Divine Comedy-I: Inferno Lesson Plan

Who is the crucified man whom Friar Catalano points out? For what wrongdoing was he crucified, and why might this have mattered to Dante?

A number of students may not immediately get the reference that Dante is making here, but given the nature of his punishment, some may guess that he played some role in Jesus Christ's crucifixion. These students would be right: he is Caiaphas, who played a significant role in convincing the Pharisees (then the most prominent school of Judaism) to put Jesus to death. This is one of the only mentions of Jews that is made in Inferno, and although it is unsurprising given Dante's Catholic worldview, such a mention in a section devoted to...