Inferno (pronounced [ifrno]; Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Dante Alighie

ri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Para
diso. It is an allegory telling of the journey of Dante through Hell, guided by
the Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine circles of sufferin
g located within the Earth. Allegorically, the Divine Comedy represents the jour
ney of the soul toward God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and reje
ction of sin.
The poem starts on Maundy Thursday in the year 1300.[2] The narrator, Dante hims
elf, is thirty-five years old, and thus "halfway along our life's path" (Nel mez
zo del cammin di nostra vita) half of the Biblical lifespan of seventy (Psalms 8
9:10, Vulgate). The poet finds himself lost in a dark wood (selva oscura) in fro
nt of a mountain, assailed by three beasts (a lion, a lonza [usually rendered as
"leopard" or "leopon"],[3] and a she-wolf) he cannot evade. Unable to find the
"straight way" (diritta via, also translatable as "right way") to salvation, he
is conscious that he is ruining himself and falling into a "deep place" (basso l
oco) where the sun is silent (l sol tace).
Dante is at last rescued by the Roman poet Virgil, who claims to have been sent
by Beatrice, and the two of them begin their journey to the underworld. Each sin
's punishment in Inferno is a contrapasso, a symbolic instance of poetic justice
; for example, fortune-tellers have to walk forward with their heads on backward
, unable to see what is ahead, because they tried to see the future through forb
idden means. Such a contrapasso "functions not merely as a form of divine reveng
e, but rather as the fulfilment of a destiny freely chosen by each soul during h
is or her life."[4]
Dante passes through the gate of Hell, which bears an inscription ending with th
e famous phrase "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate", most frequently transl
ated as "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."[5]
Before entering Hell completely, Dante and his guide see the Uncommitted, souls
of people who in life did nothing, neither for good nor evil; among these Dante
recognizes either Pope Celestine V or Pontius Pilate (the text is ambiguous). Mi
xed with them are outcasts who took no side in the Rebellion of Angels. These so
uls are neither in Hell nor out of it, but reside on the shores of the Acheron,
their punishment to eternally pursue a banner (i.e. self interest) while pursued
by wasps and hornets that continually sting them as maggots and other such inse
cts drink their blood and tears. This symbolizes the sting of their conscience a
nd the repugnance of sin. This may also be seen as a reflection of the spiritual
stagnation they lived in. As with the Purgatorio and Paradiso, the Inferno has
a structure of 9+1=10, with this "vestibule" different in nature from the nine c
ircles of Hell, and separated from them by the Acheron.
The Barque of Dante by Eugne Delacroix
After passing through the "vestibule," Dante and Virgil reach the ferry that wil
l take them across the river Acheron and to Hell proper. The ferry is piloted by
Charon, who does not want to let Dante enter, for he is a living being. Virgil
forces Charon to take him by means of another famous line: Vuolsi cos col dove si
puote, which translates to, "So it is wanted there where the power lies," referr
ing to the fact that Dante is on his journey on divine grounds. The wailing and
blasphemy of the damned souls entering Charon's boat contrast with the joyful si
nging of the blessed souls arriving by ferry in the Purgatorio. The passage acro
ss the Acheron, however, is undescribed, since Dante faints and does not awaken
until he is on the other side.
Virgil then guides Dante through the nine circles of Hell. The circles are conce
ntric, representing a gradual increase in wickedness, and culminating at the cen

tre of the earth, where Satan is held in bondage. The sinners of each circle are
punished in a fashion fitting their crimes: each sinner is afflicted for all of
eternity by the chief sin he committed. People who sinned, but prayed for forgi
veness before their deaths are found not in Hell but in Purgatory, where they la
bour to be free of their sins. Those in Hell are people who tried to justify the
ir sins and are unrepentant.
