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The nine spheres are concentric, as in the standard medieval geocentric model of cosmology, [1] which was derived from Ptolemy. The Empyrean is non-material. As with his Purgatory, the structure of Dante's Heaven is therefore of the form 9+1=10, with one of the ten regions different in nature from the other nine.
[6]: 203 The planet Venus was believed to be Inanna, the goddess of love, sex, and war. [9]: 108–109 [6]: 203 The Sun was her brother Utu, the god of justice, [6]: 203 and the Moon was their father Nanna. [6]: 203 Ordinary mortals could not go to the heavens because it was the abode of the gods alone. [10]
In Greek antiquity the ideas of celestial spheres and rings first appeared in the cosmology of Anaximander in the early 6th century BC. [7] In his cosmology both the Sun and Moon are circular open vents in tubular rings of fire enclosed in tubes of condensed air; these rings constitute the rims of rotating chariot-like wheels pivoting on the Earth at their centre.
The sacrifices that one performs are stated to journey directly to heaven, and are stored to await the sacrificer on his arrival. One hymn describes Svarga to be a realm that contains water-lilies and lotuses, lakes of butter with banks of honey, along with streams flowing with a number of foods such as wine, milk, curds, and water.
Plato and Aristotle taught that the stars were composed of a type of matter different from the four earthly (classical) elements – a fifth, ethereal element or quintessence. In the "astral mysticism" of the classical world the human psyche was composed of the same material, thus accounting for the influence of the stars upon human affairs.
In esoteric cosmology, a plane is conceived as a subtle state, level, or region of reality, each plane corresponding to some type, kind, or category of being.. The concept may be found in religious and esoteric teachings which propound the idea of a whole series of subtle planes or worlds or dimensions which, from a center, interpenetrate themselves and the physical planet in which we live ...
Probably originally referring to the Greek daimons of the planets, in Gnosticism they became the demonic rulers of the material world, each associated with a different celestial sphere. [6] As rulers over the material world, they are called ἄρχοντες ( archontes , "principalities", or "rulers").
After an initial ascension, Beatrice guides Dante through the nine celestial spheres of Heaven. These are concentric and spherical, as in Aristotelian and Ptolemaic cosmology. While the structures of the Inferno and Purgatorio were based on different classifications of sin, the structure of the Paradiso is based on the four cardinal virtues and ...