Divine Comedy 1308-1320
Plato – Dante Divine Comedy
Did Dante use Plato’s Republic and symbols of
the Phaistos Disk to compose the Divine Comedy?
Plato Philosopher – Dante Divine Comedy
Dante’s Divine Comedy is one of the world’s greatest literary treasures. Was Dante a mind-boggling, brilliant author – or did he copy the existing structure of a 1,900-year-old system of knowledge, well known in Europe, to compose his text?
Was Dante a true visionary, or was his text a Commentary to introduce new definitions to replace the older path to wisdom of Greek philosophers, now forgotten?
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Were Dante’s numbers aligned
with the Phaistos Disk of Crete?
Dante wrote a letter in 1319 to his patron, Cangrande della Scala of Verona, to explain his motivations and the qualities of the Divine Comedy, he describes Plato’s knowledge:
“29. …For we see many things with our mind for which vocal signs are lacking, as Plato tells us well in his books by taking on metaphors, for he saw many things with the light of his mind which he was not able to express in his own words.”
James Marchand of the University of Illinois https://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/cangrande.english.html
Did Dante use the numbered symbols of the Phaistos Disk of Crete to compose the text of the Divine Comedy?
Did Dante meticulously follow the definitions and numbers of each symbol as a guide to write a Commentary with counter arguments to promote Christianity, which finally replaced meditation practices in the 14th century?
Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso
(Past life kamma, present action, future result)
Firstly Dante strictly followed the correct order of symbols on the Phaistos Disk to number each Canto in each section – the original definitions acted as his guide to write his text.
Dante then added his own combinations: Circles explained his new ideas, arranged in a specific order to tell a new story.
The Divine Comedy was not an original work, it was more like a Commentary.
New ideas based on Christianity were written as a new layer on top of the existing structure of numbers with fixed definitions – a well known system of knowledge already in use for 1,900 years.
By using the existing numbers Dante described the parallel new system which was difficult to separate from the original, causing confusion – the original system was eventually forgotten when people stopped meditating.
Selection of illustrated Cantos
Phaistos Disk images and numbers of the meditation system taught in Europe from the 6th century BC.
Dante Divine Comedy 1320 with etchings of Gustave Doré Christian illustrations, Rev. H. F. Cary translation (download Project Gutenberg), text as used from translation Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Feedbooks).
Dante and Virgil move through circle 6 (6 senses) from Hell Canto 11 (meditator) to Canto 12 (Dependent Origination): earthquake and Minotaur
Dante Purgatory Canto 30 (concentration, “ship to cross ocean of samsara”): arrival of Beatrice, Dante’s guide to Paradise
Dante Paradise Canto18 (rebirth), 19 (vision in the sky of the eagle as symbol of the mind and M rune)
Dante Paradise Canto 26 (destroy ignorance about existence) Adam father of all appears to Dante
List of Cantos that reveal the links to meditation
Part 1 Hell
Hell Canto 4: Description of Plato and other philosophers — in opposition are the 4 poets plus Virgil and Dante, the 6 poets are introduced as the messengers of the new Christian faith.
Hell Canto 11 and 12: One of the most important incidents: the role of meditators, Plato and philosophy are named as “God’s grandchild”. Dante and Virgil climb down a mountain where an earthquake when Christ died marks the end of the meditation system – at this very spot they meet the Minotaur of Knossos in Crete, symbol of being a prisoner of sensuality caught in the labyrinth of endless rebirth. Knossos with its Linear A & B clay tablets that describe meditation was a major learning centre.
Hell Canto 15: Did Dante’s teacher Brunetto Latini from the Fesole near Florence teach Dante about the numbers? Was the Fesole originally a site for meditation?
Hell Canto 20: In a Canto where several sites in northern Italy are described, i.e. Val Camonica with thousand of engravings, Virgil may have accused Dante of having been a meditator: ”Art thou, too, of the other fools?”
Hell Canto 23: A fable of Aesop (born in Samos, contemporary of Pythagoras) is mentioned, followed by a description of monks — the link to kamma, number 23.
