INFERNO

Dante Alighieri
(written 1308-1321)

Before
entering
hell:

At the age of thirty-five, on the night of Good Friday in the year 1300, Dante finds himself lost in a dark wood and full of fear. He sees a sun-drenched
mountain in the distance, and he tries to climb it, but three beasts, a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf, stand in his way. Dante is forced to return to the
forest where he meets the spirit of Virgil, who promises to lead him on a journey through Hell so that he may be able to enter Paradise. Dante agrees
to the journey and follows Virgil through the gates of Hell.

Gate of
Hell

The two poets enter the vestibule of Hell where the souls of the uncommitted are tormented by biting insects and damned to chase a blank banner
around for eternity. The poets reach the banks of the river Acheron where souls await passage into Hell proper. The ferryman, Charon, reluctantly
agrees to take the poets across the river to Limbo, the first circle of Hell, where Virgil permanently resides.

CIRCLES OF HELL (UPPER HELL)

Canto

IV

VI

Circle

Sinners / Sin

Punishment

1st (Limbo)

The Virtuous Pagans they were born

before Christ, or
because the soul was
an unbaptized child.

They have no hope;

Cannot come to
heaven but they
aren't tormented
either

The Carnal (LUST)

The spirits are

whirled and swept by
an unceasing storm.

MINOS - Judge of the

damned who assigns each
soul to their respective
eternal torment

PAOLO & FRANCESCA - two souls that are damned

together for they have cheated on Paolo's brother
who is Francesca's husband; SEMIRAMIS, DIDO,
CLEOPATRA, HELEN, ACHILLES, PARIS, &
TRISTAN;

The Gluttons
(GLUTTONY)

The souls lie in a

gigantic garbage
dump of stinking snow
and freezing rain, halfburied while Cerberus
slavers over them as
they had slavered
over food

CERBERUS - Threeheaded dog of Hell, stands

guard over the glutton
souls, ripping & tearing
them with his claws and
teeth
PLUTUS - the poets had
encountered Plutus at the
edge of the circle

CIACCO - also a citizen of Florence, Italy like Dante

and gave a prophecy

2nd
(HELL
PROPER)

3rd

Monsters Encountered

Souls Encountered

HOMER, HORACE, OVID, and LUCAN

VII

4th

VII - VIII

5th (LAST
STATION OF
UPPER HELL)

The Hoarders &

Wasters (GREED)

They are rolling

enormous weights at
one another

The Wrathful and the

Sullen (WRATH)

Immersed in marsh of
Styx, striking one
another with hands,
feet, and head, as well
as biting one another.

PLUTUS - wolf of hell,

stands as guard and
menaces the poets
PHLEGYAS - boatman of
Styx, takes damned souls
into deeper hell,
reluctantly gave the poets
a passage to lower hell
REBELLIOUS ANGELS
who denied the poets a
passage to the city of Dis

FILIPPO ARGENTI - Dante's Florentine enemy, one

of the wrathful souls, further punished (as wished
by Dante) by other souls who ripped him to pieces

CIRCLES OF HELL (LOWER HELL - City of Dis, the Capitol of Hell)

IX - XI

6th

XI - XVII

7th

The Heretics

Violence against
Persons and their
goods, XII

Violence against
Themselves
(Suicides), XIII

Dante sees a countryside of

sorrow, a huge graveyard
with uneven tombs covering
the plain. The tombs are
raised to a red heat by
flames outside of every wall.
Moaning and sounds of
torment come from the open
tombs.

REBELLIOUS ANGELS
-guards of the gate to the
lower hell, creatures of
ultimate evil (even Virgil is
powerless against them)
non-monster: THE
MESSENGER who gave
them passage

The sinners' souls are boiling

in blood (Phlegethon)

MINOTAUR - a bull-headed
monster; CENTAURS guide
them to a shallow place in
the river of blood where
Dante can cross; CHIRON a centaur who volunteers
NESSUS to be Dante's ride
across the river

They become trees and

bushes and fed upon by
harpies. When the soul is
torn from the body by
suicide, it is sent by Minos to
the seventh circle, where it
falls to the ground, sprouts,
and grows. The Harpies eat
its leaves, giving it great
pain.

