An Eco-Historical Reading of a Simile in Dante’s Circle of Violence

This essay proposes an eco-historical method for reading Dante’s Commedia , whereby an analysis of his similes can lead us to better understand the poet’s representation of his contemporary urban ecologies. Taking the double simile at the beginning of Inferno 15 (where the embankments of Hell are compared to Flemish and Paduan water defenses) as a case study, I argue that Dante is a subtle commentator on the points of contact between human and natural environments, and how human communities work together to become resilient to changing natural forces. I demonstrate how a historicization of the vehicles of Dante’s similes enriches not only our understanding of Dante’s world, but of the poem as well.