Matelda

Matilda submerging Dante in Lethe, as depicted by Gustave Doré.
Matelda submerging Dante in Lethe, as depicted by Gustave Doré.
Matilda collecting flowers in a painting by George Dunlop Leslie. Dante, Virgil, and Statius can be seen in the background.
Matelda collecting flowers in a painting by George Dunlop Leslie. Dante, Virgil, and Statius can be seen in the background.

Matelda, anglicized as Matilda in some translations, is a minor character in Dante Alighieri's Purgatorio, the second canticle of the Divine Comedy. She is present in the final six cantos of the canticle, but is unnamed until Canto XXXIII.[1] While Dante makes Matelda's function as a baptizer in the Earthly Paradise clear, commentators have disagreed about what historical figure she is intended to represent, if any.

  1. ^ Dante Alighieri (2004). Purgatorio. Translated by Jean Hollander; Robert Hollander (1st ed.). New York: Anchor Books. ISBN 0-385-49700-8. OCLC 54011754.