AHPC XV Skull Duel, Canto III

After his death from malaria, Dante was buried in a Franciscan basilica in Ravenna in 1321. His remains were not to rest in peace...

In 1329, forces within the Catholic church tried to have Dante's bones burned at the stake for having written the anti-papal text Monarchia. Florence, which had exiled Dante, requested his remains in 1396 and 1430 and again in 1476- and were denied by Ravenna each time. In 1521 a delegation arrived to retrieve his body- but the Franciscans had secretly exhumed him and hidden his body in a box in a wall of the church.

The regretful Florentines eventually officially apologised for exiling the poet and cleared his name with a posthumous re-trial in 2021. They had made their first official memorial for the poet in 1829- which remains empty to this day. 

The caption is a line from Inferno:
Let us honour the greatest poet.*
The women represent Italy and Poetry.

Stefano Ricci was the sculptor of this ripped Dante
(and his perfect nipples).

But the saga of Dante's bones is far from finished!

Skull Tally

• DavidB 93
• PeterB 54
• Curt 49
• MikeW 39
• QuinnM 12
• PeteF 11
• DallasE 8
• GregB 7
• BruceR 3
• TeemuL 1
• Barks 0

There have been some big movements in the tally. We've got skullz on belts:

Curt

SylvainR

BrianC

Skullz on heads:

JohnS

TomL

DavidB (also skullz on scenery!)

Skullz on the body:

JamesM

JamieM

GeoffT

Skullz everywhere!

MattT

JohnS

DavidB

Skullz of the week:

PeterB

Okay, so it's more the Oldhammery goodness than any one particular skull, but still... there are over 20 skullz on this mighty warrior, without counting the scabbard.

To enter, tag your post with 'Skull Duel' and state in the post both how many skullz you have painted, and what your running total is. Feel free to enter the duel at any time in the Challenge.

* The next line is "His shadow, which had departed, now returns..."