Allegorically, the Inferno represents the Christian soul seeing sin for what it
really is. What the three beasts may represent has been the subject of much cont
roversy over the centuries, but one suggestion is that they represent three type
s of sin: the self-indulgent, the violent, and the malicious.[6] These three typ
es of sin also provide the three main divisions of Dante's Hell: Upper Hell (the
first 5 Circles) for the self-indulgent sins, Circles 6 and 7 for the violent s
ins, and Circles 8 and 9 for the malicious sins. The sins may also be split into
sins of incontinence (upper hell), named so because of their passionate and unc
ontrolled nature, and sins of malice (lower hell), where the sins are premeditat
ed.
Nine circles of Hell
The Harrowing of Hell, in a 14th-century illuminated manuscript, the Petites Heu
res de Jean de Berry
First Circle (Limbo)
In Limbo reside the unbaptized and the virtuous pagans, who, although not sinful
, did not accept Christ. Limbo shares many characteristics with the Asphodel Mea
dows; thus, the guiltless damned are punished by living in a deficient form of H
eaven. Without baptism ("the portal of the faith that you embrace")[7] they lack
ed the hope for something greater than rational minds can conceive. Limbo includ
es green fields and a castle with seven gates to represent the seven virtues. Th
e castle is the dwelling place of the wisest men of antiquity, including Virgil
himself, as well as the Persian polymath Avicenna. In the castle Dante meets the
poets Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan; the Amazon queen Penthesilea; the mathema
tician Euclid; the scientist Pedanius Dioscorides; the statesman Cicero; the fir
st doctor Hippocrates; the philosophers Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Averroes
; the historical figures Lucretia, Lucius Junius Brutus, and Julius Caesar in hi
s role as Roman general ("in his armor, falcon-eyed");[8] mythological character
s Hector, Electra, Camilla, Latinus, and Orpheus; and many others. Interestingly
, he also sees Saladin in Limbo (Canto IV). Dante implies that all virtuous nonChristians find themselves here, although he later encounters two (Cato of Utica
and Statius) in Purgatory and two (Trajan and Ripheus) in Heaven.
Beyond the first circle, all of those condemned for active, deliberately willed
sin are judged to one of the lower eight circles by the serpentine Minos. Minos
initially hinders the poets' passage, until rebuked by Virgil. Minos sentences e
ach soul by wrapping his tail around himself a corresponding number of times. Th
e lower circles are structured according to the classical (Aristotelian) concept
ion of virtue and vice, so that they are grouped into the sins of incontinence,
violence, and fraud. The sins of incontinence weakness in controlling one's desi
res and natural urges are the mildest among them, and, correspondingly, appear f
irst, while the sins of violence and fraud appear lower down.
Second Circle (Lust)
Gianciotto Discovers Paolo and Francesca by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
In the second circle of Hell are those overcome by lust. Dante condemns these "c
arnal malefactors"[9] for letting their appetites sway their reason. They are th
e first ones to be truly punished in Hell. These souls are blown back and forth
by the terrible winds of a violent storm, without rest. This symbolizes the powe
r of lust to blow one about needlessly and aimlessly.

In this circle, Dante sees Semiramis, Dido, Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Achilles,
Paris, Tristan, and many others who were overcome by sexual love during their li
fe. Dante is told by Francesca da Rimini how she and her husband's brother Paolo
Malatesta committed adultery, but then died a violent death, in the name of Lov
e, at the hands of her husband, Giovanni (Gianciotto). Francesca reports that th
eir act of adultery was triggered by reading the adulterous story of Lancelot an
d Guinevere (an episode sculpted by Auguste Rodin in The Kiss). Nevertheless, sh
e predicts that her husband will be punished for his fratricide in Cana, within t
he ninth circle (Canto V).
