Dante Alighieri's Quaestio de Aqua et Terra in the Renaissance

Abstract

This paper analyzes Dante Alighieri’s astrological response, in his Quaestio de aqua et terra (1320), to the dilemma posed by Aristotelian cosmology regarding the existence of dry earth over watery surface in the system of concentric elemental spheres. Considering that this Treatise was known only in early 16 Century, this work takes into account both the cultural context in which it was received and the Renaissance conceptions on the stellar argument put forward by medieval tradition, proposing from such evidence an interpretation of the scarce spreading of Dante’s propositions.