Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti was a historical Florentine aristocrat (active c. mid-13th century) who, in Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, appears as a soul punished among the heretics in the sixth circle of Hell. Dante locates him in a fiery tomb reserved for those judged heretical (notably Epicureans who denied the soul's immortality), and uses Cavalcante's postmortem appearance to dramatize doctrinal consequences and familial anguish. This placement is a poetic-theological judgment within the Inferno (Inferno, Canto X) rather than an assertion about historical fate.
In Dante's Inferno (Canto X) Cavalcante is portrayed as imprisoned within one of the heretics' tombs, lifting only his head above the edge of the sepulcher; commentators contrast this limited posture with the more towering emergence of Farinata degli Uberti from a neighboring tomb. He is thus represented as a confined, partially visible presence among the fiery arks of the sixth circle.
Within the narrative of the Inferno Cavalcante exhibits the capacities typical of Dantean damned souls: he can speak briefly to the pilgrim-poet, manifesting parental concern by asking after his son Guido, and displays partial, constrained awareness from inside his tomb. Scholarly commentary notes debate about the precise degree of his awareness of present events, but no supernatural powers beyond speech and limited perception are attributed in the sources.
Belacqua
Belacqua is a literary soul appearing in Dante Alighieri's Purgatorio (Canto IV), encountered in Ante‑Purgatory as a saved soul whose delayed repentance requires him to wait before beginning active purgation. He personifies sloth/indolence, functions as a comic, humanized figure in Dante's moral topography, and was identified by early commentators with the Florentine instrument‑maker Duccio di Bonavia.
Malebranche (Divine Comedy)
In Dante Alighieri’s Inferno the Malebranche are a squad of clawed, quarrelsome demons charged with policing Bolgia Five of the Eighth Circle (Malebolge). They act as vulgar, treacherous warders who seize sinners from the boiling pitch, prevent escape, quarrel among themselves, and interact deceptively with Dante and Virgil under the leadership of Malacoda.
Caturvyūha
A theological/doctrinal model in early Vaiṣnava tradition describing four earthly emanations (vyūhas) of the Supreme deity—originally Nārāyaṇa and later Viṣṇu—named Vāsudeva (central), Saṃkarṣaṇa (Balarāma), Pradyumna and Aniruddha. The concept maps localized Vrishni hero cults onto a system of divine manifestation reflected in early Mathura/Kushan sculpture and later Vaishnava liturgical categories.
Catwoman
Catwoman is a fictional human character originating in American comic books, primarily the Batman series. Portrayed most often as Selina Kyle, she is a skilled burglar, antiheroine and recurring romantic interest/foil to Batman, whose persona is themed around feline imagery and behavior.
Caucas (Georgian)
An ancestral figure in medieval Georgian tradition, considered the ancestor of the Vainakh peoples. (Note: - Power tier: Primordial (not Ancient), as Caucas is considered an ancestor of the Vainakh peoples with no described powers or supernatural abilities. - Appearance: Add "No physical description mentio)
Caucon
Caucon (Ancient Greek Καύκων, Kaukōn) is a mythic Greek hero and eponymic founder attested in two principal traditions: an Arcadian prince counted among the sons of Lycaon and an Eleusinian/Messenian priestly figure credited with transmitting the rites of the Great Goddesses from Eleusis to Andania. He functions as a local ancestral hero invoked in cult and political aetiologies rather than as a consistently divine or demonic being.
Cauld Lad of Hylton
A localized North‑East English folk being tied to Hylton Castle, variously described as the ghost of a murdered stable boy or as a domestic brownie/elf/barghest; known for nighttime kitchen mischief, crying "I'm cauld," and being "laid" by the gift of clothing.
Cavall (Cafall)
Cavall (Middle Welsh cauall; modern Cafall) is a named animal in medieval Welsh Arthurian tradition, best attested as King Arthur's favourite hunting hound who takes part in the great boar-hunts and whose pawprint is said to be impressed in a stone at Carn Cabal. The figure appears in narrative sources (notably Culhwch and Olwen) and in the Wonders of Britain section of Historia Brittonum.
Cavern deities of the underworld
A class of ancient Egyptian minor, place-bound divine beings dwelling in the caverns of the Duat. They are recorded as punitive creatures that punish and devour wicked souls but are also shown in funerary contexts as beings who, if propitiated by offerings and spells, can be pacified and render aid to the deceased.
Cayster (Caystrus / Küçük Menderes)
Cayster is primarily attested as a geographic river in western Anatolia (modern Küçük Menderes) that flows westward to the Aegean near Pamucak beach by Selçuk. In one cataloging entry the name is also labeled as a “river god of Asia Minor,” indicating at least a classificatory or personifying tradition, but the available sources supply no mythic narratives, cultic details, or iconography for a deity figure.
Caystrus
Caystrus is the ancient name of a river in western Asia Minor (modern Küçük Menderes) and the personified river-god associated with that watercourse in local ancient summaries. Attested in geographic and mythological reference summaries, Caystrus functions as a local river-deity tied to place and to civic genealogy (a son described as an autochthon is said to give the name of Ephesus).
Caïssa
Caïssa is a literary personification and poetic invention associated with the game of chess, originating in Renaissance and later European poetry. Presented as a dryad- or nymph-like figure (Vida's Schacchia; Jones's Caïssa), she functions in literature and modern chess commentary as an emblematic patron or metaphor for luck and inspiration in the game rather than a claimed folk spirit.
Community Record
- [1]Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti — Wikipedia. Wikipedia contributors, 'Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopediawiki
- [2]Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti — alternate Wikipedia page. Wikipedia contributors, 'Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopediawiki
- [3]Guido Cavalcanti — Wikipedia (biographical context). Wikipedia contributors, 'Guido Cavalcanti', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopediawiki
- [4]Inferno 10 — Digital Dante (Columbia University). Digital Dante, 'Inferno 10', Columbia Universityliterary
- [5]Dante's Inferno - Circle 6 - Canto 10 — DanteWorlds (UTexas). DanteWorlds, 'Circle 6 — Canto 10', University of Texasliterary
- [6]Worse than Dante's Hell: Parents, Children and Pain at the Border — Dante Society. Dante Society, 'Worse than Dante's Hell: Parents, Children and Pain at the Border'other
- [7]Inferno 15 — Digital Dante (contextual reference). Digital Dante, 'Inferno 15', Columbia Universityliterary
- [8]Project Gutenberg eBook of The Decameron, Volume II — (contextual literature). Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, Volume II, Project Gutenbergliterary