1. Dante’s
Inferno
Holbrook’s
Highway to Hell
No Speeding!

2. The Vestibule Souls of the Indifferent; the uncommitted Punishment:
Proceed
With
Caution!
The Vestibule
Souls of the Indifferent; the uncommitted
Punishment:
Run through wasps & hornets while carrying a banner
Soul here – Pontius Pilot for making the great refusal

3. River of Acheron: River of Woe
Only the dead may pass across this river
Charon (from Greek mythology) is the boat keeper of the Acheron
The Doomed Souls Embarking to Cross the Acheron
Gustave Doré

4. Homer and the Classic Poets
Circle 1
Limbo
Those who came before Christ
The Unbaptized
Homer and the Classic Poets
Gustave Doré
Punishment –
No hope of seeing God
Always Melancholy
Souls Present –
Homer, Socrates, Virgil, Plato, Aristotle, Ovid…

5. Judgment KING MINOS Decides the fate and punishment of the Dead
Abandon All Hope,
Judgment
Ye Who Enter Here
KING MINOS
(formerly the ruler of Crete; a son of Zeus)
Decides the fate and punishment of the Dead
Wraps his tail around a sinner to tell him to which circle he will be going.
Minos
Gustave Doré

6. King Minos
Minos
William Blake

7. The Lustful Sins of Lust
Circle 2
The Lustful
Sins of Lust
Punishment – Spin within a whirlwind for eternity
Souls Here –
Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Paolo & Francesca
Whirlwind of Lovers
by William Blake

8. The Lustful continued…
The Souls of Paola and Francesca
Gustave Doré
(give the story here…)

9. The Gluttons Producers of nothing but garbage and offal
Circle 3
The Gluttons
Producers of nothing but garbage and offal
Punishment – live in a mixture of stinking snow & freezing rain that forms a bile slush (basically a giant garbage dump)
Souls - Ciacco the Hog, a citizen of Florence
Guardian – Cerberus:
3-headed dog of hell, stands over the Gluttons slavering over them.
Gluttony - 1 : excess in eating or drinking 2 : greedy or excessive indulgence

10. The Gluttons Cerberus Circle 3 Cerebus William Blake
Cerberus presides over the third circle of Hell.
He is prevented from devouring Virgil and Dante by Virgil who distracts the beast by feeding him handfuls of earth.
Cerebus
William Blake

11. The Gluttons: Circle 3
The Souls of the Gluttonous
Gustave Doré

12. The Gluttons…continued (more art)
The Gluttons Ciacco
Gustave Doré

13. Hoarders & Wasters (Avaricious & Prodigal)
Circle 4
Hoarders & Wasters (Avaricious & Prodigal)
Those who are greedy & those who are recklessly extravagant.
Punishment – roll stones at each other while screaming, “Why squander,” and “Why grasp.”
Souls – You can’t recognize anyone here because their features were so dimmed from fighting.
The Souls of the Avaricious Gustave Doré

14. Avaricious & Prodigal
The Avaricious and the Prodigal
Gustave Doré

15. The Wrathful & the Sullen
Circle 5
The Wrathful & the Sullen
People who are always sad, resentful, angry, etc.
Punishment:
The wrathful are immersed in the marsh of the Styx River while fighting each other
Punishment for the Sullen – entombed under the mud of the Styx River
Souls – Filippo Argenti, who rises from the mud and attacks the Virgil and Dante

16. Wrathful & Sullen continued…
Virgil shows Dante the Souls of the Wrathful
Gustave Doré
Circle 5

17. Wrathful & Sullen (art)
The Stygian Lake, with the Ireful Sinners Fighting
William Blake

18. Wall of the City of Dis Guarded by the Furies and Rebellious Angels
A heavenly messenger opens the gate to the city with a poof!
The City of Dis and The Heretics
Botticelli

19. Wall of City of Dis continued…
Dante and Virgil have to run past a scary minotaur (a monster shaped half like a man and half like a bull)
The Minotaur on the Shattered Cliff
Gustave Doré

20. The Heretics
Circle 6
Sin - a baptized member of the Roman Catholic Church who disavows a revealed truth
Punishment – Confined to burning tombs
Souls – …
Guardians…
The Heretics
Botticelli

21. Violence Against Neighbors
Circle 7
RING
ONE
Violence Against Neighbors
Punishment – Immersed in River of blood according to the sinner’s degree of guilt
Souls – Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun
The Violent against their Neighbour
Botticelli

