Photo/Illutration A volunteer battles a fire near Palermo in Sicily, Italy, on Aug. 10, as temperatures rise and wildfires plague the region. (AP file photo)

The world was hit again this summer by a flurry of extreme weather events and natural disasters, such as torrential rains, floods, heatwaves and large-scale wildfires.

In Italy, where 48.8 degrees was registered on the southern island of Sicily, a high-pressure system from Africa bringing scorching heat is called “Lucifero,” or Lucifer, the devil in Christianity.

Lucifer, a beautiful angel whose name means “light bringer,” became arrogant and betrayed God, and fell from heaven to the lowest layer of hell.

It sounds like an extremely hot place, but Lucifer is portrayed as residing in an environment far from hot in one literary classic.

In “Inferno,” the first part of Dante’s epic poem “Divine Comedy,” Lucifero the Satan appears as a demon frozen mid-breast in ice.

Dante’s Satan has three faces and chews on such traitors as Judas and Brutus in its three mouths. By flapping his three pairs of wings, Satan creates a cold wind and keeps him and the sinners around him frozen.

Some Italians suffering from the extreme heat complained about the weather phenomenon behind the heatwave named after the freezing Satan.

Is hell hot or cold?

According to Michio Fujitani, a professor at Keio University who studies the “Divine Comedy,” Dante’s hell is divided into circles.

The first eight are hot, given the river of boiling blood. But the final circle, where Lucifero is trapped, is “the furthest from love and the coldest,” according to Fujitani.

This year marks the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death. No major celebrations are being held, even in Italy, due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Still, the concluding line of “Inferno” suggesting hope has attracted renewed attention and has been quoted by politicians and others in speeches.

It goes: “Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars.”

Under the summer sky, Japan is being covered by bleak anxiety. I want to see the light of normal life again after passing through this darkness.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 22

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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