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

2. Author Biography Dante Alighieri Son of a nobleman
Born May1265 in Florence, Italy
Received early education in Florence
Attended the University of Bologna
Experiences included a tour in the Florence Army when he fought in the Battle of Campaldino.

3. Author Biography
Dante entered an arranged marriage in 1291 with Gemma Donati, a noblewoman.
They had two sons and either one or two daughters.
Records contain little else about their life together.

4. Author Biography His great love seems to have been Beatrice Portinari.
They met when they were children.
Dante worshipped her.
After her death in 1290, he dedicated a memorial “The New Life” (La Vita Nuova) to her.
Though each married, they did not marry each other.

5. BEATRICE Dante’s muse, Inspiration, the female Aspect behind the
Genius.
SHE IS THE DIVINE
LIGHT OF LOVE.

6. Dante’s Inferno: Historical Background
The Renaissance (rebirth of learning) began in Italy in the fourteenth century and influenced all of western civilization.
All was not well in Italy during the Renaissance.
Rulers of the independent Italian states often fought with each other to establish a large political unit.
The Guelph Political party (which favored local authority) and the Ghibelline Political party (which favored imperial authority) were two such rival factions.
The two had been at war periodically since the thirteenth century.

7. Dante’s Inferno: Historical Background
Dante turned away from his Guelph heritage to embrace the imperial philosophy of the Ghibellines.
His change in politics is best summed up in his treatise De Monarchia in which Dante states his belief in the separation of church and state.
Primarily, these political divisions were focused on where earthly power properly resided. The two main rivals were the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the Pope. Dante is a White Guelf, a supporter of imperial power. He served as an ambassador to talk with the Pope in Rome about conditions in Florence.
The Ghibellines, however, were pushed from power by the Guelphs during Dante’s adulthood and confined to northern Tuscany.

8. Dante’s Inferno: Historical Background
While Dante was out of town, the Blacks took over Florence.
The Blacks sentenced Dante to banishment from the city.
His punishment for return would be death.
His wanderings gave him time to write and to study the Scriptures.
This banishment also gave Dante his perspective on corruption of the fourteenth century papacy, a view that he would clearly describe in The Inferno.

9. Author Biography
Dante finished The Divine Comedy just before his death on September 14, 1321.
He was still in exile and was living under the protection of Guido da Polenta in Ravenna.
Perhaps still bitter about his expulsion from Florence, Dante wrote on the title page of The Divine Comedy that he was “a Florentine by birth, but not in manner” (Bergin 444).

10. Dante’s Inferno: Introduction
The Divine Comedy is made up of three parts, corresponding with Dante’s three journeys: Inferno (or Hell); Purgatorio (or Purgatory); and Paridisio (or Paradise).
Each part consists of a prologue and approximately 33 cantos.
Since the narrative poem is in an exalted form with a hero as its subject, it is an epic poem.

11. Dante’s Plan
The divinity of the Holy Trinity and mystical significance of the number 3
The Divine Comedy is divided into three books: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.
Each book contains 33 cantos (except for Inferno, which has the introductory canto to the whole comedy, thus
Each realm of the afterlife, Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, has 9 (3 x 3) divisions.
The poetic form of the work, terza rima, is based on tercets (groups of three lines stanzas). The rhyme scheme of terza rima is ABA BCB CDC, etc. Thus, the three (ABA) is centered on a one (B), which produces the next tercet (BCB).
Other important numbers that recur throughout the comedy are 7 and 10, reflecting the seven days of creation, and the perfection of the number 10.

12. The Vatican,
Rome, Italy.
One of the few remaining city-states in the world.

13. DANTE’S MEDIEVAL WORLD
His world was threefold:
The world of politics,
The world of theology,
The world of learning.
His Comedy utilizes all three; these areas are
Interdependent, so that
It is impossible to say
That one was more important than the other.
The middle ages was dominated by the struggle between the papacy
And the empire.
Both thought that they were of divine origin, and indispensable to the welfare of mankind.

14. VIRGIL 70 B.C.E. 19 B.C.E IN THE MIDDLE AGES VIRGIL WAS REGARDED
AS A SAGE AND NECROMANCER.
HIS POEM’S WERE OPENED
IN A MANNER OF DIVINATION
CALLED SORTES. THE BOOK
WAS OPENED AT RANDOM
AND A VERSE SELECTED
AS AN ANSWER TO A
QUESTION. THE BIBLE IS
STILL USED THIS WAY.

