​Dante was greatly interested in the classics. He began a movement what would later be known as humanism. Beginning with Dante, ancient classical writers began filtering back into the thoughts of educated men. Ideas represented in the classics led to an ignition of innovative thinking and the emergence of humanism, as well as the classification of the first humanist Petrarch. The ignition of humanism would later contribute to the Renaissance, "rebirth".



Dante was influenced by writers such as Homer, Virgil, Livy, Ovid, Aristotle and Cicero. Dante thinks of Aristotle as the superior of Plato calling him "the master of those who know". There were very few translations of classical works at the time of Dante, but it is thought he got his education on Homer from Aristotle's treatises and information on the Odyssey from Horace.



There are many classical references in Inferno, in which Dante meets 250 characters from antiquity. He also describes in the 1st Circle of Upper Hell, Limbo. Limbo is solely made for the purpose to place individuals who never knew Christ or Christianity. He therefore places many great classical figures such as poets and philosophers in this circle, including Homer, Horace, Ovid, Lucan and Aristotle. Homer is the leader of this group and the 1st Circle of Hell is referred to in Canto IV. Dante additional makes references to God as Jupiter or Jove. This conveys the powerful influence of his love for the classics by naming God the name of the King of the Roman Gods.

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