Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Dante basically created Purgatory. He didn’t create the name or the idea, but he really coined all of the specifics: its location, its structure as a mountain with cornices and terraces and Earthly Paradise—basically everything but the name. In the Middle Ages, all the Church had to say about Purgatory was that it existed and that it was evidence of God’s infinite forgiveness. We can thank Dante for the rest. (Source)