15. VIRGIL 70 B.C.E. 19 B.C.E He was the greatest of the Roman poets.
His Aeneid provided the pattern for the
Structure of Dante’s Hell. However, Virgil was chosen as Dante’s guide through hell
Because Dante saw him as his master and inspiration for Dante’s
Poetic style.
Virgil is also revered as the poet of the Roman Empire.
The Aeneid tells of the Empire’s founding. Virgil also wrote in his fourth ecologue
Of the coming of a Wonder Child who will bring the Golden Age,
Interpreted in the Middle Ages as the coming of Christ.

16. Points to remember
THE INFERNO IS PART OF A WORK CALLED THE DIVINE COMEDY.
IN THE MIDDLE AGES COMEDY MEANT SOME HUMAN EXPERIENCE THAT
BEGAN IN TRAGEDY AND ENDED IN HAPPINESS.
IT IS ALSO AN ALLEGORY.
THE MORAL PURPOSE IS TO POINT OUT TO THOSE STILL LIVING THE ERROR OF THEIR WAYS
AND TO PUT THEM ON THE PATH OF SALVATION.

17. Allegory
A narrative that serves as an extended metaphor. Allegories are written in the form of fables, parables, poems, stories, and almost any other style or genre. The main purpose of an allegory is to tell a story that has characters, a setting, as well as other types of symbols, that have both literal and figurative meanings. The difference between an allegory and a symbol is that an allegory is a complete narrative that conveys abstract ideas to get a point across, while a symbol is a representation of an idea or concept that can have a different meaning throughout a literary work.

18. Dante’s Intentions
“But if the work is considered according to its allegorical meaning, the subject is man, liable to the reward and punishment of justice, according as through the freedom of will he is deserving or undeserving … The aim of this work is to remove those living in this life from a state of misery and guide them to a state of happiness.”
The second level upon which to interpret Dante’s work, then, is the allegorical level. Instead of being purely descriptive, the Divine Comedy is also prescriptive; it is allegorical instruction to help human beings avoid sin and find salvation. Notice Dante’s use of the twin concepts of justice and free will.

19. Dante’s Intentions
“The title of the book is ‘Here beginneth the Comedy of Dante Alighieri, a Florentine by birth but not by character.’”
Remember that Dante wrote his comedy during his years of exile from his home city of Florence, and his bitterness toward his home is evident throughout the work.

20. Dante’s Intentions
“And for the comprehension of this, it must be understood that comedy is a certain kind of poetical narrative which differs from all others. It differs from tragedy in its subject matter -- in this way, that tragedy is in its beginning admirable and quiet, in its ending of catastrophe foul and horrible … Comedy, on the other hand, begins with adverse circumstances, but its theme has a happy termination.”
“… From this it is evident why the present work is called a comedy. For if we consider the theme, in its beginning it is horrible and foul because it is in Hell; in its ending, desirable and joyful because it is in Paradise.”

21. Thus, the movement of the plot mirrors the movement of the human soul, from sin and destruction to paradise and salvation. Life is, after all, a comedy.

22. A Discussion Guide
Dante’s journey begins on the night before Good Friday and ends on Easter Wednesday of the year 1300.
The Divine Comedy is a universal theme. All of us sin, and probably most of us regret sinning. Many people can identify with the characters of The Divine Comedy.

23. THE SPIRALING INFERNO DANTE’S HELL IS A HUGE FUNNEL SHAPED PIT.
THE CENTER IS LOCATED BENEATH JERUSALEM.
ITS REGIONS ARE ARRANGED IN A SERIES OF DESCENDING CIRCULAR STAIRCASES
THAT DIMINSH IN CIRCUMFERENCE
THE DEEPER THAT VIRGIL AND DANTE TRAVEL.
THE NINE REGIONS ARE DESIGNATED FOR A PARTICULAR SIN.
THE HIGHER UP A SINNER, THE LIGHTER THE SIN, THE DEEPER THE SINNER, THE DARKER AND MORE TERRIBLE THE SIN.

24. Three Days in Hell
Old Testament: A disobedient Jonah is confined within the belly of a whale. After three days and a humble repentance, he is spewed out.
New Testament: Jesus descends into Hell for three days. He returns with the keys of Hell and Death, as well as large contingent of “virtuous heathens.”

