On December 4th, 2025, the UC Berkeley Institute of European Studies hosted a lecture entitled “Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Bernat Metge Knocking on Hell’s Door: Why the Souls of the Suicides Keep Moving” by Professor Oriol Ponsatí-Murlà, a Visiting Assistant professor in Catalan Studies at Stanford University. The lecture examined four different works of European literature, the Odyssey, the Aeneid, the Divine Comedy, and Lo Somni, and how they reimagine the shifting morality and perceptions of suicide and hell. An introduction was given by Professor Justin Davidson, an Associate Professor of Hispanic and Romance Linguistics at UC Berkeley. The event was moderated by Professor Alex Saum Pascual, an Associate Professor of Contemporary Spanish Literature and New Media at UC Berkeley.
Hell, as depicted by Homer in the Odyssey, was examined across various translations of an excerpt from Book X. Specifically, in Greek, English, and Catalan. The perception that suicide should be viewed with pity, as was the case with the suicide of Dido, was explored in the Aeneid. The view being anyone who had died early or had an untimely death deserved pity regardless of the circumstances around their death. The thresholds of hell as depicted in the Aeneid were also explored, where the first circle acts as a liminal space for children that died shortly after birth. Followed by innocent people who were executed on false charges, innocent people who committed suicide out of their desire to stop living, those who committed suicide out of lovesickness (women in particular), and renowned warriors who were killed in battle being at the farthest fields. 
Within the Divine Comedy, the lecture explores limbo, which houses not just the unbaptized, but also great men that lived before the advent of Christianity. At this point, the suicide of an innocent that inspired pity has been discarded and replaced with general condemnation, this is the result of the Christian teaching on suicide. Essentially, the difference between Virgil’s and Dante’s depictions of hell and suicide is the theology of St. Augustine, who condemns suicide even if it is after rape or to prevent rape. This conflicted with earlier Christian stories of women commiting suicide to protect their chastity. Various paintings depicting these suicides were presented to the audience during the lecture. The view arose that although suicide should be condemned, it was nevertheless remarkable when done to preserve one’s chastity. This view continues in Lo Somni, written by Bernat Metge, who was a member of King John I of Aragon’s court. He attempted to write his own defense through the story after he was imprisoned. The story of Hippo is mentioned, a woman who threw herself off a ship to prevent herself from being raped by pirates, a return to a more positive view of the act. Through these four works of literature, the lecture painted a picture of how depictions of hell and suicide interacted with the shifting perspectives of morality. Essentially, the location of these souls in the underworld are fickle.
The lecture was held in person in 201 Philosophy Hall at UC Berkeley. After the fifty minute long lecture, a brief ten minute Q&A session was held. There were about ten attendees present for the lecture.