"Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate"
Dante’s Inferno
"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here"
Time Period –
The Middle Ages
• The Middle Ages are a
period in history
which lasted for
roughly a millennium
from the fall of the
Western Roman
Empire to the Early
Modern period in the
16th century.
• The Middle Ages
witnessed the first
sustained
urbanization of
northern and western
Europe.
Notable Events of the
Middle Ages:
• The Crusades
• The Black Death
• Hundred Years’
War
• Carolingian
Renaissance
• Great Famine of
1315 to 1317
The Author –
Durante delgi Alighieri
• Durante delgi Alighieri, also known as
Dante Alighieri’s actual birthdate is
unknown. It is estimated that he was born
in either May or June, circa 1265.
• He was a Florentine poet.
• His central work, Divina Commedia (The
Divine Comedy) was written in vernacular,
which was the common language in the
area. For Dante, this was Italian. It is
often considered the greatest literary work
composed in Italian and a masterpiece of
world literature.
• In Italian, Dante is known as Il Sommo
Poeta, or, The Supreme Poet. He is also
known as the “Father of the Italian
language.”
The Divine Comedy –
Divina Commedia
The Divine Comedy
describes Dante's
journey through Hell
(Inferno), Purgatory
(Purgatorio), and
Paradise (Paradiso),
guided first by the
Roman poet Virgil and
then by Beatrice, the
subject of his love and of
another of his works, La
Vita Nuova.
Inferno
“Through me the way into the suffering city,
Through me the way to the eternal pain,
Through me the way that runs among the lost.
Justice urged on my high artificer;
My maker was divine authority,
The highest wisdom, and the primal love.
Before me nothing but eternal things were made,
And I endure eternally.
Abandon every hope, ye who enter here."
Circle One
Limbo
Welcome the first circle of
Hell. This is Limbo, filled
with green fields and a
single castle. It is the
eternal home of the virtuous
pagans and unbaptized,
who, though not sinful, did
not accept Christ. This
deficient heaven is a place
of sadness with no hope of
reconciliation with God.
Circle Two –
Lust
You have arrived in the
second circle of Hell, where
the lustful are damned. The
first to be punished in hell,
they are blown about by a
violent storm, without hope
of rest.
Third Circle –
Gluttony
Now we arrive at
the third circle of
Hell, where the
gluttonous are
punished,
Guarded by
Cerberus, they
are forced to lie
in a vile slush
made by freezing
rain, black snow,
and hail.
Fourth Circle –
Greed
Now we are in the fourth
circle of Hell, home of
the greedy, miserly, and
prodigal. The greedy
and miserly push giant
rocks to the center of
the circle whilst the
prodigal, who
squandered material
goods, must take the
rocks back to their own
side of the circle.
Fifth Circle –
Wrath and Sloth
In the swamp-like waters
of the river Styx, you
are now in the fifth
circle. The wrathful
fight each other on the
surface of the river,
never ceasing, and the
slothful lie below its
murky waters at the
bottom.
Sixth Circle –
Heresy
Welcome to the sixth
level of Hell; we are
close to our
destination now. In
the sixth circle,
heretics are
enclosed in flaming
tombs.
Seventh Circle –
Violence
You have reached the
seventh circle, in
which the violent
are damned. It is
divided into three
rings. In the outer
ring, those violent
against property
are immersed in
Phlegethon, a river
of boiling blood.
The centaurs guard
this ring and shoot
arrows at any
attempting to
escape.
In the middle ring
are the suicides, the
self-murderers.
They are
transformed into
gnarly thorned
bushes and trees
and are torn at by
the harpies. They
are the only ones
who will not be
bodily resurrected
after the final
judgment, having
given away their
bodies to suicide.
In the final and inner
ring, the violent
against God
(blasphemers), the
violent against nature
(sodomites), and the
violent against order
(usurers) are
punished. They reside
in a flaming desert
with fiery flakes
raining from above.
The blasphemers lie
on the sand, the
usurers sit, and the
sodomites wander in
groups.
Eighth Circle –
Fraud and Treachery
Welcome to the eighth circle of Hell, where those
conscious of fraud and treachery reside.
Bolgia 1: Panderers (pimps) and
seducers march in separate lines in
opposite directions, whipped by
demons.
Bolgia 2: Flatterers are steeped in
human excrement.
Bolgia 3: Those who committed
simony are placed head-first in holes
in the rock, with flames burning on
the soles of their feet.
Bolgia 4: Sorcerers and false prophets
have their heads twisted around on
their bodies backward. In addition,
they cry so many tears that they
cannot see.
Bolgia 5: Corrupt politicians are immersed
in a lake of boiling pitch.
Bolgia 6: The bridge over this bolgia is
broken: Hypocrites listlessly walk along
wearing gilded lead cloaks.
Bolgia 7: Thieves are pursued and bitten
by snakes and lizards.
Bolgia 8: Fraudulent advisors are encased
in individual flames.
Bolgia 9: A sword-wielding demon hacks
at the sowers of discord.
Bolgia 10: Here various sorts of falsifiers
are themselves with different types of
diseases.
Ninth Circle –
Traitors
Round 1: Caïna is home to traitors to their kindred. The
souls here are immersed in the ice up to their necks.
Round 2: Antenora: Traitors to political entities lie here.
The souls here are immersed at almost the same level
as those in Caïna, except they are unable to bend their
necks
Round 3: Ptolomaea: Those that betray their guests
reside here. The souls here are immersed so that only
half of their faces are above the ice. As they cry, their
tears freeze and seal their eyes shut–they are denied
even the comfort of tears.
Round 4: Judecca is for traitors to their lords and
benefactors. All of the sinners punished within are
completely encapsulated in ice, distorted in all
conceivable positions.
Satan and the final
round
Condemned to the very center of hell for
committing the ultimate sin (treachery against
God) is Satan, who has three faces, one red, one
black, and one a pale yellow, each having a mouth
that chews on a prominent traitor. Satan himself
is represented as a giant, terrifying beast, weeping
tears from his six eyes, which mix with the traitors'
blood sickeningly. He is waist deep in ice, and beats
his six wings as if trying to escape, but the icy wind
that emanates only further ensures his
imprisonment. The sinners in the mouths of Satan
are Brutus and Cassius in the left and right
mouths, respectively. In the central, most vicious
mouth is Judas Iscariot—the namesake of this zone
and the betrayer of Jesus. Judas is being
administered the most horrifying torture of the
three traitors, his head in the mouth of Lucifer,
and his back being forever skinned by the claws of
Lucifer.