1.
Charon - A figure that Dante appropriates from Greek mythology, Charon is an old man who ferries souls
2.
across the river Acheron to Hell.
Paolo and Francesca da Rimini - A pair of lovers condemned to the Second Circle of Hell for an
3.
adulterous love affair that they began after reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere.
Minos - The king of Crete in Greek mythology, Minos is portrayed by Dante as a giant beast who stands at
the Second Circle of Hell, deciding where the souls of sinners shall be sent for torment. Upon hearing a
given sinner’s confession, Minos curls his tail around himself a specific number of times to represent the
4.
circle of Hell to which the soul should be consigned.
Pope Boniface VIII - A notoriously corrupt pope who reigned from 1294 to 1303, Boniface made a
5.
concerted attempt to increase the political might of the Catholic Church and was thus a political enemy of
Dante, who advocated a separation of church and state.
Farinata - A Ghibelline political leader from Dante’s era who resides among the Heretics in the Sixth Circle
of Hell. Farinata is doomed to continue his intense obsession with Florentine politics, which he is now
6.
helpless to affect.
Phlegyas - The boatman who rows Dante and Virgil across the river Styx.
7.
Filippo Argenti - A Black Guelph, a political enemy of Dante who is now in the Fifth Circle of Hell. Argenti
8.
resides among the Wrathful in the river Styx.
Nessus - The Centaur (half man and half horse) who carries Dante through the First Ring of the Seventh
9.
Circle of Hell.
Pier della Vigna - A former advisor to Emperor Frederick II, della Vigna committed suicide when he fell into
disfavor at the court. He now must spend eternity in the form of a tree.
10. Geryon - The massive serpentine monster that transports Dante and Virgil from the Seventh to the Eighth
Circle of Hell.
11. Malacoda - The leader of the Malabranche, the demons who guard the Fifth Pouch of the Eighth Circle of
Hell. Malacoda (his name means “evil tail”) intentionally furnishes Virgil and Dante with erroneous directions.
12. Vanni Fucci - A thief punished in the Seventh Pouch of the Eighth Circle of Hell who prophesies the defeat
of the White Guelphs. A defiant soul, Fucci curses God and aims an obscene gesture at Him before Dante
journeys on.
13. Judas - The great hero of the Homeric epics the Iliad and the Odyssey. Ulysses was a bold and cunning
man who is now imprisoned in the Eighth Pouch of the Eighth Circle of Hell among those guilty of Spiritual
Theft.
14. Guido da Montefeltro - An advisor to Pope Boniface VIII, da Montefeltro was promised anticipatory
absolution—forgiveness for a sin given prior to the perpetration of the sin itself. Da Montefeltro now suffers
in Hell, since absolution cannot be gained without repentance and it is impossible to repent a sin before
committing it.
15. Count Ugolino/Archbiship Ruggieri - A traitor condemned to the Second Ring of the Ninth Circle of Hell.
Ugolino gnaws on the head of another damned traitor, Archbishop Ruggieri. When Ruggieri imprisoned
Ugolino and his sons, denying them food, Ugolino was driven to eat the corpses of his starved sons.
16. Fra Alberigo and Branca d’Oria - Sinners condemned to the Third Ring of the Ninth Circle of Hell. Fra
Alberigo and Branca d’Oria are unlike the other sinners Dante encounters: their crimes were deemed to be
so great that devils snatched their souls from their living bodies; thus, their souls reside in Hell while their
bodies live on, now guided and possessed by demons.