Points and Spheres: Cosmological Innovation in Dante's Divine Comedy

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dc.contributor.advisorRyden, David James, 1971-
dc.contributor.authorBlair, Matthew
dc.contributor.departmentUniversity Scholars.en_US
dc.contributor.schoolsHonors College.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2015-05-20T17:43:47Z
dc.date.available2015-05-20T17:43:47Z
dc.date.copyright2015-05-01
dc.description.abstractThis thesis analyzes the cosmology of Dante’s Divine Comedy, with particular focus on the ways in which Dante deviated from contemporary paradigms (and even from his own paradigms as expressed in his earlier Convivio) regarding the universe. Dante’s fictional universe is constructed in a way that resolves certain inconsistencies in medieval understanding and that reconciles Christian theology with Aristotelian and Ptolemaic cosmological thought. I argue that this was one of Dante’s conscious objectives in writing the Divine Comedy. This conclusion is then used to support a second, more specific theory: that Dante’s universe behaves as the surface of a hypersphere. Not only do I endorse this interpretation; I argue that modern scholars have been too quick to reject the possibility that Dante intended for his universe to be understood as a hypersphere. Although it can never be definitively proven, there is evidence to suggest that Dante was aware of the physical consequences of a hyperspherical universe, including the necessity for elliptical non-Euclidean space.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2104/9283
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.rightsBaylor University projects are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. Contact libraryquestions@baylor.edu for inquiries about permission.en_US
dc.rights.accessrightsWorldwide accessen_US
dc.subjectDanteen_US
dc.subjectCosmologyen_US
dc.subjectMathematicsen_US
dc.subjectTheologyen_US
dc.subjectClassicsen_US
dc.titlePoints and Spheres: Cosmological Innovation in Dante's Divine Comedyen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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