FARINATA - Dante's political enemy;

SHADES who can know the past and see into
the future, but have no awareness of what
happens in the present.

The tree-spirit: He, as minister to Frederick

II, was absolutely faithful and honest to him,
but the envy of the court (they could not bribe
him) turned Frederick against him. Because he
could not bear to lose this trust, in sorrow he
killed himself.

XVIII - XXX

Violence against
God, Art, and
Nature,
(Blasphemers,
Sodomites, and
Usurers) XIV, XV,
XVI, XVII

Many souls are on this plain,

some lying down, some
crouching, and some
wandering restlessly. Flakes
of fire fall on this desert,
making it burn and
increasing their pain. They
try to save themselves from
this rain of fire by waving it
away with their hands;
USURERS - eyes are full of
tears and set on enormous
purses hanging around their
necks.

The Seducers, XVIII

"The poets approach the

first of what can also be
thought of as chasms or
valleys, filled with tormented
sinners walking in both
directions. Demons with
horns flog them continuously
to keep them moving."

False Flatterers,
XVIII

Writhing in sewage and

excrement

Simony, XIX

These sinners used their

positions in the church for
personal monetary gain. The
Simonists are upside-down
in round holes the size of
baptismal fonts.The soles of
their feet are on fire.

GERYON - an innocent
man, but his body is halfreptile, half-hairy beast,
with a scorpion's stinger at
the end of his tail who
transports them to the next
circle

CAPANEUS, killed by a thunderbolt thrown

from the hand of the angry Zeus
SER BRUNETTO LATINI - one of the shades
that recognizes Dante and is overjoyed to see
him, he asks to walk with Dante for a bit
because if he stops for even a moment, he will
have to lay still under the flames for 100 years
and not be allowed to fan them off; he gives
Dante some advice, as well as a prophesy
about his coming exile
THREE SHADES (SODOMITES) run to Dante,
recognizing his Florentine dress. Because they
are in the realm of the Sodomites and cannot
stop walking, they form a circle and continue
walking to speak to Dante. One shade tells
Dante who they are, and tells him that they
should not be looked upon with contempt
because of their present condition, for in life
they were famous

VENEDICO CACCIANEMICO of Bologna, who

admits that he brought his own sister "the fair
Ghisolabella 'round to serve the will and lust of
the Marquis." He says that there are more
souls from Bologna in the ditch with him than
there are living in Bologna at present.
THE PROUD JASON, seeming strong in spite
of the pain he receives in the pit

8th
Alessio Interminelli da Lucca
Thas the whore
Nicholas III - the shade who is apparently
suffering more torment than others, moving
and shaking violently; his feet are burning
more fiercely than the others.

Fortune Tellers and

Diviners, XX

These sinners must walk

through eternity with their
heads on backwards and
tears in their eyes. They
sinned by trying to foretell
the future, which is known
only to God.

Grafters, XXI, XXII

Grafters took every

opportunity to take
advantage of others, sinners
who used their position in
life to gain personal wealth
or advantages for
themselves. The grafters are
tossed into a boiling pitch

Hypocrites, XXIII

Thieves, XXIV, XXV

MALACODA, leader of the

demons, steps forward.
After hearing about Virgil's
divinely inspired journey,
Malacoda grants the poets
safe passage and rounds up
a group of ten demons to
escort them to the next
bridge.

THE ORDER OF THE JOVIAL FRIARS - had

been named to govern Florence jointly, in
order to keep peace. Dante angrily begins to
speak to the friars of their evil, when he sees a
figure on the ground held by three stakes.
FRIAR CATALAN explains that this is
CAIAPHAS, the high priest who told the
council of Pharisees that it was better for Jesus
to die than for the whole nation to perish.
Therefore, he lies where each one who passes
by must step upon him, and his father-in-law
(ANNAS) and the Council are punished in the
same manner.

They wear cloaks and hoods

that are dazzling with their
glitter but lined with lead.

The sinners are naked, and

their hands are tied behind
them with a serpent whose
head and tail are threaded
through the spirit's body at
the loins and tied in coils
and knots at the front.