The English poet John Keats, in his sonnet "On a Dream," imagines what Dante doe
s not give us, the point of view of Paolo:
... But to that second circle of sad hell,
Where mid the gust, the whirlwind, and the flaw
Of rain and hail-stones, lovers need not tell
Their sorrows. Pale were the sweet lips I saw,
Pale were the lips I kissd, and fair the form
I floated with, about that melancholy storm.[10]
Third Circle (Gluttony)
The third circle, illustrated by Stradanus
Cerberus as illustrated by Gustave Dor
The "great worm" Cerberus guards the gluttons, who are forced to lie in a vile s
lush produced by ceaseless foul, icy rain (Virgil obtains safe passage past the
monster by filling its three mouths with mud). In her notes on this circle, Doro
thy L. Sayers writes that "the surrender to sin which began with mutual indulgen
ce leads by an imperceptible degradation to solitary self-indulgence."[11] The g
luttons lie here sightless and heedless of their neighbors, symbolizing the cold
, selfish, and empty sensuality of their lives.[11] Just as lust has revealed it
s true nature in the winds of the previous circle, here the slush reveals the tr
ue nature of sensuality which includes not only overindulgence in food and drink
, but also other kinds of addiction.[12]
In this circle, Dante converses with a Florentine contemporary identified as Cia
cco, which means "hog."[13] A character with the same nickname later appears in
The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio.[14] Ciacco speaks to Dante regarding strife
in Florence between the "White" and "Black" Guelphs. In one of a number of prop
hecies in the poem, Ciacco "predicts" the expulsion of the White party, to which
Dante belonged, and which led to Dante s own exile. This event occurred in 1302
, after the date in which the poem is set, but before the poem was written[13] (
Canto VI).
Fourth Circle (Greed)
In Gustave Dor s illustrations for the fourth circle, the weights are huge money
bags
Those whose attitude toward material goods deviated from the appropriate mean ar
e punished in the fourth circle. They include the avaricious or miserly (includi
ng many "clergymen, and popes and cardinals"),[15] who hoarded possessions, and
the prodigal, who squandered them. The two groups are guarded by a figure Dante
names as Pluto, either Pluto the classical ruler of the underworld or Plutus the
Greek deity of wealth[16] (who uses the cryptic phrase Pap Satn, pap Satn aleppe),
but Virgil protects Dante from him. The two groups joust, using as weapons great
weights that they push with their chests:
I saw multitudes
to every side of me; their howls were loud

while, wheeling weights, they used their chests to push.

They struck against each other; at that point,
each turned around and, wheeling back those weights,
cried out: Why do you hoard? Why do you squander?[17]
The contrast between these two groups leads Virgil to discourse on the nature of
Fortune, who raises nations to greatness and later plunges them into poverty, a
s she shifts "those empty goods from nation unto nation, clan to clan."[18] This
speech fills what would otherwise be a gap in the poem, since both groups are s
o absorbed in their activity that Virgil tells Dante that it would be pointless
to try to speak to them indeed, they have lost their individuality and been rend
ered "unrecognizable"[19] (Canto VII).
Fifth Circle (Anger)
The fifth circle, illustrated by Stradanus
Lower Hell, inside the walls of Dis, in an illustration by Stradanus. There is a
drop from the sixth circle to the three rings of the seventh circle, then again
to the ten rings of the eighth circle, and, at the bottom, to the icy ninth cir
cle.
In the swampy waters of the river Styx, the wrathful fight each other on the sur
face, and the sullen lie gurgling beneath the water, withdrawn "into a black sul
kiness which can find no joy in God or man or the universe."[20] Phlegyas reluct
antly transports Dante and Virgil across the Styx in his skiff. On the way they
are accosted by Filippo Argenti, a Black Guelph from a prominent family. When Da
nte was forced to leave Florence, Argenti took all his property. When Dante resp
onds "In weeping and in grieving, accursed spirit, may you long remain,"[21] Vir
gil blesses him. Literally, this reflects the fact that souls in Hell are eterna
lly fixed in the state they have chosen, but allegorically, it reflects Dante s
beginning awareness of his own sin[22] (Cantos VII and VIII). Just as Argenti se
ized Dante s property, he himself is "seized" by all the other wrathful souls.
