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Giants and Fallen Angels in Dante and Milton: The "Commedia" and the Gigantomachy in "Paradise Lost"

In Paradise Lost, Milton draws on the battle of the gods and giants recounted in various classical works to describe Satan and the fallen angels. While these ancient accounts were the primary source of Milton's mythology, the classical tradition was also available in medieval and Renaissance adaptations. One possible but overlooked source is Dante's Commedia, which places the classical giants in a Christian hell. In Dante's medieval epic Milton could find a precedent for linking the fall of the giants and the fall of Satan. Milton's treatment of classical myth sometimes departs from his likeliest Greek and Roman sources; on certain points, it more closely resembles Dante's Christianization of the ancient texts. Details of Dante's account match Milton's handling of the battle of the gods and giants, and both Dante and Milton allude to the gigantomachy in ways that suggest similar purposes. Milton's interest in Dante was early and exceptional, for during the seventeenth century Dante was largely ignored even in Italy and rarely named in England.' Milton studied Italian before 1625, and during his years at Cambridge he acquired extensive knowledge of Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto, Boccaccio, Tasso, Boiardo, and other major Italian writers.2 In his Apology for Smectymnuus (1642) he expresses his admiration of Dante and Petrarch, saying that above all artful but licentious authors he "preferr'd the two famous renowners of Beatrice and Laura who never write but honour of them to whom they devote their