Blasphemy

Since I'm writing about that circle of hell, I thought I'd try to get some inspiration for it. Dante only uses one example of the sin, one taken from Classical Antiquity - Capaneus, one of the Seven Against Thebes, and certainly an odd choice, since it's hard to see how cursing a god (Zeus) who doesn't exist is exactly a sin. (I can see how you can get around the problem - Dante thinks Zeus is an imperfect representation and concept of the True God, and besides, it's the attitude of blasphemy that is sinful, so that its object doesn't matter so much.)

I thought I'd check out these dudes and gals for some inspiration -

http://www.blasphemychallenge.com/

Didn't inspire me too much. Dante classifies the sin as a sin of violence, and none of those people seem too violent. If anything, they seem too rational, which I guess is how we look at the sin now. This will take some thought.