Abstract: The figure of the mocked savant recurs very often in ancient novels. This topos, also present in Dante, would respond to a precise literary genre whose archetype is the famous aesopian tale of the astrologer in the well. This image is found in the “ludi diabolici” (Inf. XXI-XXIII) and there were signs of it in short tales and anecdotes about Dante from the very beginning. The contribution focuses on the relationship between the mocked savant and the Dante-character.