Hell Canto 29 & 30: Valley of 22 and 11 miles — mental landscape of liberation, the Horse of Troy is linked to number 30 on the Phaistos Disk (a horse-shaped mage of a boat) in Purgatory Canto 30 the chariot of Beatrice appears.
Canto 29 Circle 8 10th bolgia: the valley is described as 22 miles long, reference to symbol no. 22 that represents the teachings of the Buddha.
Canto 30 Circle 8 10th bolgia: the valley is described as 11 miles long, reference to symbol no. 11 that represents the meditator who follows the teachings of the Buddha.
Hell Canto 34: Three faces of Lucifer, fallen angel of light who is bound in the deepest level of Hell as reference to Dependent Origination: past, present future lives investigated to see Causes and Effects of rebirth.
Purgatory Canto 2: Ganges river in India and the angel as celestial pilot “crossing the river”.
Part 2 Purgatory
Purgatory Canto 11: The “humble prayer” of Christianity replaces meditation.
Purgatory Cantos about the tree: mystic tree, apple trees and Tree of Knowledge
Purgatory Canto 21: The 1st-century Roman poet Statius who was secretly baptised appears after an earthquake — his liberation — as guide to accompany Virgil and Dante. Phaistos number 21 represented liberation (image of a horn).
Purgatory Canto 30/31: Chariot of Beatrice appears, linked to number 30/1 Phaistos Disk.
Purgatory Canto 32: Beatrice sits under the Tree of Knowledge, reference to the Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya.
Part 3 Paradise
Paradise, Canto 6: Philosophy moved from Athens (Pallas) to Alba “When Pallas (Athens) died to give it sovereignty. / Thou knowest it made in Alba its abode”
Paradise, Canto 18, 19, 20 “With his adulterate money on the Seine” Dante refers to the Celtic horse coins, birds form patterns in the sky related to rune symbols, which are mentioned indirectly, the “ᛖ rune named horse” as pattern in the sky, the eagle linked to the 6th sense.
Paradise Canto 29: Fall of Lucifer (“that One”) – meditation system described.
Paradise Canto 33 Final 13 lines of the Divine Comedy: the geometrician who tries to square the circle (a meditator who practices dialectics of philosophy) compared to one who accepts the doctrines of the Christian church.
Can 14th-century poet Dante be the guide who will unlock
the forgotten history of meditation in Europe?
Poets as spiritual guides: numbers and the written word to distribute Christianity
Dante introduced Poets as spiritual guides in the Divine Comedy in a quest to launch the written word to replace silent meditation practices that were taught orally – the dialectics of philosophy were practiced from Greece to Norway – this history was described in detail in Dante’s text, often giving names and locations through which the hidden and forgotten history can be revealed when looked at from a fresh cultural approach:
Canto 6 Paradise: “When Pallas (Athens) died to give it sovereignty
Thou knowest it made in Alba its abode”
Dante left a trail of written evidence in the Divine Comedy that describes the forgotten history of meditation practices and monastic traditions that preceded Christianity in Europe.
Poets in Ireland reveal the meaning
of numbers in illustrated engravings
In Ireland poets introduced the Book of Leinster/ Ballymote, compiled in the 13-14th century, the same time as the Divine Comedy. In the Scholar’s Primer (Auraicept na n-Éces) are drawings: codes to decipher Ogham and Rune scripts.
In Scandinavia rune poems were riddles with clues to explain the numbers and definitions that described the meditation system.
The forgotten Ogham and Rune scripts followed the same system of numbers used by Dante to compose the Divine Comedy, named in Paradise Canto 19-20.
Ireland Legend to decipher engravings in the Auraicept, Book of Leinster/Ballymote
Alba illustration by Picts: number 20 on massive silver chains, high cross Shandwick
Ireland Newgrange mound Kerbstone 1: wisdom light 6th sense (5 clinging aggregates)
Ireland “teacher’s stone” no. 15 Knowth: overview and extra layers as a commentary
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Can poet Dante be our guide to rediscover the lost links of Buddhism?
Timeline from 550 BC to 1200 CE of the Phaistos Disk of Crete, a meditation diagram, with archaeological objects that reveal the forgotten history of Europe.