A major study of the Divine Comedy, this book offers an original perspective on Dante's representation of the afterlife. Alison Morgan departs from the conventional critical emphasis on Dante's place in relation to learned traditions by undertaking a thorough study of the poem in the context of popular beliefs. Her principal sources are thus not the highly literary texts which have become a familiar context for the poem, but rather visions of the Other World found in popular writings, painting and sculpture from the centuries leading up to its composition. This study integrates with the literary and theological aspects of Dante's heritage the important but hitherto neglected dimension of art history.