THE SINNER WHO DECEIVED THE

DEMONS he was born in Navarre and worked
for a king and began to graft, which is the
reason he now suffers in the pitch. The sinner
offered the demons a deal and distracted
them giving the poets a chance to slip away
unnoticed (XXII)

CACUS, a Centaur races up

to the group and asks the
location of the blasphemer
(Vanni Fucci). Virgil explains
to Dante that Cacus does
not reside with his fellows
at the banks of Phlegethon
because he stole Hercules'
cattle. (XXV)

VANNI FUCCI OF PISTOIA - Another serpent

sinks its fangs in the neck of a shade, who
immediately takes afire, burns to ashes, and
falls on the ground, only to resume its shape
and its torment once again. This shade is
Vanni Fucci. He stole a treasure from the
Church of St. James in his hometown; he had
accused an innocent man, Vanni della Nona,
with the crime, for which della Nona was
executed.

Evil Counselors,
XXVI, XXVII

Sowers of Discord
and Scandal, and
the Creators of
Schism within the
papacy, XXVIII

"Each of the flames contains

a sinner, which is hidden
from view by the fire
surrounding it.

The sinners in the ninth

chasm are damned to walk
around the chasm until they
arrive at a devil who slashes
them with a long sword,
according to the nature of
their sin.

ULYSSES AND DIOMEDE - a great flame that

splits away into two horns of fire who are in
Hell because of three evil deeds: the ambush
of the Trojan Horse; the weeping of Deidamia,
the King's daughter whom Achilles abandoned;
and the matter of the theft of Pallas Athena's
statue at the Palladium; (XXVII)
COUNT GUIDO DA MONTFELTRO who wants
to know news from the upper world about his
native city, Romagna. Dante tells him that
Romagna is never without war and goes on to
give him details of the recent past.
MAHOMET, disemboweled, who tells him that
his son-in-law, Ali, is in the same condition and
that all the others are horribly mangled in
some manner. As they circle the chasm, the
wounds heal, but when they complete the
circle, the wounds are renewed by a devil with
a sword. Mahomet asks Dante to tell Fra
Dolcino, who is still alive, to store food for the
winter or risk joining him in the chasm.
ANOTHER SOUL addresses Dante and asks
that he warn Guido and Angiolello that they
will be thrown from their ships into the sea by
the one-eyed traitor (Malatestino).
MOSCA DEI LAMBERTI, calls out that he too
wishes to be remembered, but Dante wishes
death to all his kindred, and he runs off like a
madman.
A HEADLESS FIGURE approaches Dante,
holding his head in front of him as if it were a
lantern. The figure holds his head up to the
poets, so they can hear him better. The figure
says that he is Bertrand de Born, and that he
set the young king to mutiny against his own
father. Because he parted father and son, he
spends eternity with his head parted from his
body.

Falsifiers (The
alchemists) XXIX

"While Virgil and Dante are

talking, they reach the
bridge over the tenth and
final chasm of the eighth
circle. Here they see the
suffering and hear the wails
and weeping of the Falsifiers.
The noise is so loud that
Dante covers his ears, and
the stench is so powerful
that it reminds him of rotting
human flesh, lying exposed
to the world"

Falsifiers (Evil
Impersonators) XXX

They must run without

pause, chasing the internal
apparition of those they
impersonated while they are
preyed upon by their own
furies.

Falsifiers
(Counterfeiters),
XXX

Falsifiers (False
Witnesses), XXX

XXXI XXXIV

9th ENTRANCE

Fraud (Giants)

Virgil interrupts two of the souls who are

picking at each other's scabs and asks them if
there are any Italians (Latians) among them.
One replies that they are Italian and once
Virgil explains their presence in the circle, the
souls tell their history. One is from Arezzo, and
he supposedly joked with Albert of Siena that
he could fly and thus, he was burned for the
lie, though he is in this circle for alchemy,
another form of falsifying. The other soul is
Capocchio, Dante's friend in his school days,
who was burned for alchemy in 1293.
GIANNI SCHICCHI, who impersonated a dead
man so that he cold benefit from the will
MYRRHA, who posed as another and mated
with her father; once caught, she changed
herself into a tree and bore Adonis from the
trunk.
MASTER ADAM, a Counterfeiter who made
florins from alloyed gold and was burned for
the offense.