26. The Seven Deadly Sins (Saint Thomas Aquinas)
Lust uncontrolled sexual desire or appetite
Gluttony over-indulgence and over-consumption
Of food, drink, wealth
Avarice insatiable greed for riches, desire to gain and hoard wealth
Sloth laziness, reluctance to work or make an
effort
Anger reaction of intensity, displeasure, hostile
Envy wanting someone else’s possessions
Pride a sense of one’s own dignity or value

27. CONCEPT OF DIVINE RETRIBUTION
PUNISHMENTS IN HELL ARE REGULATED BY THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION.
THESE PUNISHMENTS ARE RELATED TO THE SINS EITHER BY ANALOGY OR ANTITHESIS.
AS ONE SINNED IN LIFE, SO HE OR SHE IS PUNISHED IN DEATH.
WE WILL SEE THIS CONCEPT NUMEROUS TIMES IN THE INFERNO

28. Three Types of Sin (Dante Alighieri)
Incontinence (Level 1)
Lack of self control
For example, you may not be able to control your sexual desire (lust) or your desire for food and drink (gluttony)
Violence (Level 2)
Conscious violation of God’s will
Violence can be directed against yourself (suicide), against God (blasphemy), or against other people (physical violence).
Fraudulent and Traitorous (Level 3)
Using reason and intellect as a weapon
Fraud involves the willful use of misrepresentation to deprive another person of his or her rights.
Complex fraud
Simple fraud

29. Sin is the opposite of virtue
We can look at these kinds of sins as being the opposite of virtues.
Incontinence is the opposite of moderation.
Violence is the opposite of courage
Fraud is the opposite of wisdom

30. Inferno
The Inferno covers Dante’s journey through the Nine Circles of Hell.
Dante is guided by Virgil through Hell so that Dante can eventually get to Heaven.
Each sinner suffers something similar to the sin they committed.
There are XXXIV Cantos in Inferno.

31. AT THE BOTTOM OF THE INFERNOIS
DANTE’S
SATAN.
THE
EPITOME
OF EVIL,
THE FALLEN
ANGEL.

32. THE FINAL
GOAL:
SALVATION BY
THE
CROSS.

33. Questions?
What is the difference between Dante the Pilgrim and Dante the poet?
What do you need to be in the Afterlife in Dante’s Inferno?
What does it mean to repent?
Why do people sin?
Does God make mistakes? Do the sinners belong in the Inferno?

34. The Beginning
Dante is around 35 years old and finds himself in a dark forest.
He encounters three beasts (a leopard, a lion, and a wolf).
While fleeing, he meets Virgil.
Virgil explains that Dante must travel through Hell to get to Heaven.
Virgil also explains that Beatrice (someone Dante loved) and St. Lucy sent him to help Dante.
Virgil tells Dante that only two other men have ever journeyed through Hell, Aeneas and St. Paul.
Canto I and Canto II takes place.
Dante attempts to climb up the hill to the light, but three beast keep him from reaching the light. Allegorically, what does this mean?

35. 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

36. Canto 3: The Gate of Hell Vestibule
At the beginning of Canto III, Dante and Virgil stand outside the gates of Hell.
A Vestibule is a passage between the door and the interior of a building. Even before we reach the first Circle of Hell, we see souls being punished.
While living, they were neither for good nor for evil, and now that they are dead, neither heaven nor hell wants them. Now, these souls do feel deeply, as wasps and hornets bite them. They bleed from bites, and maggots eat the pus that flows to the ground. In life, they did not follow a banner; in death, they follow a banner endlessly.
The uncommitted who are punishes here include angels who fought neither for God nor for Lucifer when Lucifer rebelled against God.
Describe the second crowd of souls who are freshly deceased.
How does Charon react when he notices that Dante is still Living?

37. Questions?
What is the meaning of the sign over the entrance to Hell, and who created the sign?
The souls punished in the Inferno have “lost the good of intellect”(Musa Inferno 3.18) what does this mean?
Which souls can be found in the vestibule of Hell? What is the punishement of the souls?

38. The First Circle Limbo Virtuous pagans & unbaptized infants
Homer, Socrates and Plato
“Only so far afflicted that without hope” they “live in desire” (4.42)
Virgil lives in Limbo because he never knew of Christianity.

