A giant whom Dante sees in the eighth circle of hell. Nimrod attempted to build the Tower of Babel, which would reach up to heaven. When God destroyed the tower, the one language spoken by all men on earth fractured into the many languages we have now. In hell, Nimrod is unable to speak intelligible words.

Nimrod Quotes in Inferno

The Inferno quotes below are all either spoken by Nimrod or refer to Nimrod. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Sin, Justice, Pity and Piety Theme Icon
).

Canto 31 Quotes

That's Nimrod, by whose fault the gracious bands
Of common speech throughout the world were loosed.

We'll waste no words, but leave him where he stands,
For all speech is to him as is to all
That jargon of his which no one understands.

Related Characters: Virgil (speaker), Nimrod
Page Number and Citation: 31.77-81
Explanation and Analysis:
When Virgil and Dante encounter the figure of Nimrod, Virgil offers this poignant commentary on the nature of communication. He observes that their language will be incomprehensible to Nimrod, just as his language is incomprehensible to them. To Nimrod, Virgil attributes the origin “of common speech,” which is deemed a perversion compared to the singular language of God. Nimrod was responsible for this because he built the tower of Babel, which fractured the one language of humanity into many (according to the Old Testament story). That, as a result,he would be unable to understand Dante and Virgil implies that their Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam co
Get the entire Inferno LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Inferno PDF

Nimrod Character Timeline in Inferno

The timeline below shows where the character Nimrod appears in Inferno. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Canto 31
Sin, Justice, Pity and Piety Theme Icon
Language Theme Icon
...hangs around its neck (and which Dante heard just earlier). Virgil identifies this giant as Nimrod, who was responsible for the construction of the failed tower of Babel. (In a biblical... (full context)