Focus on Ugolino and His Sons (Rodin) and explore the Theme.
Ugolino della Gherardesca was an aristocrat and politician who lived in Pisa during the 13th century. After five years of government in his natal city, he was tried for betrayal and arrested along with his children and grandchildren. They were incarcerated at the Muda Tower, where they died of starvation nine months later.Dante Alighieri wrote the story of Ugolino in his Divine Comedy, where the aristocrat is placed in the deepest circle of Hell. He is the one who explains to Dante how the prisoners were slowly dying and his own sons begged him to eat them after their deaths. This story is the reason why Ugolino is known as "The Cannibal Count" and is often represented as eating his own fingers.
Dante Alighieri Pisa Divine Comedy Ugolino della Gherardesca starvation Muda Tower