On the Shape, Location, and Size of Dante's Inferno

Dante'nin Cehennemi Üzerine Dersler-Galileo

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Since the publication of Divine Comedy in 1314, scholars had attempted to map the physical features of Dante's Inferno, such as the blasted valleys, caverns and the roiling rivers of fire.^[3] In his lectures Galileo suggested that many commonly accepted dimensions did not stand up to mathematical scrutiny. Using complex geometrical analysis, Galileo calculated that Vellutello's description of the hell's structure, such as the massive cylinders descending to the center of the Earth, would, in reality, collapse under their own weight.

Firstly Galileo tried to estimate the width of the hell's vaulted roof.^[1] According to Dante, the centre of the roof lay in Jerusalem: "Already the Sun was joined to the horizon / Whose meridian circle covers / Jerusalem with its highest point". To prove Dante's description of the Sun being "joined to the horizon", Galileo interpreted this to mean that the diameter of hell's circle must be equal to the radius of the Earth.^[1] This meant that the boundary of the roof on the west would pass through Marseille in France and through Tashkent in modern-day Uzbekistan on the east.^[1] Galileo then tried to estimate the roof's thickness which would have to prevent its collapse on the captives beneath. He tried to scale up the dome of the Florence Cathedral (known to be 45 metres wide but only 3 metres thick) and concluded that the roof of hell would have to be 600 kilometres thick.^[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Shape,_Location,_and_Size_of_Dante%27s_Inferno