Ciacco is presented in surviving sources as a named soul introduced by Dante in Inferno, Canto VI, placed in the third circle of Hell reserved for the sin of gluttony. The name itself is treated in commentary and later literature as a nickname with porcine/gluttonous connotations — an early commentator summarized the name as 'a pig's name' applied for his gluttony — but the sources note uncertainty about the name's existence in literature before Dante. Dante's poem supplies the original literary appearance; Boccaccio later reuses the figure in the Decameron, where Ciacco functions as a familiar type of extreme gourmand.
Dante's text gives no detailed physical description of Ciacco beyond his status as one of the damned in the third circle of Hell (Inferno, Canto VI). In the poem he appears as a tormented soul who can converse with the pilgrim Dante; later dramatic and printed editions cast the role in performances, but the primary literary evidence lacks distinctive bodily, clothing, or visual particulars beyond his placement among the gluttons.
Within Dante's narrative Ciacco speaks to Dante and, as part of the poem's device, delivers a prophecy concerning factional conflict in Florence (Inf. 6.64–72). Sources characterize him behaviorally as emblematic of extreme gluttony (Boccaccio calls him 'the most gluttonous fellow that ever lived'). The available materials do not ascribe independent supernatural powers to Ciacco beyond his role as a speaking damned soul in the allegorical afterlife; prophetic speech in the poem functions as a literary device rather than documented magical capacity.
Chuvash dragon (Verechelen / Vĕreśĕlen)
A serpentine supernatural being from Chuvash legend, described in sources as a large snake-like creature that can have wings, breathe fire, shapeshift, and in some variants possess multiple heads. The creatures are embedded in Volga-Bulgar regional legend and appear in place-based tales tied to sites such as Bilär and Alabuğa.
Chía
Chía is the Moon deity of the pre‑Columbian Muisca (Chibcha‑speaking) peoples of the central highlands of present‑day Colombia. She was the focus of an institutionalized cult with a dedicated Moon Temple at the town of Chía and calendar‑based ceremonies conducted by the chyquys (priests of the sacred calendar).
Chông Tị (Four Immortals)
One of the Four Immortals in Vietnamese mythology, associated with immortality and appearing on a golden dragon. (Note: - Power tier: Greater (not Primordial) - Chông Tị is associated with longevity and appears on a divine entity (golden dragon), but not cosmic in scope. - Abilities: Remove "His immortality implies ext)
Chōchin'obake
A Japanese yōkai depicted as an animate or transformed paper/silk lantern (chōchin). Best known from Edo-period and later pictorial, theatrical, and popular-culture imagery, it functions as a stock visual character of an object-turned-obake rather than as a widely attested regional oral spirit.
Chōchinbi
Chōchinbi (提灯火, "paper-lantern fire") are regionally reported Japanese atmospheric spirit-lights treated as a variety of onibi. Tales describe them as lantern-like floating flames seen near footpaths, rice fields, riverbanks, and graveyards, sometimes vanishing when approached and sometimes associated with animal yōkai or resentful human spirits.
Chūjō-hime
Chūjō-hime is a legendary aristocratic woman in Japanese Pure Land devotional tradition who becomes a nun and exemplary holy woman credited in later hagiography with the miraculous weaving of the Taima Mandala; she functions as a model of filial piety, female salvation, and as a focal figure for relics, embroideries, and etoki preaching.
Ciampolo
Ciampolo is a damned human soul appearing in Dante Alighieri's Inferno (Canto XXII), placed among the grafters in the fifth ditch of the eighth circle (Malebolge). He is depicted as hauled from boiling pitch by the Malebranche devils, speaks to Dante and Virgil identifying fellow sinners, and ultimately deceives the devils to return to the pitch.
Cicones
The Cicones (Greek Κίκονες, Latinized Cicones or Ciconians) are a Homeric Thracian tribe associated with the town of Ismarus (Ismara) on the south coast of Thrace. In epic sources they appear as a martial human people who repel Odysseus' raiders after the sack of Ismarus (Odyssey Book IX) and are listed among allies in the Iliad; they are treated as a human ethnic/political group rather than as supernatural beings.
Cigau
The Cigau is a name used locally in Sumatra for a reported mid-sized feline cryptid, described in contemporary popular and cryptozoology sources as a golden, short-tailed cat seen near Bangko and Mount Kerinci. Sources treat it as a disputed physical animal rather than a figure of indigenous cosmology.
Cigfa
Cigfa (Middle Welsh: Kigua) is a mortal woman in the medieval Welsh Mabinogi cycles, known as the wife of Pryderi of Dyfed. A minor narrative figure in the Third Branch (Manawydan fab Llyr), she remains with Manawydan during the enchantment of Dyfed and functions as a domestic and relational character whose presence highlights Manawydan's virtues.
Ciguapa
The ciguapa is a nocturnal humanoid figure from Dominican and neighboring Caribbean folklore, most often depicted as a wild, preternatural woman of the mountain forests and rivers. Tales present her variously as a seductive siren-like being who lures men, a mischievous nature spirit, a jealous and sorrowful literary figure, or—in some variants—a violent or cannibalistic creature; she functions in oral and literary traditions as a cautionary forest figure and a marker in shifting cultural narratives.
Cihuateteo
In Aztec tradition, the Cihuateteo (Cihuātēteoh; sing. Cihuātēotl) are the spirits of women who died in childbirth. They occupy an honored cosmic role—guiding the sun toward the west—and, on five calendar days, were believed to descend to the earth as dangerous nocturnal spirits who must be propitiated.
Community Record
- [1]Ciacco - Wikipedia. Wikipedia entry 'Ciacco'wiki
- [2]Third circle of hell (Dante's Inferno) - Wikipedia. Wikipedia entry 'Third circle of hell'wiki
- [3]Dante's Inferno - Circle 3 - Canto 6 (Dante Worlds, University of Texas). Dante Worlds / University of Texas summary noting Inf. 6.64–72academic
- [4]Giovanni Boccaccio, 'Ciacco Gets Even' (Decameron, Novel VIII, Ninth Day) — online text. Elfinspell translation of Boccaccio's Decameron tale featuring Ciaccoliterary
- [5]The Decameron - Novel VIII, Ninth Day (telelib). Online edition of Boccaccio's Decameron (Novel VIII, Ninth Day) featuring Ciaccoliterary
- [6]The Divine Comedy (Dramatic Reading) — LibriVox. Dramatised audio performance including the character 'Ciacco' (based on Dante's text)other