Level 1:

The virtuous pagans, including the great philosophers and poets of history.This level is where
Virgil belongs,as well as Homer,Horace, Ovid, and Lucan.Unbaptized children also are sent to
Limbo.These people,although of good character and moral standing, did not accept Christ as
their savior, either because they were born before the rise of the religion or chose
otherwise.Limbo is some what set apart from the other levels,and does not represent a sin.The
sinners are punished by wandering around forever in a hilly landscape, in the darkness, not
actively tortured but devoid of all hope. They are doomed to forever see the temple of human
knowledge in the distance, but they may never reach it.The darkness symbolizes how the sinners
have never known the light of Christ, and the hopelessness that they will never do so, and
therefore, never escape. Seeing all of human knowledge in the distance, but being unable to
reach it, symbolizes how they were also unable to reach it in life
Level 2:
The people in the circle are recently deceased souls with the winding of his tail. In the actual
circle lay the carnal, those who succumbed to lust or other sins of the body. Helen,Dido,
Cleopatra, Achilles, Paris, and Tristan are here, among many other souls. The famous lovers in
life, Paolo and Francesca, are also here,together. These souls gave into temptation,lust, or other
carnal sins of the body. Level 2 of Hell is a level of incontinence,which is the sin represented by
the she-wolf. Lust and temptation demonstrate a lack of self-control, which is the very definition
of Incontinence. These souls are punished by eternally being swept around by a powerful wind in
the dark. In Paolos and Francescas case, they are swept around together. The darkness
symbolizes how they lived without the light of Christ, and the wind symbolizes the tempest of
their passion. They are forever swept away off the ground by it, as they were in life. Paolo and
Francesca are together, as they were one in life and are one in death.
Level 3:
The third level of Hell houses the Gluttons. Ciacco the Hog is the only recognizable face in the
mess. Cerberus stands guard over the souls, also dealing out their punishment. The gluttons took
more than they needed,whether its of food or other goods. They produced nothing more than
trash and waste, contributing nothing to the world in return. Gluttony is a sin of
incontinence,which is a sin of the she-wolf. Gluttons lack self-control,allowing them to take and
take and take,giving back nothing except for an endless stream of waste.The gluttons lie halfburied in filthy slush for eternity, produced by an icy rain and the filth of the sinners. Cerberus
forevermore slathers over them, biting and disfiguring the souls and leaving them to rot in the
dirty snow. The filth the sinners lie in represents the filth they produced in life, and now they
must be part of the garbage, like the trash they are. As they obsessed over and stuffed themselves
with food, now Cerberus stuffs himself with them.
Level 4:
Plutus guards the entryway to the fourth level of hell, where both the Hoarders and the Wasters
reside. Plutus is the Greek god of wealth. None are recognizable. Both classes of sinners lacked
moderation when managing their finances. The hoarders gathered and gathered, constantly
thinking of ways to get more money, while the wasters spent and spent, wasting their funds on
mundane things. Both hoarding and wasting are sins of incontinence, represented by the shewolf, as they lack control and moderation when managing their finances. The souls are divided
into two mobs, depending on their sin, but each is constantly pushing a huge,vastly heavy dead

weight. They push them towards the center, meet with the other group of sinners, push them to
the opposite direction, and continue in an endless cycle. They are unrecognizable. The weights
that the souls must push around represents mundanity, and how it dragged them down in their
lives. Each form of excess eternally punishes the other. Their souls are not recognizable because
they have become consumed in their rage an effort.
Level 5:
The fifth circle of Hell is occupied by the Wrathful and the Sullen. One of the former is
is Filippo Argenti, who Dante recognizes and berates. There is no living guardian, but Phlegyas
serves as the ferryman of the Styx at the end of this circle. in violent practices. The Sullen were
withdrawn in life, never allowing themselves joy yet constantly complaining about the
conditions they set for themselves. represented by the lion. Wrath is a sin of wrath for obvious
reasons, but in Dantes eyes, the souls that were sullen chose to do so, and therefore, indicted
wrath upon themselves. eternally attacking each other, while the Sullen are buried underneath the
marshy mud, endlessly chanting words that slightly resemble a hymn. against other in life, now
as well as death. The Sullen were withdrawn and depressed in life, so they are buried in death,
denied of the joy of the Sun and singing an eternal hymn. They are both trudging through grime,
to symbolize the grime they themselves are The Wrathful are well, wrathful. They were angry,
held grudges, and indulged in violent These two sins are sins of wrath and ambition, which are
both represented Both classes of sinners reside in the grime of the Marsh of Styx.
Level 6:
The Phlegyas is the ferryman of the Styx, Giving passage between the fifth and sixth circles of
Hell. The residents of this level, in the City of Dis, are the Fallen Angels, the three infernal
furies,and the heretics.Medusa is called, but never physically shows up. Beyond the city lies the
Heretics,including Pope Anastasius, Farinata Degli Uberti, and Cavalcante Dei Cavalcanti. The
Fallen angels have fallen from Gods grace and forsaken their savior. The Heretics hold opinions
contrary to Christian beliefs, questioning or teaching their own beliefs. Those that Dante
recognizes simply held opinions and questioned that which Dante held as fact; in Farinatas case,
he was part of an enemy force. Medusa had sex on Athenas altar, which was a sin of heresy.
Heresy is a sin of fraud and treachery represented by the leopard. The heretics are buried in
tombs surrounding by flames eternally burning. Since the Heretics believed the soul dies with the
body and denied themselves of Christ, they now rest in eternal death shown by the tombstones.
The fire surrounding the graves symbolizes Gods fiery wrath.
Level 7:
There are 3 levels to the seventh circle, each committed to different sins in the category of
violence. The entrance is guarded by the Minotaur. First level is violence against neighbors,
Second level violence against self, Third is violence against God nature and art. Specific people
include Alexander the Great and Attila in the first level, Jacomo Da Sant and Lano Da Siena in
the second, and Capaneus,Ser Brunetto Latino, and three famous Florentines in the third level.
All sinners in this level committed sins of violence. The first level is warmakers tyrants and all
those who shed the blood of their fellow man. The second level is those who were violent against
themselves like suicides. The third level is the souls were blasphemers were aware of the correct
religious path but they denied. Also in this level were sodomites who were homosexual or had
unnatural sex. Every soul in this level committed an act of violence and ambition which is
represented by the lion. They are punished on the first level by being submerged in boiling blood