The lower parts of Hell are contained within the walls of the city of Dis, which
is itself surrounded by the Stygian marsh. Punished within Dis are active (rath
er than passive) sins. The walls of Dis are guarded by fallen angels. Virgil is
unable to convince them to let Dante and him enter, and Dante is threatened by t
he Furies (consisting of Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone) and Medusa. An angel se
nt from Heaven secures entry for the poets, opening the gate by touching it with
a wand, and rebukes those who opposed Dante. Allegorically, this reveals the fa
ct that the poem is beginning to deal with sins that philosophy and humanism can
not fully understand. Virgil also mentions to Dante how Erichtho sent him down t
o the lowest circle of Hell to bring back a spirit from there (Cantos VIII and I
X).[22]
Sixth Circle (Heresy)
In the sixth circle, Heretics, such as Epicureans (who say "the soul dies with t
he body")[23] are trapped in flaming tombs. Dante holds discourse with a pair of
Epicurian Florentines in one of the tombs: Farinata degli Uberti, a Ghibelline
(posthumously condemned for heresy in 1283); and Cavalcante de Cavalcanti, a Gu
elph who was the father of Dante s friend and fellow poet, Guido Cavalcanti. The
political affiliation of these two men allows for a further discussion of Flore
ntine politics (Canto X). Also seen here are Epicurus, Emperor Frederick II, and
Pope Anastasius II although some modern scholars hold that Dante erred in the v
erse mentioning Anastasius ("Anastasio papa guardo, lo qual trasse Fotin de la v
ia dritta"), confusing the pope with the Byzantine emperor of the time, Anastasi
us I.
In response to a question from Dante about the "prophecy" he has received, Farin
ata explains that what the souls in Hell know of life on earth comes from seeing

the future, not from any observation of the present. Consequently, when "the po
rtal of the future has been shut,"[28] it will no longer be possible for them to
know anything.
Pausing for a moment before the steep descent to the foul-smelling seventh circl
e, Virgil explains the geography and rationale of Lower Hell, in which violent a
nd malicious sins are punished. In this explanation, he refers to the Nicomachea
n Ethics and the Physics of Aristotle (Canto XI). In particular, he asserts that
there are only two legitimate sources of wealth: natural resources ("nature") a
nd human activity ("art"). Usury, to be punished in the next circle, is therefor
e an offence against both:[29]
From these two, art and nature, it is fitting,
if you recall how Genesis begins,
for men to make their way, to gain their living;
and since the usurer prefers another
pathway, he scorns both nature in herself
and art her follower; his hope is elsewhere.[30]
Seventh Circle (Violence)
The seventh circle houses the violent. Its entry is guarded by the Minotaur and
it is divided into three rings:
Outer ring: This ring houses the violent against people and property. Sinners ar
e immersed in Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood and fire, to a level commensu
rate with their sins: Dionysius I of Syracuse, Guy de Montfort, Obizzo d Este, E
zzelino III da Romano, Rinier da Corneto, and Rinier Pazzo are also seen in the
Phlegethon, as well as references to Attila the Hun. The Centaurs, commanded by
Chiron and Pholus, patrol the ring, shooting arrows into any sinners who emerge
higher out of the river than each is allowed. The centaur Nessus guides the poet
s along Phlegethon and across a ford in the widest, shallowest stretch of the ri
ver (Canto XII). This passage may have been influenced by the early medieval Vis
io Karoli Grossi.
