The Road Down

Ritual, permission, and the uncertain return from the dead

Approaching the dead requires more than finding a road. Odysseus prepares a rite, while Aeneas hears how difficult it is to return. Dante asks whether he has the right to follow, then confronts a gate that denies hope to those condemned within.

1. Odyssey 11.23–33
2. Aeneid 6.126–132
3. Inferno 2.28–33
4. Inferno 3.1–9