A sculpture of Dante
Durante degli Alighieri, better known as Dante, was a Human poet and philosopher from Italy on Earth during the Middle Ages. As one of the most important writers of European literature, he was best known for the fourteenth-century epic poem La Divina Commedia or The Divine Comedy. The first part of the Divine Comedy, Inferno – which described Dante's journey through Hell – was on Khan Noonien Singh's bookshelf while on Ceti Alpha V. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan).
A sculpture of Dante was placed in the set of the play A Christmas Carol when Data performed the play in 2367 on the holodeck. (TNG: "Devil's Due")
The sculpture was previously used in the 1943 drama The Seventh Victim. [1]
Captain Kathryn Janeway also had a copy of this book, given to her by her fiancé Mark Johnson as an engagement gift. The only person to whom she had ever lent it, Chakotay, once quoted the opening line to her. (VOY: "Shattered")
Dante also wrote a book of verse around 1293 entitled La Vita Nuova or The New Life. Kathryn Janeway was reading a translation of that book in 2375 while helping The Doctor cope with an ethical conflict. (VOY: "Latent Image")
Jean-Luc Picard referenced the author to describe an alternate timeline after he was served Colombian roast coffee rather than Earl Grey tea saying, "This really is the circle that Dante overlooked." (PIC: "Penance")
In the shooting script for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Spock quoted Dante when describing what V'ger sought from its creator – "the divine restlessness of the Human spirit". This line was cut from the film.
External links[]
- Dante Alighieri at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- Dante Alighieri at Wikipedia
- Dante Alighieri at Project Gutenberg