The Gianfigliazzi family was identified by a heraldic device of a lion (blue on
yellow background)
Middle ring: In this ring are suicides and profligates. The suicides the violent
against self are transformed into gnarled thorny bushes and trees and then fed
upon by Harpies; the Harpies, and the characteristics of the bushes, are based o
n Book 3 of the Aeneid. Dante breaks a twig off one of the bushes and from the b
roken, bleeding branch hears the tale of Pietro della Vigne, who committed suici
de after falling out of favour with Emperor Frederick II (his presence here, rat
her than in the ninth circle, indicates that Dante believes that the accusations
made against him were false).[32] Also here are Lano da Siena and Jacopo da San
t Andrea. The trees are a metaphor for the state of mind in which suicide is co
mmitted.[33] Dante learns that these suicides, unique among the dead, will not b
e corporally resurrected after the final judgement since they gave away their bo
dies through suicide; instead they will maintain their bushy form, with their ow
n corpses hanging from the thorny limbs. The other residents of this ring are th
e profligates, who destroyed their lives by destroying the means by which life i
s sustained i.e., money and property. They are perpetually chased and mauled by
ferocious dogs. The destruction wrought upon the wood by the profligates flight
and punishment as they crash through the undergrowth causes further suffering t
o the suicides, who cannot move out of the way (Canto XIII).
Inner ring: Here are the violent against God (blasphemers) and the violent again
st nature (sodomites and, as explained in the sixth circle, usurers). All reside
in a desert of flaming sand with fiery flakes raining from the sky, a fate simi
lar to Sodom and Gomorrah. The blasphemers lie on the sand, the usurers sit, and
the sodomites wander about in groups. Dante sees the classical warrior Capaneus
there, who for blasphemy against Zeus was struck down with a thunderbolt during

the Siege of Thebes. Dante converses with two Florentine sodomites from differe
nt groups. One of them is Dante s mentor, Brunetto Latini; Dante is very surpris
ed and touched by this encounter and shows Brunetto great respect for what he ha
s taught him ("you taught me how man makes himself eternal; / and while I live,
my gratitude for that / must always be apparent in my words"),[34] thus refuting
suggestions that Dante only placed his enemies in Hell.[35] The other sodomite
is Iacopo Rusticucci, a politician, who blames his wife for his fate. Those puni
shed here for usury include the Florentines Catello di Rosso Gianfigliazzi, Guid
o Guerra, Ciappo Ubriachi, and Giovanni di Buiamonte and the Paduan Reginaldo de
gli Scrovegni (who predicts that his fellow Paduan Vitaliano di Iacopo Vitaliani
will join him here). They are identified not primarily by name but by heraldic
devices emblazoned on the purses around their necks, purses that "their eyes see
med to feast upon"[36] (Cantos XIV through XVII).
Eighth Circle (Fraud)
A Gustave Dor wood engraving of Geryon
Illustration by Sandro Botticelli: Dante and Virgil visit the first two Bolgie o
f the eighth circle
Dante s guide rebuffs Malacoda and his fiends between Bolgie 5 and 6, Canto 21
Dante climbs the flinty steps in Bolgia 7, Canto 26
The last two circles of Hell punish sins that involve conscious fraud or treache
ry. These circles can be reached only by descending a vast cliff, which Dante an
d Virgil do on the back of Geryon, a winged monster traditionally represented as
having three heads or three conjoined bodies;[37] however, Dante describes Gery
on as having three mixed natures: human, bestial, and reptilian.[37] Dante s Ger
yon is an image of fraud, having the face of an honest man on the body of a beau
tifully colored wyvern, with the furry paws of a lion and a poisonous sting in t
he pointy scorpion-like tail[38] (Canto XVII).
The fraudulent those guilty of deliberate, knowing evil are located in a circle
named Malebolge ("Evil Pockets"). This circle is divided into ten Bolgie, or dit
ches of stone, with bridges spanning the ditches:
Bolgia 1: Panderers and seducers march in separate lines in opposite directions,
whipped by demons (here Dante makes reference to a recent traffic rule develope
d for the Jubilee year of 1300 in Rome: keep to the right).[39] Just as the pand
erers and seducers used the passions of others to drive them to do their bidding
, they are themselves driven by whip-wielding demons to march for all eternity.[
39] In the group of panderers, the poets notice Venedico Caccianemico, who sold
his own sister Ghisola to the Marchese d Este. In the group of seducers, Virgil
points out Jason, who gained the help of Medea by seducing and marrying her only
to later desert her for Creusa.[39] Jason also seduced Hypsipyle, but "abandone
d her, alone and pregnant"[40] (Canto XVIII).
