ABSTRACT
Through the Christian literature of the Middle Ages from the eleventh century onwards runs a rich vein of legend, which Dante students have explored in search of a possible clue to the genesis of the Divine Comedy. The theme, it may be said, is also a visit to places, which, being inaccessible to the ordinary mortal, may readily be identifiable with the regions beyond the grave. These legends, having three main characteristics in common, may be grouped in one cycle. They are tales of wonderful voyages to fantastic islands; the protagonists are either adventurers, or saints, or conquerors, who are invariably more mythical than historical; and the aim of these is generally a religious one—to spread the Gospel, to do penance, to find the isle of earthly paradise or the fountain of life, or to seek the immortal prophets, Enoch and Elijah. 508