and are shot by centaurs if they emerge past their limits. The second level is being pecked and
torn apart by Harpies, they can only speak when their wounds bleed. The third level lay in
boiling sand with the sodimites running in circles and the usurers have their hands wrapped
around themselves. They are all punished with a rain of flames. The river of blood is symbolic
of the blood they shed when they were alive and the boiling represents the wrath of God. The
arrows are very symbolic because they symbolize the violence that they inflicted. The suicides
are trees because they are denied their human form. And their blood is the only way they are
allowed to express themselves. The hot sands symbolize artistic pictures because they are
destroyers of art and the hot sands and fire rains symbolize Gods wrath raining over the sinners.
Level 8:
The eighth level contains those who have committed sins of fraud each with a different degree.
Important figures encountered in this circle include Jason and Venedico in the first bolgia Alessio
and Thais in the second, Pope Nicholas the Third, Eurypylus Manto and Asedente in the fourth
and the Senator of Lucca, Malacoda Grizzly and Hellken in the fifth, Caiaphas in the sixth Vanni
Fucci and the Five Noble Thieves of Florence in the seventh, the Evil Counselors in the eighth,
Mahomet and Ali in the ninth and Capocchio and Master Adam in the tenth. Each one of the
bolgias has a different category of sinners. The first had the panderers and seducers, the second
had the flatterers, the third has the simoniacs, the fourth is the ones that attempted to use the dark
forbidden arts, the fifth is grafters, the sixth is the hypocrites, the seventh holds the ones guilty of
stealing, the eighth is those who abused their power for their own purposes, the ninth is those
who sowed discord and tried to destroy happiness spread by God, and the tenth holds the
falsifiers. All of the sins punished in the eighth level fall under the category of fraud, that is
represented by the leopard. The sinners in the first bolgia are driven at an eternal fast walk by
horned demons with whips, the second are forever sunk in excrement, the third are hung upside
down with their feet ablaze in flame proportional to their guilt, the fourth have their heads turned
backwards on their bodies, the fifth are immersed in boiling pitch with demons waiting to tear
them apart if they rise above the pitch, the sixth walk around a track wearing a weighed down
robe, the seventh they are constantly attacked by reptiles and being burnt to ashes and slowly
reforming, in the eighth they are wandering in tongues of flame, in the ninth they are being
mutilated and hacked apart by a demons sword, in the tenth they lie in a pit of chaos where
every punishment is inflicted on them. The horned demons symbolize their guilty conscious
goading them.The waste that holds the flatters represents the worth of the false flattery. The holes
where the simoniacs hang symbolize how they warped the church to suit their own purpose. The
sinners in the fourth bolgia are distorted because they distorted Gods law. The pitch in bolgia
five represents the sticky fingers of the sinners. The heavy robes that the hypocrites wear
symbolize the weight of their deceit. The reptiles that punish the thieves represent the snake
which is the symbol for trickery. The flames in bolgia eight symbolize their own guilty
consciousness and God's wrath. The souls in bolgia nine are torn apart and mutilated because
they teared apart what God created. The chaos in the tenth bolgia symbolizes the corruptions that
they spread during their lives.
Level 9:
Circle 9 holds the Betrayers, it has four different levels within it. The first circle holds
Alessandro Napoleone Delgi Alberti and Camicion. The second round holds Bocca abbati
Beccheria Gianni de Soladainer Count Tebadello and Archbishop Ruggeieri. The third holds

Friar Alberigo and Branca Doria. He doesnt recognize anyone in the fourth but goes into the the
center with Satan where he holds Brutus, Judas, Iscariot and Cassius in his mouths. The ninth
circle holds those who were guilty of treachery. The first ring were treacherous against those they
had blood ties with, the second were souls who were treacherous against their country, third ring
was those who were treacherous to their guests, and the fourth ring is for those who were
treacherous to their masters. Satan hold the ultimate sinners in the center for the worst acts of
betrayal. All of these sins fit into the category of fraudulence. All the sinners in the ninth level of
hll are trapped in a lake of ice, except for those in the center. The souls in the first ring have their
heads and necks free, the second ring only have their heads out, unable to move them, the third
ring are all stuck in the same hole, and the fourth ring only have half of their faces out, allowing
their tears to freeze over their eyes. The sinners in the center are being eternally held and ripped
up by Satans teeth. The sinners denied themselves of Gods love and warmth and therefore are
in a frozen lake. The amount of their body they have sealed in the ice is reminiscent of the degree
of their sin. The ultimate betrayers held by the center are denied all human ties and bound by
cold ice representing their cold hearts.