Convivio: The Banquet

Alighieri, Dante (1265–1321), translated by Kline, A. S. (contact-email)

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Convivio: The Banquet is a work by Dante Alighieri, written between 1304 and 1307, intended as a scholarly treatise on ethics and knowledge. Comprising an introduction and four treatises, Dante elaborates on three of his own canzoni, songs written in the vernacular. The work serves as an intellectual autobiography and an exposition on moral philosophy and love. It was meant to be a primer for the vernacular reader on topics usually confined to Latin texts. The Convivio explicates themes that Dante further develops in his magnum opus, the Divine Comedy, such as the hierarchical order of knowledge and the role of divine intervention in human understanding. While not as widely read as the Divine Comedy, Convivio provides key insights into Dante’s intellectual foundation.

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Kline, A. S.

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