22. Violence Against Oneself (Suicides)
Circle 7
Violence Against Oneself (Suicides)
RING
TWO
Punishment – Souls encased in trees with Harpies pecking at them. Those who destroy their own bodies are denied Human Forms.
Harpies are foul mythological creatures that are part woman & part bird.
a foul malign creature in Greek mythology that is part woman and part bird 2 a : a predatory person : LEECH b : a shrewish woman
Harpies in the Forest of the Suicides
Gustave Doré

23. Violence Against God RING Circle 3 7 THREE TYPES:
Blasphemers – stretched on burning sand
Sodomites – running on burning sand
Usurers – huddled on burning sand & sit with purses around their necks (kind of like a loan shark)
Souls – Brunetto Latini, Dante’s former teacher
blas·pheme 1 : to speak of or address with irreverence 2 : REVILE, ABUSE intransitive senses : to utter blasphemy
sod·om·ite Pronunciation: -"mIt Function: noun one who practices sodomy
usu·rer Pronunciation: 'yü-zh&r-&r, 'yüzh-r&r Function: noun one that lends money especially at an exorbitant rate
The Blasphemer
William Blake (British Museum)

24. Violence Against God Circle 7: Ring 3
Capaneus - one of the seven kings who besieged Thebes. He defied Jupiter and was killed by a thunderbolt. Dante describes him as lying proud and disdainful, apparently unaffected by the flames.
Capaneus the Blasphemer  
William Blake

25. Violence Against God, Nature, and Art
RING 3
ART
Circle 7
Brunetto Latini accosts Dante
Gustave Doré

26. River Styx: The River of Hate
Phlegyas ferries Dante and Virgil across the Styx
Gustave Doré

27. The Fraudulent: Panderers & Seducers
Bolgia 1
Circle 8
The Fraudulent: Panderers & Seducers
Sin –
Panderers (to provide gratification for others' desires ) & Seducers (to persuade to disobedience or disloyalty; sometimes has to do with sexual)
Punishment –
Whipped by devils

28. The Fraudulent: Flatterers
Bolgia 2
Circle 8
The Fraudulent: Flatterers
Punishment –
Covered with filth
Souls Present
Jason and others
Definition - to praise excessively especially from motives of self-interest
Paramours and Flatterers
Gustave Doré

29. The Fraudulent: Simonists
Bolgia 3
Circle 8
Simonists are people who sell ecclesiastical favors (If you pay me money, I’ll make sure you get into heaven.)
Punishment – Turned upside down with fire on their feet
Souls present – Pope Nicholas III - Pope from Dante views him as one who corrupted church office.
The Simonists, by Gustave Doré

30. The Fraudulent: Fortune Tellers
Bolgia 4
The Fraudulent: Fortune Tellers
Circle 8
Punishment – Their heads are twisted and then turned backwards
Souls Present – Tieresias (the blind prophet from Oedipus and Antigone)
Dante names seven souls in all, one of them a woman, Manto, after whom Virgil's birthplace Mantua was named; one of the men is probably her father Tiresias. Virgil and Dante look down from the rock bridge above.
The Necromancers and Augurs
William Blake 

31. The Fraudulent: Corrupt Officials
Bolgia 5
The Fraudulent: Corrupt Officials
Circle 8
Punishment – Covered by boiling pitch (dirt/tar) and harassed by 10 sneaky demons
This art scene is set in the fifth chasm of the eighth circle. Bonturo Dati's fellow magistrate is being carried by a demon and is about to be thrown into the boiling pitch before being attacked with hooks.
The Devil Carrying the Lucchese Magistrate to the Boiling-Pitch Pool of Corrupt Officials
William Blake

32. The Fraudulent: Hypocrites
Circle 8
Bolgia 6
The Fraudulent: Hypocrites
Definition - a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
Punishment – Clothed in leaden mantles (like a cloak)
Souls Present – Caiaphas
The Hypocrites
Gustave Doré

33. The Fraudulent: Thieves
Circle 8
Bolgia 7
The Fraudulent: Thieves
Punishment –
Trapped in a snake pit with their hands bound; then they change into snakes
Souls Present –
Vanni Fucci
Thieves
Gustave Doré

34. Thieves: Vanni Fucci
Vanni Fucci had been bitten by a serpent, instantly transformed into ashes, and then, like the phoenix, reconstituted into his former shape. This was his punishment for robbing the treasury of San Jacopo in the Church of San Zeno, Pistoia, in Here Vanni Fucci blasphemes against God with an obscene gesture. The flames rain down on him from the dark cloud above and serpents renew their attacks on him.
Vanni Fucci 'Making Figs' Against God
William Blake 

