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Ezio: "Who were these men he condemned to hell?"
Sofia: "Political opponents, men who wronged him. Alighieri's quill cuts deeply, no?"
Ezio: "Sì. It is a subtle way to seek revenge."
—Ezio Auditore and Sofia Sartor, upon Ezio's reading of the Inferno.[src]-[m]

Durante degli Alighieri (1265 – 1321), commonly known as Dante, was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages, famed as the writer of the Divine Comedy. He was also a covert member of the Italian Brotherhood of Assassins.

Biography[]

Life as an Assassin[]

"And so began my apprenticeship with Dante Alighieri, one that was to destroy every bit of happiness I would ever have."
―Domenico Auditore.[src]

Throughout his life, Dante rose through the ranks of the Assassin Brotherhood and became one of its senior members.[1]

In the late 13th century, Dante was tasked with the training of the son of a fellow Assassin, who would later be known as Domenico Auditore, the founder of the Auditore family and a descendant of a long line of Assassins.[1]

The day that Domenico first found out about the Brotherhood, his father, his father's patron Marco Polo, and Dante were present. Domenico was a sailor who carried cargo across the Atlantic and Mediterranean, thus, as Marco explained, Dante would train Domenico in the ways of the Order, in exchange for transport to Spain.[1]

Dante met with Domenico repeatedly before they departed from Venice , first conversing with him about practical needs for the journey, such as supplies, then moving on to deeper lessons, and speaking of "higher things about life, love, honor and justice".[1]

Dante showed Domenico the Codex of the legendary Assassin Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, and taught him the Creed. Through their lessons, Dante told his apprentice that society was "set up in such a way as to control its members, to stop us from thinking, from seeing". Soon, Domenico had learned to "look past all laws and illusions", and see that the people deserved freedom.[1]

Later life and death[]

"Dante intended to take the Codex to Spain where it would be safe. But he was being watched."
―Domenico Auditore.[src]

Before his journey to Barcelona could take place, Dante was murdered by Templars on a trip to gather his belongings in Ravenna. Domenico's father explained to him that Dante had been tasked with delivering the Codex to Spain, and urged him to take on the responsibility instead.[1] As a result the Assassins discovered that the Templars were never destroyed despite Thomas de Carneillon's efforts to erase them at 1307.[2]

Though Domenico lost his wife to pirates during his attempts to fulfill Dante's mission, he was able to scatter the pages of the Codex in the ship's cargo, and keep it safe from Templar hands.[1]

Trivia[]

  • In 1511, the Assassin Mentor Ezio Auditore da Firenze read Dante's Inferno in Sofia Sartor's shop. Sofia evoked her admiration for Dante's genius, and Ezio commented on Dante's "subtle way of revenge" through his poems, where he depicted his enemies as being tortured in Hell.[3]
  • Durante is an Italian variant of the Latin name Durans that means "enduring". Alighieri is a name that ultimately stems from Germanic roots nadal, "noble", or ald, "old", and gar, "spear."
  • Dante wrote in Inferno, the first part of The Divine Comedy, that Marcus Junius Brutus, along with Gaius Cassius Longinus, were condemned to the lowest circle of hell because of their act against Julius Caesar, despite the fact that Brutus and Longinus were also Assassins.

Appearances[]

References[]

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