“Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita / mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, / ché la diritta via era smarrita.”
“Midway upon the journey of our life / I found myself within a forest dark, / For the straightforward pathway had been lost.”
Introduction
The Divine Comedy, originally published as Commedìa, is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri. The work is divided into three sections: the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. This article covers the Inferno and its meaning and allusions to history, literature, and Greco-Roman mythology.
The basic layout of Hell is nine concentric circles with (seemingly) non-Euclidean geometry. Hell is divided into two main sections: L’inferno superiore and L’inferno inferiore, being joined together by the demonic city of Dis. Throughout the epic, Dante is guided by Virgil, a Roman poet from the Augustan period, and is best known as the author of Aeneid.
L’inferno Superiore
The first half of hell contains the Vestibule of Hell and the first five circles. These circles hold sinners of lesser evil, but as one continues in and down towards the center of hell, the crimes get progressively worse along with the punishment.
Vestibolo Dell’inferno
“Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate” (9, Canto III) is written on the gates of Hell and reads “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” The Vestibule, or antechamber, of Hell acts as the peremptory location before entering further depths of true torture. Here, the Uncommitted, those who were neither good or evil and took no sides, are housed. “When some among them I had recognised. I looked, and I beheld the shade of him who made through cowardice the great refusal” (41-43, Canto III). It is unknown who Dante is referring to exactly; however, the large consensus is this man is Pope Celestine V, who abdicated his papacy. There are also those who remained neutral in the War in Heaven. Locationally, the Vestibule is on the shores of the Acheron. In Greek mythology, the Acheron is called the ‘river of woe’ and one of the five rivers of the underworld. As punishment, these people are forced to run naked after a banner while being attacked by wasps and hornets. They also have a mixture of blood, pus, and tears flowing down themselves.
After traveling across the Vestibule, Dante is met with Charon, a psychopomp deity which ferries souls to the underworld.
Cerchio I — Limbo
The first true circle of Hell is limbo. Here lie all unbaptized people (mostly babies who died in childbirth), virtuous pagans, and people born before the coming of Christ. The punishment and setting of this circle take great influence from the Asphodel Meadows of Greek mythology. The punishment is being able to see Heaven and yet knowing that one will never be able to reach paradise since they were not baptised. Dante meets a plethora of literary and historical figures in limbo. The most notable are Homer, Ovid, Hector, Aeneas, Julius Caesar, Penthesilea, Saladin, Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Orpheus, Euclid, and Ptolemy. The three I would like to focus on are Penthesilea, Saladin, and Orpheus. Penthesilea is a figure within Greek mythology known as the Queen of the Amazons. She is best known for being a character in Virgil’s Aeneid. Saladin is a historical figure and a Muslim who fought against Christians during the Crusades. He rests here due to his merciful behavior during the wars. Finally, Orpheus is another character from Greek mythology. He was a bard known for his journey with Jason and the Argonauts and his descent into Hell to bring his dead wife, Eurydice, back.
Cerchio II — Lussuria
Dante and Virgil leave the first circle and enter the second. Before they can enter Minos stops them. Minos was the King of Crete in Greek mythology who was eaten by the Minotaur and became a chthonic deity, judging the dead. Minos forces the dead to confess their sins, where they are sentenced to their circle.
The second circle contains the sin of lust. Here the souls are blown by violent winds in perpetuity, like they were blown by the winds of love in their mortal life. The most prominent figures in this ring are Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Paris (Helen’s Trojan lover), and Achilles.
Cerchio III — Gola
The third circle holds the gluttonous. Here they are made to rest in a cold slush created by icy rain. This circle is guarded by Cerberus, a Greco-chthonic hound known for his three heads. There are no famous figures, but rather ordinary people. One person Dante talks to Ciacco, who was later adopted into the novel Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio.
Cerchio IV — Avidità
The fourth circle holds the greedy and is guarded by Pluto. Experts believe this to be an error by Dante. Pluto is the classical king of the underworld, while Plutus is the deity of wealth. For this article, Plutus will be the name used when referring to Dante’s Pluto.
“Pape Satàn, pape Satàn aleppe” (1, Canto VII) is a famous line spoken by Plutus. The translation is ambiguous, leading to most scholars having a different interpretation of the line; however, all agree it is a demonic call to Satàn (Lucifer), warning him of an invader.
The circle punishes two types of greediness: the avaricious and the prodigal. The avaricious are those who hoarded wealth in mortal life, and the prodigal are those who squandered their wealth. The opposing parties are forced to joust in an ever-constant war with the other side of greed.
