Commentary Inf XXXIII 91-93

The transition to Ptolomea is as abrupt as that to Antenora had been ([Inf XXXII 70]). And once again the determining detail is the positioning of the faces of those punished in the area. These now have their faces turned upwards (where those in Antenora looked straight ahead and those in Caïna had their faces tilted downward).

Most commentators believe that Ptolomea, where treachery to guests and friends is punished, gets its name from Ptolemy, the captain of Jericho who, as recorded in (I Macc. 16:11-17), invited his father-in-law, Simon Maccabeus, and his two sons to a banquet and then, once they had drunk, slew them. (There is dispute about the matter, some proposing Ptolemy XII, king of Egypt, 51-47 B.C., who murdered Pompey as a favor to Julius Caesar [Lucan, Phars. VIII.536-712].)