In *Inferno* Canto XXVI, Ulysses shares a double-headed flame with Diomedes. The pair are punished among the fraudulent counselors in the eighth bolgia of the eighth circle, where each sinner is concealed inside a burning flame.
Dante links the two Greek heroes because they jointly used deception during the Trojan War. Their crimes include the stratagem of the Trojan Horse and the trick that drew Achilles away from Deidamia so he would join the Greek campaign. The shared flame represents their shared counsel and responsibility.
Ulysses then speaks for the pair, recounting a final voyage that differs from Homer’s account. In Dante’s version, he sails beyond the Pillars of Hercules with his companions, driven by a desire for experience and knowledge. They eventually see the mountain of Purgatory, but a storm destroys the ship.
The name Ulysses is the Latin form of the Greek hero more commonly called Odysseus. Dante’s treatment is not simply Homeric biography: it reshapes the hero into a warning about intellect and exploration pursued without divine guidance.