39. First Circle: Limbo
Many of the souls here are great thinkers, and part of their punishment for not worshipping God correctly is to be denied knowledge: knowledge of God
Dante sees Pope Celestine V and other historical figures here.

40. First Circle: Limbo
In Canto IV, Dante asks Virgil if he witnessed the harrowing of Hell.
The harrowing of Hell was allegedly when Jesus went through Hell between his death and resurrection and saved the especially virtuous souls of Hell.

41. The Second Circle 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

43. Second Circle: Lust Canto V marks the entrance into the Second Circle.
Dante and Virgil pass by Minos, the judge of the dead.
Minos is from Greek mythology.
Dante sees Francesca da Polenta and Paolo Malatesta. Francesca and Paolo had an affair, but were discovered by Francesca’s husband, Giovanni Malatesta, who killed the two lovers.
Paolo Malatesta was Giovanni’s brother.
Francesca tells Dante that her husband will be in a deeper circle of Hell for murdering his wife and brother.
Dante then faints with pity.

44. Paolo and Francesca lust and the false God of Love Circle Two

45. Canto V Second Circle: Lust
Francesca tells Dante that her husband will be in a deeper circle of Hell for murdering his wife and brother.
Dante then faints with pity
Many of the guilty souls avoid taking their responsibility for their actions.

46. Second Circle: Lust
These sinniers could ot control their lustful desires, which drove them to do things they should have done and in the second circle they are unable to control themselves, for a storms blows them here and there.

47. The Third Circle
The Gluttons

48. The Third Circle Guarded by Cerberus Wallow in mud and muck
Besieged by hail & filthy water
Dante asks Virgil what will happened during the Second Coming of Christ to which Virgil replies that they will be returned to their bodies and their eternal torment will increase.

49. Third Circle: Gluttony
Canto VI begins when Dante regains his consciousness, he and Virgil are in Third Circle of Hell, Gluttony.
Dante and Virgil have to pass by Cerberus, the legendary three-headed dog.
Cerberus is the guard of the Damned.
Dante asks Virgil what will happened during the Second Coming of Christ to which Virgil replies that they will be returned to their bodies and their eternal torment will increase.

50. The avaricious and the prodigal
The Fourth Circle
The avaricious and the prodigal
Avaricious (greedy)
Prodigal (wasteful)
Useless Labor
The Wasters value too much what money can buy, and the Hoarders value too much the money itself

51. Canto VII
In Canto VII, Virgil and Dante have entered the Fourth Circle of Hell.
They are challenged by Plutus, god of wealth.
The Fourth Circle is inhabited by those who were greedy.
The avaricious were people who hoarded their possessions (clergyman, popes, and cardinals) are here.
The prodigal are people who had wealth and wasted it.
The Wraful and Sullen are also punished in this Canto
The two opposed groups are condemned to roll great weights at each other, then meet and crash the weights together crying “Why hoard?” “Why spend?”

52. The Fifth Circle The Wrathful, Sullen, or Slothful
The wrathful are punished by being allowed to exercise their
wrath
Instead of using reason to control their emotions, they allow their emotions to overcome their reason.

53. Fifth Circle: Wrath and Sullenness Canto VII
Canto VII ends with Dante and Virgil arriving at a marsh filled with the souls of the angry and the sullen.
The angry souls are on top attacking one another while the sullen are below the water, at the bottom, gasping for air.

54. Canto VIII & IX
Phlegyas (guard) takes the duo across Styx to the city of Dis.
While being taken across the marsh, a soul claims to know Dante. The soul is that of Filippo Argenti, a wealthy noble from Florence. Filippo was responsible for increasing the violence in Florence.
After crossing Styx reach Dis, the gateway to deeper Hell.
The devils of Dis refuse Dante and Virgil entrance and send the Furies out to attack them. Medusa and Furies are appropriate guards because they are pagan figures.
An angel from Heaven appears and commands the devils to let Dante and Virgil pass.
Dante and Virgil enter Dis to discover a large graveyard in flames, the circle for heretics.

