late-Repentant include (1) those too lazy or too preoccupied to repent (the Indolent), (2) those who repented at the last minute without formally receiving last rites , as a result of violent deaths, and (3) the Negligent Rulers. These souls will be admitted to Purgatory thanks to their genuine repentance, but must wait outside for an amount of time equal to their lives on earth. The lazy include Belacqua (possibly

5544-451: The heavy weights of the first terrace." After his conversations with the proud, Dante notes further sculptures on the pavement below, this time illustrating pride itself. The sculptures show Satan ( Lucifer ), the building of the Tower of Babel , King Saul , Niobe , Arachne , and King Rehoboam , amongst others. The poets reach the stairway to the second terrace at noon. As they ascend,

5632-618: The life of the Virgin Mary ; this time, the scene from the Life of the Virgin is the Wedding at Cana , in which she expresses her joy for the newly married couple and encourages Christ to perform his first miracle. There is also Jesus' saying "Love your enemies." A classical story shows the friendship between Orestes and Pylades . The souls of the envious wear penitential grey cloaks, and their eyes are sewn shut with iron wire, resembling

5720-606: The middle and forces lighter elements closer to the surface, a process known as planetary differentiation . This event is known as the iron catastrophe ; the most abundant heavier elements were iron and nickel , which now form the Earth's core . Though the surface rocks of Earth have cooled enough to solidify, the outer core of the planet is still hot enough to remain liquid. Energy is still being released; volcanic and tectonic activity has pushed rocks into hills and mountains and blown them out of calderas . Meteors also cause impact craters and surrounding ridges. However, if

5808-408: The needs of man. Then, as that stream descends, it comes on curs that, though their force is feeble, snap and snarl; scornful of them, it swerves its snout away. And, downward, it flows on; and when that ditch, ill-fated and accursed, grows wider, it finds, more and more, the dogs becoming wolves. Descending then through many dark ravines, it comes on foxes so full of deceit there

5896-413: The next day ascending from Hell to see the stars ( Inf. XXXIV.70–139). They arrive at the shore of the Mountain of Purgatory – the only land in the Southern Hemisphere – at 6 am on Easter Sunday , which is 6 pm on Sunday in Jerusalem , since the two points are antipodal . Dante describes Hell as existing underneath Jerusalem, having been created by the impact of Lucifer 's fall; the Mountain of Purgatory

5984-431: The next terrace. As he is leaving the terrace, the dazzling light of the terrace's angel causes Dante to reveal his scientific knowledge, observing that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection "as theory and experiment will show" (Canto XV). On the terrace of the wrathful , which the poets reach at 3 PM, examples of meekness (the opposite virtue) are given to Dante as visions in his mind. The scene from

6072-433: The order of 1/300 ( Delambre , Everest ). The modern value as determined by the US DoD World Geodetic System since the 1960s is close to 1/298.25. Geodesy , also called geodetics, is the scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of Earth, its gravitational field and geodynamic phenomena ( polar motion , Earth tides , and crustal motion) in three-dimensional time-varying space. Geodesy

6160-432: The passage of each terrace and the corresponding purgation of his soul that the pilgrim receives, one of the "P"s will be erased by the angel granting passage to the next terrace. The angel at Peter's Gate uses two keys , silver (remorse) and gold (reconciliation), to open the gate – both are necessary for redemption and salvation. As the poets are about to enter, they are warned not to look back. After passing through

6248-424: The planet, and Ushuaia, Argentina claims the title of world's southernmost city. Cape Town, Christchurch , Hobart , Punta Arenas and Ushuaia are officially acknowledged as the five international Antarctic gateway cities that serve as primary entry points for travel to the Antarctic region. Among the most developed nations in the Southern Hemisphere is Australia, with a nominal GDP per capita of US$ 63,487 and

6336-492: The rate at which souls ascend Mount Purgatory. One soul, Forese Donati , has gotten through Ante-Purgatory and the majority of the terraces only five years after his death, because of the prayers of his wife, Nella , on Earth. Forese's case, especially when compared to that of Statius , who has spent over 500 years on Mount Purgatory, shows the power of prayer to aid souls after death. Dante receives eleven distinct requests for prayer from individual souls in Purgatory, with most of

6424-466: The requests coming from souls in Ante-Purgatory and with the frequency of requests decreasing as he progresses through Purgatory. Ante-Purgatory is the region below the entrance into Purgatory proper and houses two main categories of souls whose penitent Christian life was delayed or deficient: the excommunicate and the late-repentant. This transitional space parallels similar sections found in

6512-422: The shape having the lowest potential energy for a rotating, fluid body. This ellipsoid is slightly fatter around the equator than a perfect sphere would be. Earth's shape is also slightly lumpy because it is composed of different materials of different densities that exert slightly different amounts of gravitational force per volume. The liquidity of a hot, newly formed planet allows heavier elements to sink down to

6600-523: The shape of Earth include a seven-layered ziggurat or cosmic mountain , alluded to in the Avesta and ancient Persian writings (see seven climes ). The realization that the figure of the Earth is more accurately described as an ellipsoid dates to the 17th century, as described by Isaac Newton in Principia . In the early 19th century, the flattening of the earth ellipsoid was determined to be of