Bolgia 2: Flatterers also exploited other people, this time using language. They
are steeped in human excrement, which represents the words they produced. Aless
io Interminei of Lucca and Thas are seen here.[39] (Canto XVIII).
Bolgia 3: Dante now forcefully expresses[41] his condemnation of those who commi
tted simony. Those who committed simony are placed head-first in holes in the ro
ck (resembling baptismal fonts), with flames burning on the soles of their feet.
One of the simoniacs, Pope Nicholas III, denounces two of his successors, Pope
Boniface VIII and Pope Clement V, for the same offence. Simon Magus, who offered
gold in exchange for holy power to Saint Peter, is also mentioned here, althoug
h he does not appear. The simile of baptismal fonts gives Dante an incidental op
portunity to clear his name of an accusation of malicious damage to the font in
the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini[42] (Canto XIX).
Bolgia 4: Sorcerers, astrologers, and false prophets here have their heads twist
ed around backward on their bodies, so that they "found it necessary to walk bac

kward, / because they could not see ahead of them."[43] While referring primaril
y to attempts to see into the future by forbidden means, this also symbolises th
e twisted nature of magic in general.[44] In this Bolgia, Dante sees Amphiaraus,
Tiresias, whose double transformation is also referenced, and his daughter Mant
o, Calchas, Aruns, Michael Scot, Alberto de Casalodi, Guido Bonatti and Asdente
(Canto XX).
Bolgia 5: Corrupt politicians (barrators) are immersed in a lake of boiling pitc
h, which represents the sticky fingers and dark secrets of their corrupt deals.[
45] The barrators are the political analogue of the simoniacs, and Dante devotes
several cantos to them. They are guarded by devils called the Malebranche ("Evi
l Claws"), who provide some savage and satirical black comedy in the last line o
f Canto XXI, the sign for their march is provided by a fart: "and he had made a
trumpet of his ass."[46] The leader of the Malebranche, Malacoda ("Evil Tail"),
assigns a troop to escort Virgil and Dante safely to the next bridge. The troop
hook and torment one of the sinners (identified by early commentators as Ciampol
o), who names some Italian grafters and then tricks the Malebranche in order to
escape back into the pitch. The promise of safe conduct the poets received from
the demons turns out to have limited value (and there is no "next bridge"),[47]
so the poets are forced to scramble down into the sixth Bolgia (Cantos XXI throu
gh XXIII).
Bolgia 6: In the sixth Bolgia, the poets find the hypocrites listlessly walking
along wearing gilded lead cloaks, which represent the falsity behind the surface
appearance of their actions falsity that weighs them down and makes spiritual p
rogress impossible for them.[47] Dante speaks with Catalano and Loderingo, two m
embers of the Jovial Friars, an order that had acquired a reputation for not liv
ing up to its vows[47] and was eventually suppressed by Pope Sixtus V. Caiaphas,
the high priest responsible for ordering Jesus crucified, is also seen here, cr
ucified to the ground and trampled (Canto XXIII).
Bolgia 7: Two cantos are devoted to the thieves. They are guarded by the centaur
Cacus, who has a fire-breathing dragon on his shoulders and snakes covering his
equine back (in Roman mythology, Cacus was not a centaur but a monstrous fire-b
reathing giant slain by Heracles). The thieves are pursued and bitten by snakes
and lizards. The full horror of the thieves punishment is revealed gradually: j
ust as they stole other people s substance in life, their very identity becomes
subject to theft here,[48] and the snake bites make them undergo various transfo
rmations. Vanni Fucci is turned to ashes and resurrected. Agnello is blended wit
h the six-legged reptile that is Cianfa. Buoso exchanges shapes with the four-le
gged Francesco: "The soul that had become an animal, / now hissing, hurried off
along the valley; / the other one, behind him, speaks and spits"[49] (Cantos XXI
V and XXV).