35. The Fraudulent: Thieves
Here, the two poets have crossed over the cliff into the seventh chasm of the eighth circle, where the Thieves are punished by serpents.
The Thieves and the Serpents  
William Blake

36. The Fraudulent: Evil Counselors
Circle 8
Bolgia 8
The Fraudulent: Evil Counselors
Punishment – Concealed in flames
Souls Present – Ulysses, Diomed, Guido
Evil Counselors
Gustave Doré

37. Evil Counselors (art)
Virgil and Dante are now in the eighth chasm of the eighth circle, where the punishment of Evil Counselors occurs. The figures are swathed in individual flames, likened by Dante to fireflies. Ulysses and Diomed are punished for deceiving the Trojans with the Wooden Horse.
Ulysses and Diomed Swathed in the Same Flame  
William Blake

38. The Fraudulent: Sowers of Discord
Circle 8
Bolgia 9
The Fraudulent: Sowers of Discord
Definition – (lack of agreement or harmony (as between persons, things, or ideas) b : active quarreling or conflict resulting from discord among persons or factions : Strife)
Punishment – Physically torn apart, wounded, and mutilated
The Sowers of Discord
Gustave Doré

39. The Fraudulent: Counterfeiters & Alchemists
Bolgia 10
Circle 8
The Fraudulent: Counterfeiters & Alchemists
Punishment – diseased with all kinds of deformities
Dante sees two pale and naked shadows rushing out biting like hungry swine. One, Gianni Schicchi, grabs Capocchio by the neck with his fangs. Capocchio, is probably the Florentine alchemist who was burned alive in Sienna in The other animal-headed figure on the left is Myrrha, daughter of King Cinyras of Cyprus with whom she had an incestuous relationship.
The Pit of Disease: Gianni Schicchi and Myrrha by William Blake  

40. Giant’s Well (art)
In antiquity Geryon was a monster with three heads, six arms and three bodies joined together at the waist; he was slain by Hercules. In the middle ages, however, Geryon was equated with fraud, with the face of a just man but the body of a reptile.
Geryon Conveying Dante and Virgil Down Towards Malebolge  
William Blake

41. Giant’s Well
Geryon
Gustave Doré
Geryon: Giant on whose back Dante descends to lower hell; has a dragon-like form in accordance with Revelations 9: 9-20
The Giant’s Well leads to Circles 8 because Geryon represents Fraud.

42. Treachery: Traitors Against Kin (Family)
Circle 9
Round
ONE
Treachery: Traitors Against Kin (Family)
Punishment –
Held in ICE with their heads bent forward
The Circle of the Traitors: Dante's Foot Striking Bocca degli Abbati
William Blake

43. Treachery: Against Country
Circle 9
Round
TWO
Treachery: Against Country
Punishment –
Gripped by ICE while biting one another’s head
Souls Present –
Archbishop Ruggieri, Ugolino
Ugolino
Gustave Doré

44. Treachery: Against Guests & Hosts
Circle 9
Round 3
Treachery: Against Guests & Hosts
This means being a traitor to a guest in your home or to a person hosting you (like hospitality)
Punishment – Held in ICE with head up, freezing their eyes
Traitors
Gustave Doré

45. Treachery: Against Lords & Benefactors
Circle 9
Round 4
Treachery: Against Lords & Benefactors
This means treachery to masters (like Brutus & Cassius)
Punishment – Completely immersed in ICE, held by Lucifer
Traitors
Botticelli

46. Lucifer Lucifer William Blake
Dante and Virgil are now in the ninth and last circle, that of the Traitors, and have reached the inner of four concentric rings where traitors are frozen in a kind of building, shining like straw in glass. At the centre stands Lucifer, frozen from the waist down, with three heads and bat-like wings, the flapping of which freezes the heart of Hell. In each mouth he chews on a sinner: Judas Iscariot, Brutus and Cassius.
Lucifer
William Blake

47. Lucifer (art)
Lucifer, King of Hell, by Gustave Doré

48. Lucifer (art)
Lucifer
Botticelli

49. Lucifer (art)
Dante, in the lowest circle of hell, witnesses a gigantic Lucifer who possesses three heads, the wings of a bat, and is covered with frozen, matted hair.  He weeps from all six eyes a grotesque mixture of tears, blood, and pus.
artist unavailable

50. Lucifer (art)
“We must depart from evil so extreme.” Dante Alighieri La Divina Commedia
Lucifer
Salvadore Dalí

51. Lucifer (art)
Salvadore Dali as Lucifer
by Jade Christian Green