The aim of this article is to provide a comparative analysis of the two most detailed descriptions of the afterlife in the European tradition - Virgil's «Aeneid» and Dante's «Divine Comedy». It is proposed to consider the poems as two completely different discourses - a descriptive one in Virgil, and a normative one in Dante. It is noted that the idea of the afterlife in the "Divine Comedy" mirrors many aspects of medieval culture. It is shown that the transition from Virgil's views to Dante's views on the posthumous fate of souls reflects the worldview evolution of European thought from the era of the Roman Empire to the Italian Middle Ages. It is concluded that the differences between Dante's and Virgil's depiction of the afterlife are related not only to the changes that have taken place in society in the course of fourteen centuries and established the morality of the Christian church, but also with significant changes in the concepts of individuality, self and identity.
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