“Inferno” from Dante’s Divine Comedy (epic poem) Dante’s Inferno “Inferno” from Dante’s Divine Comedy (epic poem)

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here “Hell has enlarged its soul and opened its mouth without any limits.” - Isaiah 5:14

The Seven Deadly Sins (Saint Thomas Aquinas) Lust Gluttony Avarice Sloth Anger Envy Pride

Three Types of Sin (Dante Alighieri) Incontinence (Level 1) Lack of self control Violence (Level 2) Conscious violation of God’s will Fraudulent and Traitorous (Level 3) Using reason and intellect as a weapon

VESTIBULE: Neutrals and Opportunists, indecisive, no real beliefs, those who don’t choose sides CIRCLE #1—LIMBO: Virtuous Pagans and Unbaptized Babies CIRCLE #2: Carnal and Lustful CIRCLE #3: Gluttons CIRCLE #4: Hoarders and Wasters CIRCLE #5: Wrathful and Sullen or Slothful

The Vestibule Opportunists: people on earth who had no cause in life..only interested in themselves. Forced to chase a banner (a cause) and chased by stinging insects

Who will guide you across the river towards the gates of hell The River Acheron… CHARON Who will guide you across the river towards the gates of hell

The First Circle Limbo Virtuous pagans & unbaptized infants Someone pleasant; castle & fields Homer, Ovid, Socrates and Plato “Only so far afflicted that without hope” they “live in desire” (4.42)

The Second Circle: The Carnal The Lustful Minos sits in judgment Blown about forever by stormy winds just as, in life, they were blown about by the winds of passion; never able to touch anything again

The Third Circle The Gluttons

The Third Circle Guarded (& eaten) by Cerberus Wallow in mud and muck Besieged by hail & filthy water

The Suffering of the Gluttonous They lie in putrid slush (symbolic of the garbage they produced) It is continuously raining and hailing They provide quite a hefty snack for Cerberus…

The avaricious and the prodigal The Fourth Circle The avaricious and the prodigal Avaricious (greedy) Prodigal (wasteful) Useless Labor

Circle IV – The Hoarders and Wasters The Greedy vs. the Wasteful They are divided into two groups, each pushing boulders against each other (symbolic of their mundane existence on earth, with sin punishing its opposite sin).

The Fifth Circle The Wrathful, Sullen, or Slothful Attacking one another

Circle V - The River Styx -The Wrathful are forever attacking one another while stuck in the marsh of the Styx… - Crossing the river on your own is too dangerous…who will be your guide?

Crossing the River Styx Phlegyas, your guide The Slothful are eternally trapped beneath the swampy water of the River They reach out and try to pull you into the swamp…

You have reached the City of Dis! …THE SINS OF MALICE The Shores of Dis… Now, your true nightmare beings…for within the Walls of Dis are the worst sins of Hell... There is no turning back now…

City of Dis Boundary between upper and lower Hell.

CIRCLE #6: Heretics CIRCLE #7.1: Violence Against Neighbors CIRCLE #7.2: Violence Against Oneself (Forest of the Suicides) CIRCLE #7.3.1: Violence Against God CIRCLE #7.3.2: Violence Against Nature CIRCLE #7.3.3: Violence Against Art MALABOLGIA

Descent into lower Hell: Circle 6: Heresy atheists & Non-believers in the afterlife

Circle VI The Heretics The heretics denied immortality, and therefore denied God. They are entombed in flaming graves for eternity (since they believed the soul dies with the body, they will suffer that fate in Hell).

Circle VI / VII Phlegathan River

Circle 7: Violence against God, his creations, and self

Circle VII The Violent and the Bestial

Circle VII - Outer Ring The Violent Against Neighbors Murderers and War-makers are immersed in boiling blood (symbolic of the blood of those they killed). Centaurs (pictured here) guard the banks and shoot arrows at anyone who tries to escape

Violence Against Self

Circle VII – Middle Ring The Violent Against Self The Wood of the Suicides Their souls are encased in thorny trees. The harpies feed upon their leaves.

Forest of the suicides

Sodomites, BLASPHEMERS, USERERS The Sodomites, BLASPHEMERS, USERERS violence against nature , God, and Art

Circle VII – Middle Ring The Violent Against God The blasphemers, sodomites, and usurers all committed a profane act against God They are lain over burning sand or forced to ceaselessly run around in circles The sky rains fire symbolic of God’s wrath

Mmmm… (smack) (slurp) Deee-licious!

