Chapter 13: Tower
There is no lack of Towers in the Commedia and quite a number of illustrations. In fact, towers occur in the illustrations for all three major sections of the work. The towers in the Inferno (e.g., Cantos 8-9) appear in close association with devils. This same association is made in the Tarot where the Devil and Tower appear as adjacent cards. An example from the early 15th century (Figure 30) shows the gate to Hell and Devils standing ready to monitor who enters.
Another example from the the mid-15th century is shown in Figure
31. These images of towers that occur in the Inferno resemble to Tarot cards
in that they are often shown to be burning as in Figures 32 (~1390 - 1400) and
33 (1456).
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However, the tower illustrations from the Inferno do not show the actual physical
destruction of the towers. The Tarot images of a tower being destroyed
are more closely associated with the illustrations that occur in the Purgatorio.
Here the tower image accompanies the story of the fall of Troy (Purgatorio 12:61-63).
Even though the Tarot tower is often associated with the fall of Babylon, and
that association is also made in other contemporary images, nevertheless the
image appears in the illustrations of the Commedia in a different context.
On the first terrace of Purgatory, the fall of Troy is sculpted into the pavement.
The illustrations for this passage closely resemble the Tarot card. For
example, one image shows the falling top of a tower looking very much like a
crown (Figure 34, 15th century). Other images of the tower show falling
figures and a crack in the wall of the tower resembling a lightening strike
(Figure 35, 15th century).
Towers do not appear as actual physical structures encountered by Dante in the Paradisio. Such physical structures are inappropriate in the heavenly spheres through which Dante and Beatrice are traveling. However, an example of a tower appears in an illustration of a discussion on the avarice in the Church. The passage (Paradisio 9:127-142) accuses the shepherd (i.e., the pope) of becoming the wolf. One illustration of this passage (Figure 36, ~1445) shows an interesting juxtaposition of tower, devil and pope. This illustration shows once again the adjacent Tarot cards, Devil and Tower. The addition of the Pope in this association fits well with Dante's disapproval of the papacy.
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