6688-439: The sin repented here, (3) description of the penitents, (4) recitation of their sins by particular penitents, (5) exemplars of the vice, (6) appearance to Dante of the angel representing the countering virtue". The first three terraces of Purgatory relate to sins caused by a perverted love directed towards actual harm of others. The first of the sins is Pride . Dante and Virgil begin to ascend this terrace shortly after 9 AM. On

6776-457: The souls of the proud, who are bent over by the weight of huge stones on their backs. As they walk around the terrace, they are to profit from the sculpted examples of humility. The first of these souls is Omberto Aldobrandeschi , whose pride lies in his descent ("I was Italian, son of a great Tuscan: / my father was Guiglielmo Aldobrandesco"), although he is learning to be more humble ("I / do not know if you have heard his name"). Oderisi of Gubbio

6864-565: The sun represents God, meaning that progress in the penitent Christian life can only be made through Divine Grace . Virgil's conversation with Sordello ends as the sun is moving downward, that is, after 3 PM (Cantos VI to VII). It is sunset, so Dante and his companions stop for the night in the beautiful Valley of the Princes where they meet persons whose preoccupation with public and private duties hampered their spiritual progress, particularly deceased monarchs such as Rudolph , Ottokar , Philip

6952-587: The terrace where proud souls purge their sin, Dante and Virgil see beautiful sculptures expressing humility , the opposite virtue. The first example is of the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary , where she responds to the angel Gabriel with the words Ecce ancilla Dei ("Behold the handmaid of the Lord," Luke 1:38). An example of humility from classical history is the Emperor Trajan , who, according to

7040-604: The terrace. A scene from the life of the Virgin outlined in this terrace is the Visitation , with Mary going "in haste" to visit her cousin Elizabeth . These examples also include episodes from the lives of Julius Caesar and Aeneas . This activity also replaces a verbal prayer for this terrace. Since the formerly slothful are now too busy to converse at length, this section of the poem is a short one. Allegorically, spiritual laziness and lack of caring lead to sadness, and so

7128-424: The terraces. Prayers by the living on behalf of the souls also play a large role in the cantica, with some souls the pilgrim meets along the way requesting prayers from living relatives and even from the pilgrim himself. Dante learns from Manfred of Sicily in Ante-Purgatory that, in Purgatory, prayers from others work by shortening the wait that souls have to endure before entering Purgatory proper and by accelerating

7216-422: The visions have passed, the Angel of Peace appears to greet them. Again the brightness overpowers Dante's sight, but he hears the angel's invitation to mount to the next terrace and feels a wing brush his forehead, erasing the third "P". Then follows the pronouncing of the beatitude Beati pacifici ("Blessed are the peacemakers"). The poets leave the third terrace just after nightfall (Canto XVII). While staying on

7304-525: The way a falconer sews shut the eyes of a falcon in order to train it. This results in audible, rather than visual, examples here. Dante and Virgil speak with Sapia Salvani (Canto XIII). The souls of the envious include Guido del Duca and Rinieri da Calboli. The former speaks bitterly about the ethics of people in towns along the River Arno : "That river starts its miserable course among foul hogs, more fit for acorns than for food devised to serve

7392-529: The world) and 0.420 (number 187 in the world), respectively. The nominal GDPs per capita of these two countries do not go above US$ 650, a tiny fraction of the incomes enjoyed by Australians and New Zealanders. The Southern Hemisphere has long been secondary in the global distribution of demographic, economic and political power, as it has less land than the Northern Hemisphere. In recent times, however, countries such as Australia have made greater efforts to economically engage with those from their hemisphere. Before

7480-566: The wrathful ("he who, over injury / received, resentful, for revenge grows greedy / and, angrily, seeks out another's harm."). Deficient and misdirected loves are about to follow. Virgil's discourse on love concludes at midnight (Cantos XVII and XVIII). On the fourth terrace we find souls whose sin was that of deficient love – that is, sloth or acedia . Since they had failed in life to act in pursuit of love, here they are engaged in ceaseless activity. The examples of sloth and of zeal, its opposite virtue, are called out by these souls as they run around

7568-436: Was achieved by Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano 's circumnavigation (1519–1522). The concept of a spherical Earth displaced earlier beliefs in a flat Earth : In early Mesopotamian mythology , the world was portrayed as a disk floating in the ocean with a hemispherical sky-dome above, and this forms the premise for early world maps like those of Anaximander and Hecataeus of Miletus . Other speculations on

7656-517: Was created by a displacement of rock caused by the same event. The Purgatorio picks up where the Inferno left off, describing Dante's three-and-one-quarter-day trip up the mountain that ends with Dante in the Earthly Paradise at the time of noon on Wednesday, 30 March (or 13 April). Prayer is a dominant theme in Purgatorio . Many of the souls Dante meets are depicted in prayer, with multiple liturgical references to psalms and hymns throughout

7744-493: Was such that it unlocked compassion. The souls of the wrathful walk around in blinding acrid smoke, which symbolises the blinding effect of anger: Darkness of Hell and of a night deprived of every planet, under meager skies, as overcast by clouds as sky can be, had never served to veil my eyes so thickly nor covered them with such rough-textured stuff as smoke that wrapped us there in Purgatory; my eyes could not endure remaining open ... The prayer for this terrace

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