Abyss of Geryon With an honest face, a colorful and intricately patterned reptilian hide, hairy paws, and a scorpion's tail, Geryon is an image of fraud

Abyss of Geryon Geryon: mythical monster Grandson to Medusa Monster with 1 body & 3 heads (Hesoid) or 3 bodies (Aeschylus). Stealing his red cattle was one of the tests of Hercules

The Malbolge “Bad Pockets” Entry to lowest levels of Hell – for those who use their God-given intellect to distort the truth: Fraud Treachery

Circle VIII - Malebolge -Malebolge contains the “Fraudulent” sinners They are guilty of committing deliberate evil Each type of sinner is placed in their own ditch Click on the diagram of Malebolge to explore… Seducers Flatterers Simoniacs Sorcerers Grafters Evil Counselors Sowers of Discord Falsifiers Hypocrites Thieves

Circle 8: Fraud CIRCLE #8.1: Pimps, Panderers, and Seducers CIRCLE #8.2: Flatterers CIRCLE #8.3: Simonists (Users of the Church) CIRCLE #8.4: Fortunetellers and Soothsayers CIRCLE #8.5: Grafters CIRCLE #8.6: Hypocrites CIRCLE #8.7: Thieves CIRCLE #8.8: Evil Counselors and Deceivers CIRCLE #8.9: Sowers of Discord/Scandal/Schism CIRCLE #8.10: Falsifiers

pan·der·er n. 1. A sexual procurer. CIRCLE #8.1: Pimps, Panderers, and Seducers pan·der·er n. 1. A sexual procurer. 2. One who caters to or exploits the lower tastes and desires of others. Run forever in opposite directions and are whipped by demons

CIRCLE #8.2: Flatterers Lie up to their necks in human feces

Paying for sacraments or for holy offices CIRCLE #8.3: The Simonists Paying for sacraments or for holy offices Those who mocked the church are placed head-first in flaming holes

CIRCLE #8.4: Fortunetellers and Soothsayers Their heads are put on their bodies backward

Trapped in a lake of burning pitch CIRCLE #8.5: Grafters “the acquisition of gain (as money) in dishonest or questionable ways; also: illegal or unfair gain” Trapped in a lake of burning pitch

Made to wear brightly painted lead cloaks CIRCLE #8.6: Hypocrites Made to wear brightly painted lead cloaks

CIRCLE #8.7: Thieves Chased by venomous snakes and who, after being bitten by the venomous snakes, turn into snakes themselves and chase the other thieves in turn

Eternally trapped in flames CIRCLE #8.8: Evil Counselors and Deceivers Eternally trapped in flames

Their bodies are ripped apart, healed, and they destroyed again CIRCLE #8.9: Sowers of Discord/Scandal/Schism Their bodies are ripped apart, healed, and they destroyed again

CIRCLE #8.10: Falsifiers Ulysses Alchemists, counterfeiters, liars and perjureres are cursed with disease

The Path to the Ninth Circle... You must be lowered into the pit by the Giants Antaeus and Nimrod…

9th Circle: Cocytus The frozen lake

CIRCLE #9.1 - CAINA: Treachery to Kindred CIRCLE #9.2 - ANTENORA: Treachery to Country or Political Party CIRCLE #9.3 - TOLOMEA: Treachery to Guests CIRCLE #9.4 - JUDECCA: Treachery to Lords or Superiors LOWEST LEVEL OF HELL: The worst of those who betrayed their benefactors ~Satan, Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius (Macbeth?)

Circle IX – Compound Fraud

Circle IX - Caina You travel across the frozen lake of the 9th circle of Hell… They are frozen up to their necks in ice… They cry eternally for those they betrayed… Caina features those who betrayed their family…

Circle IX - Antenora Antenora holds those who betrayed their country… Your fear rises as you travel closer to the lair of the Devil…

Click here to watch a video of Dante face Satan himself… Circle IX - Ptolomea Ptolomea holds those who betryaed their guests… Their tears freeze instantly and pierce their eyes… Click here to watch a video of Dante face Satan himself…

Traitors to their Lords… Circle IX - Judecca The Lair of Lucifer Traitors to their Lords… ESCAPE!!! Lucifer’s three faces eternally consume the bodies of Brutus and Cassius for betraying Caesar, and Judas Iscariot for betraying Christ…

traitors Cassius Brutus Judas

Where do you fit in? http://www.4degreez.com/misc/dante-inferno-test.mv Take the test and find out… if you DARE

Escape from Hell You climb Lucifer’s ragged fur towards an exit…you have almost escaped!