Dante Alighieri's Mentions of the Skin: Assessing the Great Poet's Dermatological Knowledge

Authors

  • Donatella Lippi Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
  • Raffaella Bianucci Department of Cultures and Societis, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
  • Simon Donell Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
  • Elena Varotto Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
  • Francesco M. Galassi Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13133/2531-7288/2655

Keywords:

Dante Alighieri, Dermatology, History of Medicine, Pathology, Skin

Abstract

This article examines the nature of the dermatological references occurring in Dante's Divine Comedy, in their pathological and symbolic meanings, contextualing them in the theoretical framework of the Middle Ages, biblical use of the terms, and previous Classical knowledge. The focus is particularly laid on descriptions of leprosy and scabies.

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Published

2022-10-27

Issue

Vol. 34 No. 2 (2022)

Section

Articles

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.