devoured his offspring's corpses after being driven mad with hunger, or that starvation killed him after he had failed to die of grief. The first and more ghastly of these interpretations has proved the more popular and resonant. For this reason Ugolino is known as the "Cannibal Count" and is often depicted gnawing at his own fingers ("eating of his own flesh") in consternation, as in the sculpture The Gates of Hell by Auguste Rodin, in Ugolino and his Sons by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux and in other artwork, though this may also simply refer to Ugolino's own statement in the poem that he gnawed his fingers in grief. Ugolino in Borges The case of Ugolino and Ruggiero is behind the story of the short story "The Wait" (La espera) of Jorge Luis Borges in the collection named The Aleph (El Aleph) (1949). Scientific analysis of the remains In 2002, paleoanthropologist Francesco Mallegni conducted DNA testing on the recently excavated bodies of Ugolino and his children. His analysis agrees with the remains being a father, his sons and his grandsons. Additional comparison to DNA from modern day members of the Gherardesca family leave Mallegni about 98 percent sure that he has identified the remains correctly. However, the forensic analysis discredits the allegation of cannibalism. Analysis of the rib bones of the Ugolino skeleton reveals traces of magnesium, but no zinc, implying he had consumed no meat in the months before his death. Ugolino also had few remaining teeth and is believed to have been in his 70s when he was imprisoned, making it further unlikely that he could have outlived and eaten his descendants in captivity. Additionally, Mallegni notes that the putative Ugolino skull was damaged; perhaps he did not ultimately die of starvation, although malnourishment is evident. In 2008, Paola Benigni, superintendent to the Archival Heritage of Tuscany, disputed Mallegni's findings in an article, claiming that the documents assigning the burial to Ugolino and his descendants were Fascist-era forgeries. Notes Literature Paola Benigni, Massimo Becattini. "Ugolino della Gherardesca: cronaca di una scoperta annunciata". Archeologia Viva 128 (2008). pp. 64–67. Thomas Caldecot Chub. Dante and His World. Boston: Little, Brown and Co. (1996). Joan M. Ferrante. The Political Vision of the Divine Comedy. Princeton: Princeton University Press (1984). Robert Hollander. "Inferno XXXIII, 37–74: Ugolino's Importunity". Speculum 59(3) (July 1984), p. 549–55. doi:10.2307/2846299. JSTOR 2846299. Robert Hollander. Circle 9 The Trustees of Princeton