55. Canto IX
City of Dis
Boundary between upper and lower Hell.

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

57. Canto X Sixth Circle: Heresy
When Canto X starts, a soul, Farinata degli Uberti, recognizes Dante and the two address each other with respect. The Ghibellines were a Florentine family that fought the Guelfs, the family Dante belonged to. Hersey is incorrect thinking about God, having the wrong beliefs concerning religion. The circle devoted to punishing heresy lies between the circles devoted to punishing incontinence and the Circles devoted to punishing violence and fraud, because it’s not a pagan sin it’s a Christian sin. Factionalism is two political or parties struggling against each other Heretics are in the flaming tombs. Their punishment is to get exactly what they thought they would get after death: a tomb. The tombs are opened until reunited with bodies.

58. Canto 11
In Canto XI, Dante and Virgil stop at the burning tomb of Pope Anastasius, who, in the fifth century, denied the divine birth of Jesus Christ.
Virgil then explains the layout of the rest of Hell.
The violent is punished in Circle 7
Those who commited fruad are punished in Circles 8-9

59. Cantos 12-17
The 7th Circle, the Circle of the violent, will be described for the next 6 cantos: 12-17 T

60. Circle 7: Violence against God, his creations, and self caused blood of others to flow, now immersed in blood certain level of immersion centaurs shoot arrows at sinners who try to rise above their appointed level in the river

61. Canto 12 Guarded by Minotaur
Sinners who harmed others physically through violence are boiled in a river of boiling blood. Emersion based on how much blood sinner caused to flow. Centaurs shoot arrows at sinners who attempt to rise above the appointed level.
EX. Alexander the Great, Atttila Hun
Dante’s Silence?

62. Canto X
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 (Homosexuals)
CIRCLE #7.3.3: Violence Against Art

63. Profligate spenders are torn by dogs
Violence Against Self
Piero delle vigne
Profligate spenders are torn by dogs

64. Guarding the suicides are the harpies
Canto 13
Forest of the suicides
Trees do not have self determination, free will, or make decisions the way human beings do
Guarding the suicides are the harpies
Profligate spenders

65. Canto 14 The Sodomites violence against nature male homosexuality
Flakes of fire drop from the sky, sinners busy brushing the fire away
These sinners take something that should be fertile and make it infertile or reverse

66. Canto 14
1) The blasphemers, cursed God, so they will lie on their backs, looking upward in the direction of what they cursed
2) Usurers (reedy moneylenders) are bent over like they counting money
3) Sodomites forever running

67. Canto 15
This Canto is about taking something that should be fertile and making it infertile
Blasphemers are violent against God directly, usurers and sodomites are violent against God indirectly
Note the ironic wall built around the burning desert

68. Canto 16 Violence against nature contiunued
Dante meets 3 Florentines who were warriors and punished for sodomy
Ex. Guido Guerrra, Tegghiaio Aldobrandi,Jacopo Rusticucci
At end of Canto Virgil uses Dante’s cord (belt) and throws it into pit to summon Geryon

69. Canto 17 Geryon guard of circles dedicated to punishing fraud
Dante and Virgil are flown to circle 8

70. Violence
Ugolino and Ruggieri

71. Mmmm…
(smack) (slurp)
Deee-licious!

72. Seventh Circle: Violence
The Seventh Circle is divided into three sections: the violent against others, the violent against self (suicides), and the violent against God and his creations (blasphemers, usurers, and sodomites).
In Canto XII, Dante and Virgil go to border between the Sixth and Seventh circles. They spot the Minotaur (main guard) and flee to Seventh Circle.
The Seventh Circle is guarded by centaurs (Chiron is the leader) who shot arrows at those who try to escape.
The first part of the Seventh Circle has to violent against others standing in boiling blood. Dante sees Alexander the Great up to his eyebrows in blood.
The second part of the Seventh Circle (guarded bi Harpies) has to suicides who are turned into trees. In canto XIII, Virgil has Dante snap a twig off one tree and the tree bleeds. The tree tells Dante that during the second coming, their bodies will hang from the branches of the trees their soul occupies.
Profligate spenders guarded and torn by dogs

73. End of Seventh Circle Canto XIIII
The last part of the Seventh Circle and the beginning of Canto XIV has the violent against God and his creations. A large desert that rains fire is filled with the sinners. The blasphemers have to lie on their backs, the usurers sit, and the sodomites walk around.
Virgil and Dante walk across the desert in a stream with paved banks. Virgil explains that the rivers in the underworld all come from a man in Crete made up of different metals that represent the ages of man. The man is split in two and tears pour out and into the afterworld.

