Tisiphone

Tisiphone is one of the three Furies, or Erinyes, who appear in the ninth canto of the Inferno as guardians of the City of Dis. Alongside her sisters Megaera and Alecto, she represents the torment of the wrathful and the violent, and her presence marks a critical threshold in Dante's journey through Hell.

Identity and Role

Tisiphone is introduced as one of the "three infernal Furies stained with blood," who have "the limbs of women and their mien" and are "begirt" with "the greenest hydras." Her hair consists of "small serpents and cerastes," which entwine her "horrid temples." Virgil identifies her by name, pointing her out as the Fury who stands between her sisters: "This is Megaera, on the left-hand side; / She who is weeping on the right, Alecto; / Tisiphone is between." The Furies are described as "the handmaids of the Queen / Of everlasting lamentation," a reference to Proserpina, queen of the underworld. Their function is to guard the gates of Dis, the infernal city that houses the more severe punishments of Hell.

Actions and Threats

When Dante and Virgil approach the walls of Dis, the Furies react with violent hostility. They rend their breasts with their nails, beat themselves with their palms, and cry out so loudly that Dante, in fear, presses close to Virgil. Their most dire threat comes when they summon Medusa: "Medusa come, so we to stone will change him!" they shout, looking down at the poets. This invocation of the Gorgon represents a direct attempt to petrify Dante, to halt his journey permanently. Virgil immediately commands Dante to turn around and close his eyes, and he himself covers Dante's eyes with his own hands, saying, "For if the Gorgon appear, and thou shouldst see it, / No more returning upward would there be." The Furies' assault is thus a test of faith and resolve, one that requires divine intervention to overcome.

Narrative Significance

The appearance of Tisiphone and her sisters marks a moment of heightened peril and symbolic meaning. The Furies embody the wrath that characterizes the damned within Dis, and their attempt to summon Medusa represents the threat of spiritual petrification—the danger that Dante might become fixed in sin and unable to proceed. The episode also illustrates the limits of Virgil's power; he cannot force entry into Dis and must wait for a heavenly messenger. The Furies' defiance of the poets' passage is ultimately overcome by an angel sent from Heaven, who opens the gates of the city with a "little rod." Tisiphone thus serves as a threshold guardian, one whose opposition must be overcome by grace rather than by human reason or will alone. Her presence underscores the theological structure of the Inferno, where the lower circles require not just Virgil's guidance but divine aid to be traversed.