The curse of not being able

to move, they are also
damned with extreme thirst,
though their belly is
waterlogged.

The 9th circle is a great,

dark pit filled with ice and
cold, strong winds caused by
Lucifer beating his wings.
NIMROD is condemned to
babble through eternity, not
understanding and not being
understood; EPHIALTES
ound with a chain five times
around his body.

SINON THE GREEK, a False Witness who

beguiled the citizens of Troy to allow the Trojan
Horse into the gate of Troy, thus allowing the
soldiers inside to wreak havoc on that city
The poets also meet POTIPHAR who falsely
accused Joseph.
NIMROD, builder of the
tower of Babel, and he
speaks in a nonsense
tongue
EPHIALTES, who
endeavored with the other
Giants to war against the
gods ANTAEUS gave the
poets a passage to the final
circle of Hell, Cocytus.

9th - COCYTUS
(CAINA), XXXII

9th - COCYTUS
(ANTENORA),
XXXII, XXXIII

9th - COCYTUS
(PTOLOMEA),
XXXIII

Treacherous to Kin

Treacherous to
Country

Treacherous to
Guests and Hosts

Their bodies are submerged

in ice. Their necks and
heads are out of the ice and
they are permitted to bow
their heads.

Dante looks around and sees two sinners

clamped tightly together, breast-to-breast, and
asks them who they are, to which they do not
reply but butt their heads together like goats.
A nearby sinner with his ears had frozen off
replies that these two were brothers, and that
there are no two more deserving of
punishment in all of Caina than these two.

They are submerged in ice.

Their heads are above the
ice but they cannot bend
their heads.

BOCCA - Dante accidentally kicks his face,

who yells at Dante, asking him why he would
want to cause him more pain
Dante comes across two sinners in such close
proximity that one is feeding off of the back of
the other's neck. Dante offers to tell the
sinner's story in the upper world, if the sinner
would tell it. He was COUNT UGOLINO, and
the soul he feeds upon was ARCHBISHOP
RUGGIERI, on whom he trusted. Ruggieri
imprisoned Ugolino and his four sons in a
tower, nailed the doors shut, and starved them
all to death. Ugolino is forced to watch his
young boys starve one by one. And his hatred
for Ruggieri increases with each of his son's
death. Once through with his long and
passionate tale, Ugolino goes back to feeding
on Ruggieri.

The souls are not placed

vertically in the ice, but they
are supine with only their
faces raised out of the ice.
As a result, their tears freeze
in their eyes, creating little
crystal visors over their eye
sockets.

FRIAR ALBERGIO - Albergio tells Dante that

his sin was so terrible that the moment he
committed it, he was taken out of his body and
thrust here, and that a demon took the place
of his soul in his worldly body. Dante, sure that
Friar Albergio is not yet dead, is shocked at
this confession.

9th - COCYTUS
(JUDECCA),
XXXIV

Ending:

Treacherous to their
Masters

They lie completely sealed in

ice, twisted and distorted
into every conceivable
posture, they cannot speak.

SATAN - bound in the ice to

his mid-point and has three
faces a red one, a yellow
one, and black one. In each
of his three mouths he
chews a sinner. Virgil
explains that Judas
Iscariot, who betrayed
Christ, is the one in the
middle and suffering most,
and that the other two are
Brutus and Cassius, who
betrayed Caesar.

Virgil tells Dante to hold on to him as he climbs Satan's back, waiting for a moment when the wings are open so that they can have a safe passage
down. Finally, Virgil climbs through a hole in the central rock, turning around Dante is afraid that Virgil is going back through Hell, but both of the
poets find themselves on their feet and standing on the other side of the world, having passed the mid-point of the Earth. They can see Satan's legs
on this side, his body still frozen in the ice above. Without pausing to rest, the poets make the long journey to the other side of the world where they
are delivered though a round opening into the world under the stars.