75. The Malbolge
“evil pockets or pouches”
this circle has 10 ditches in it. Each ditch has a different sinner, they can’t get out, but a number of stone bridges cross the ditches
Entry to lowest levels of Hell – for those who use their God-given intellect to distort the truth:
Fraud
Treachery

76. 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

77. Canto 18 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.
These sinners walk in lines past each other, showing that their sins are related, the devils whip and insult the sinners
They caused others pain now they themselves feel pain Ex. Venedico Caccianemico, Jason and the Argonauts

78. CIRCLE #8.2: Flatterers
Filled with excrement (crap came out of their
Mouth. These sinners do not want to be recognised

79. Canto 19 Simonist
Simony is the selling or buying of church oggices or spiritual benefits
Th simonist are upside down in holes resembling baptismal fonts, and flames doncr on their feet. When others arrive the are pushed deeper into the hole. They pocketed money sinfuly gained; now they are being pcketed themselves
Dante speaks with Pope Nicholas III
Punishment is the same given to assassins in Dante’s time because people who sell church offics are assassins of the church

80. Canto 20: CIRCLE #8.4: Fortunetellers and Soothsayers
These sinners tried to look too far into the future, now, their heads are twisted around so that they always look backwards for eternity and tears flow between their butt cheeks

81. CIRCLE #8.5: Grafters
“the acquisition of gain (as money) in dishonest or questionable ways; also: illegal or unfair gain”

82. Making a show of holding beliefs that you don’t actually hold
CIRCLE #8.6: Hypocrites
Making a show of holding beliefs that you don’t actually hold
Punishment : they wear heavy cloaks made of gold on the outside but lead on the inside
Hypocrites clothing resemble cloaks of friars. They are the only sinners in the Inferno who wear clothing

83. CIRCLE #8.7: Thieves “ Canto 24-25
Punishment: running around surrounded by serpents, when bit they are consumed by flames then reconstituted
In living world they stole from others now-their identity-is stolen
Transformed into snakes when limbs are stolen by other thieves or can unite into one body

84. CIRCLE #8.8: Evil Counselors and Deceivers
Fraud unspecified-except in terms of the talents that characterize its practitioners,
Punishment enclosed in flames for eternity and there souls cannot be seen
just as they kept their true motives and thoughts hidden from other people, so are their souls hidden for eternity.

85. c.28
CIRCLE #8.9: Sowers of Discord/Scandal/Schism
These sinners caused splits in religion, politics and families and they are punished by being slit by a devil with a sword.

86. CIRCLE #8.10: Falsifiers
Ulysses

87. Bolgia 1-3
Bolgia 1 has the seducers and pimps being marched and whipped by demons.
Bolgia 2 has flatters forced to stand in human excrement, supposedly to symbolize the words they used.
Bolgia 3 has the corrupted clergyman buried headfirst with flames engulfing their feet. Dante talks to Pope Nicholas II in Canto XIX, whose flame is redder than the others.

88. Bolgia 4-7
Bolgia 4 has the mystics and sorcerers walking forward with their heads facing backward so that they may only see behind them.
Bolgia 5 has the corrupt politicians submerged in boiling tar with devils battering the souls who come with hooks. Two devils allow Dante and Virgil to pass on to Bolgia 6.
Bolgia 6 is home to the hypocrites who are forced to wear cloaks made of lead that gilded in gold. Others are crucified to the ground and are trembled by the walkers.
Bolgia 7 is where to thieves are in hell. The thieves are chased by many snakes. When bitten, the thieves burn up and the snakes turns into the thieves.

89. Bolgia 8-10
Bolgia 8 is where the false advisers are on fire for eternity. One soul is that of Ulysses, who like Dante, came upon the mountain of Purgatory, but died instead gaining divine assistance.
Bolgia 9 is where the souls who caused disruptions are dismembered or cut open.
Bolgia 10 is where falsifiers are cursed to have horrible skin conditions like uncontrollable swelling.

90. traitors
Cassius
Brutus
Judas

91. CIRCLE #9.1 - CAINA: Treachery to Kindred punished by being frozen in ice up to their chins, tears freeze
CIRCLE #9.2 - ANTENORA: Treachery to Country or Political Party completely buried in ice
CIRCLE #9.3 - TOLOMEA: Treachery to Guests buried under the ice
CIRCLE #9.4 - JUDECCA: Treachery to Lords or Superiors chewed on by Lucifer
LOWEST LEVEL OF HELL: The worst of those who betrayed their benefactors
~Satan, Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius (Macbeth?)

