The "Divine Comedy" was entitled by Dante himself merely "Commedia," meaning a poetic composition in a style intermediate between the sustained nobility of tragedy, and the popular tone of elegy.

"Plutarch's Lives, written at the beginning of the second century A.D., is a social history of the ancient world by one of the greatest biographers and moralists of all time.

A retelling of Homer's account of the Trojan War, and of the story of Odysseus' adventures on his homeward voyage.

"The Six Enneads ... is the collection of writings of Plotinus, edited and compiled by his student Porphyry (c. 270 AD). Plotinus was a student of Ammonius Saccas and they were founders of Neoplatonism.

Looking for adventure and a new life, Ishmael, the story's narrator, decides to find work on a whaling boat.