Bolgia 8: Two further cantos are devoted to fraudulent advisers or evil counsell
ors, who are concealed within individual flames. These are not people who gave f
alse advice, but people who used their position to advise others to engage in fr
aud.[50] Ulysses and Diomedes are condemned here for the deception of the Trojan
Horse. Ulysses tells the tale of his fatal final voyage (Dante s invention) whe
re he left his home and family to sail to the end of the Earth only to have his
ship founder near Mount Purgatory; Ulysses also mentions of his encounter with C
irce, stating that she "beguiled him." Guido da Montefeltro recounts how he advi
sed Pope Boniface VIII to capture the fortress of Palestrina, by offering the Co
lonna family inside it a false amnesty and then razing it to the ground after th
ey surrendered. Guido describes how St. Francis came to take his soul to Heaven
because of Guido s subsequent joining of the Franciscan order, only to have a de
mon assert prior claim. Although Boniface had absolved Guido in advance for his
evil advice, Dante points out the invalidity of that, since absolution requires
contrition, and a man cannot be contrite for a sin at the same time that he is i
ntending to commit it[51] (Cantos XXVI and XXVII).
Bolgia 9: In the ninth Bolgia, a sword-wielding demon hacks at the Sowers of Dis
cord, dividing parts of their bodies as in life they divided others.[52] As they
make their rounds the wounds heal, only to have the demon tear apart their bodi
es again. Dante encounters Muhammad, with his entrails hanging out, who tells hi

m to warn the schismatic and heretic Fra Dolcino. Dante describes Muhammad as a
schismatic,[52][53] apparently viewing Islam as an offshoot from Christianity, a
nd similarly Dante seems to condemn Ali for schism between Sunni and Shiite. In
this Bolgia, Dante also encounters Bertran de Born, who carries around his sever
ed head like a lantern (a literal representation of allowing himself to detach h
is intelligence from himself), as a punishment for (Dante believes) fomenting th
e rebellion of Henry the Young King against his father Henry II (Cantos XXVIII a
nd XXIX).
Bolgia 10: In the final Bolgia, various sorts of falsifiers (alchemists, counter
feiters, perjurers, and impostors) who are a "disease" on society are themselves
afflicted with different types of diseases.[54] Potiphar s wife is briefly ment
ioned for her false accusation of Joseph. The Achaean spy Sinon suffers from a b
urning fever for tricking the Trojans into taking the Trojan Horse into their ci
ty; Sinon is here rather than in Bolgia 8 because his advice was false as well a
s evil. Gianni Schicchi is a rabid goblin for forging the will of Dante s rela
tive Buoso Donati. Myrrha suffers from madness for disguising herself to commit
incest with her father King Theias.
In Sayers s notes on her translation, she remarks that the descent through Maleb
olge "began with the sale of the sexual relationship, and went on to the sale of
Church and State; now, the very money is itself corrupted, every affirmation ha
s become perjury, and every identity a lie"[54] so that every aspect of social i
nteraction has been progressively destroyed (Cantos XXIX and XXX).
Ninth Circle (Treachery)
The ninth and last circle is ringed by classical and Biblical giants, who perhap
s symbolize pride and other spiritual flaws lying behind acts of treachery. The
giants are standing on a ledge above the ninth circle of Hell,[56] so that from
the Malebolge they are visible from the waist up. They include Nimrod, Ephialtes
(who with his brother Otus tried to storm Olympus during the Gigantomachy), Bri
areus, Tityos, and Typhon. The giant Antaeus (being the only giant unbound with
chains) lowers Dante and Virgil into the pit that forms the ninth circle of Hell
(Canto XXXI).
The traitors are distinguished from the "merely" fraudulent in that their acts i
nvolve betraying a special relationship of some kind. There are four concentric
zones (or "rounds") of traitors. These rounds correspond, in order of seriousnes
s, to betrayal of family ties, betrayal of community ties, betrayal of guests, a
nd betrayal of liege lords. In contrast to the popular image of Hell as fiery, t
he traitors are frozen in a lake of ice known as Cocytus, with each group encase
d in ice to progressively greater depths.