92. Ninth Circle: Betrayal
The Ninth Circle is divided into four parts: Caina, Antenora, Ptolomea, and Judecca.
The entire Ninth Circle is frozen in ice.
Caina is where the treacherous to family are frozen so their bodies and face are in the ice. Dante asks who one soul is, but the soul refuses. A neighbor soul, however, calls the first soul’s name out and all the other souls’ names out.

93. Antenora and Ptolomea
Antenora is home to the treacherous of country. The souls are frozen like in Caina, but their faces point forward. Like in Caina as well, the souls betray another when Dante asks who one soul is.
In Canto XXXIII, Dante and Virgil spot two souls frozen together; one behind the other. The back soul is biting and chewing on the head of the first. They are Archbishop Ruggieri (front) and Count Ugolino of Pisa. Ugolino was betrayed by Ruggieri, who locked Ugolino and his two sons and two grandchildren in jail and let them starve to death.
Ptolomea has the souls of the treacherous to guests frozen so their face points upward and their tears freeze and blind them. One soul cries out to the duo. He is Fra Alberigo who invited his younger brother and son to a banquet and murdered them. Dante says that Alberigo is still living, but Alberigo tells Dante that when a horrible sin is committed, the soul goes straight to hell, while to body becomes possessed by a devil.

94. Judecca
After leaving Ptolomea, Dante and Virgil arrive at the final part of Hell.
Dante sees Satan for the first time. Satan has three pairs of wings that freeze him and the souls in the Ninth Circle. Satan has three faces (red, yellow, and black) and he cries tears of blood. In his three mouths, he mangles the three souls of Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius.
Judas betrayed Christ while Brutus and Cassius betrayed Julius Caesar.
Virgil tells Dante to grab hold of him. Virgil carries Dante through a gap in the rock and the are now under Satan. Virgil tells Dante that they must now begin the journey through Purgatory.

95. Canto 11 Kind of a break for Dante
Virgil teaches how hell is organized

96. Cantos
Canto 12: Sinners who harmed others physically through violence are boiled in a river of blood. These sinners include murderers and tyrants
Canto 13: The suicides are punished in a gloomy wood
Canto 14 through 17: Blasphemers, Sodomites, and Greedy moneylenders are punished in a burning desert

97. The Simonists Canto 19 CIRCLE #8.3:
Simony is the selling or buying of church offices or spiritual benefits

98. Canto 19
Sinners upside down because they placed things upside down in the living world-material things before spiritual things
Flames dance at their feet and when new Simonist arrive, they push deeper into the hole of those already there

99. Canto 22: Grafters
Dante spends more space describing this place of punishment than any other. This is perhaps understandable, since one of the trumped-up charges made against him to justify his exile was that the was guilty of taking bribes.
Punishment is being submerged in boiling pitch(tar) winged devils are guards and they capture any grafter who is sticking his back out of the pitch to ease his pain

100. Canto 29-30
The Alchemists have leprosy (the Alchemists tried to turn lead into gold, and now their skin turns from healthy to diseased).
The Evil Impersonators are insane (they made other people confused about who they were, now they are insane , confused about who they are.
The Counterfeiters-who made what they had bigger than it should be- have dropsy(which makes part of the body swell up and bigger than it should be).
Liars-whose testimony stank-are feverous and stink

103. Canto 31: Towering Giants
Nimrod, a giant who attempted to build the Tower of Babel and reach Heaven.
Other giants were guilty of the sin of pride, and they rebelled against their ancient gods just like the angels of God.
The giants are immersed halfway into the ground. Most are chained to keep them immobile
A being with great intellect and great strength who whishes to do evil can cause much destruction. We prefer that criminals who wish to do great evils be stupid and weak.

104. Dante and Virgil use the hair on Lucifer to climb to a cavern with a winding path that leads upward to the Mountain of Purgatory.
Stephen in a Hell of his own making

105. The End of the Inferno
Dante and Virgil continue on their journey to Heaven.
The Inferno was not only a religious poem, but a largely political one as well.
Dante died seven years after Inferno’s completion.

106. Where do you fit in?
Take the test and find out… if you DARE