Round 1 is named Cana, after Cain, who killed his own brother. Traitors to kindre
d are here immersed in the ice up to their chins "the place / where shame can sh
ow itself"[57] Mordred, who attacked his uncle/father King Arthur, is one of the
traitors here: "him who, at one blow, had chest and shadow / shattered by Arthu
r s hand"[58] (Canto XXXII).
Round 2 is named Antenora, after Antenor of Troy, who according to medieval trad
ition, betrayed his city to the Greeks. Traitors to political entities, such as
parties, cities, or countries, are located here and imprisoned in the same way a
s the traitors in Cana. Count Ugolino pauses from gnawing on the head of his form
er partner-in-crime Archbishop Ruggieri degli Ubaldini to describe how Ruggieri
turned against him after an accidental death of Ruggieri s illegitimate son duri
ng a riot and had him imprisoned along with his sons and grandsons, condemning t
hem to death by starvation. A number of correspondences, such as allusions to th
e same passage of the Aeneid, link this passage to the story of Paolo and France
sca in the second circle,[59] indicating that this icy hell of betrayal is the f
inal result of consent to sin (Cantos XXXII and XXXIII).
Round 3 is named Ptolomaea, probably after Ptolemy, son of Abubus, who invited S
imon Maccabaeus and his sons to a banquet and then killed them. Traitors to thei
r guests are punished here, lying supine in the ice, which covers them, except f

or their faces. They are punished more severely than the previous traitors, sinc
e the relationship to guests is an entirely voluntary one. Fra Alberigo, who had
armed soldiers kill his brother at a banquet, explains that sometimes a soul fa
lls here before Atropos cuts the thread of life. Their bodies on Earth are immed
iately possessed by a demon, so what seems to be a walking man has reached the s
tage of being incapable of repentance (Canto XXXIII).
Round 4 is named Judecca, after Judas Iscariot, Biblical betrayer of Christ. Her
e are the traitors to their lords and benefactors. All of the sinners punished w
ithin are completely encapsulated in ice, distorted in all conceivable positions
. With no one to talk to here, Dante and Virgil quickly move on to the center of
Hell (Canto XXXIV).
In the very center of Hell, condemned for committing the ultimate sin (personal
treachery against God), is Satan. Satan is described as a giant, terrifying beas
t with three faces, one red, one black, and one a pale yellow:
he had three faces: one in front bloodred;
and then another two that, just above
the midpoint of each shoulder, joined the first;
and at the crown, all three were reattached;
the right looked somewhat yellow, somewhat white;
the left in its appearance was like those
who come from where the Nile, descending, flows.[61]
Satan is waist deep in ice, weeping tears from his six eyes, and beating his six
wings as if trying to escape, although the icy wind that emanates only further
ensures his imprisonment (as well as that of the others in the ring). Each face
has a mouth that chews on a prominent traitor. Brutus and Cassius are feet-first
in the left and right mouths respectively, for their involvement in the assassi
nation of Julius Caesar an act which, to Dante, represented the destruction of a
unified Italy and the killing of the man who was divinely appointed to govern t
he world. In the central, most vicious mouth is Judas Iscariot, the namesake of
Round 4 and the betrayer of Jesus. Judas is receiving the most horrifying tortur
e of the three traitors: his head gnawed by Satan s mouth, and his back being fo
rever skinned by Satan s claws. What is seen here is an inverted trinity: Satan
is impotent, ignorant, and full of hate, in contrast to the all-powerful, all-kn
owing, and loving nature of God.
The two poets escape Hell by climbing down Satan s ragged fur. They pass through
the centre of the earth (with a consequent change in the direction of gravity,
causing Dante to at first think they are returning to Hell). The pair emerge in
the other hemisphere (described in the Purgatorio) just before dawn on Easter Su
nday, beneath a sky studded with stars (Canto XXXIV).