Cerchio V — Ira e Pigrizia
Circle V is for the wrathful and sloth. It is the River Styx, another chthonic, Greek goddess who leads to the underworld. The wrathful are forced to fight each other in the river while the sloth lie underneath the river. Phlegyas leads Dante and Virgil across the River Styx. Phlegyas is yet another character in Greco-Roman mythology, known as the king of Lapiths. During the journey, Dante and Virgil come across Filippo Argenti. This seems to be a personal vendetta carried out by Dante. Argenti was a Guelph, a supporter of the Pope over the Holy Roman Emperor, and seized land belonging to Dante.
La Città di Dis
Dis is the capital of Hell, not to be confused with Pandæmonium from John Milton’s Paradise Lost, and contains the subsequent circles (this is where the non-Euclidean geometry theory stems from). According to Dante, the city seems to house many large towers, which appear to be Luciferic mosques. It is surrounded by the Stygian marsh, the area in Greek mythology that houses the psychopompic rivers. The walls of the city are guarded by fallen angels who refuse entry to Dante until Virgil intervenes.
Once in the city, the pair is disturbed by the Furies and Medusa. The Furies are one of many trios within Roman mythology (in Greek mythology, they are known as the Erinyes or Eumenides). The three women are chthonic deities of vengeance and heavily revered beings sired by Nyx. Medusa, aside from God and Satan, is the most well-known allusion in the epic; however, there are many misconceptions about her. In classical Greek mythology, Medusa was always a gorgon; it was not until Roman myth where she was raped by Neptune and punished by Minerva. Luckily, Dante is saved by an angel who offers protection and sets the pair on their way.
L’inferno Inferiore
The lower and inner part of Hell is where punishment truly begins. Dante and Virgil are now in Hell proper, within the true Mephistophelian torture. This section covers the last four circles of hell, plus the resting place of Satan in the ninth circle.
Cerchio VI — Eresia
The sixth circle houses the heretics. Here souls are punished by being trapped in fiery tombs guarded by demons. Dante encounters Pope Anastasius II. Anastasius has been commended as a heretic due to his efforts to end the Acacian Schism (the split between the patriarchate of Constantinople and the Roman see). During Anastasius’s reign, he also gave communion to a deacon who was deemed a heretic as well. Dante also meets with Farinata degli Uberti and Cavalcante de’ Cavalcanti, who were also deemed heretics for political reasons too complex to talk about here.
Cerchio VII — Violenza
Before entering the seventh ring, which punishes the violent, Virgil explains the difference between Nature and Art. Nature is god-given, while Art is human-made, so violence against Art is horrible and is punished, but violence against Nature is seen as violence against God, and is punished accordingly. The circle is also divided into three separate rings as well. Anello I for violence against neighbours, Anello II for violence against the self, and Anello III for violence against God, Art, and Nature.
Anello I: While entering the first ring, Dante encounters the Minotaur, a figure from Greek myth who has the body of a man and head of a bull created by Minos. The Minotaur is calmed by Virgil’s reassurance that Dante is not Theseus, the hero who slayed the beast in Crete. For violence against a neighbor, these souls are punished by being drowned by the Phlegethon, another chthonic-Greco river, which is an ever-flowing river of boiling blood and fire. The centaurs, mythical Greek figures with the torso of a man and legs and body of a horse, led by Chiron and Pholus, the best-known centaurs who mentored Achilles, Jason, and Heracles, guard the river. Nessus, another centaur, leads the pair through the ring while pointing out sinners like Alexander the Great and Attila, King of the Huns.
Anello II: The second ring of the seventh ring is reserved for violence against the self and punishes any who tried or died of suicide. The souls are punished by being transformed into trees, which have the sinners’ bodies hanging from a branch while harpies attack them. Harpies are half-bird-half-women creatures who are known to be violent creatures. These souls are also punished by knowing that they will not be resurrected during the Final Judgement since they decided to throw their lives away.
Anello III: The third ring is truly terrifying. It is a giant desert of burning sand where fire rains down from the sky. The sinners are broken down into three different categories: blasphemers from violence against God, sodomites for violence against Nature, and usurers for violence against Art. The usurers are forced to huddle in the burning sand and cry, the sodomites are forced to run forever through the flaming desert, and the blasphemers are forced to lie face up on the burning sand, forcing every part of their body to burn (below from the sand and above from the raining fire). The blasphemers are also forced to wear a symbol marking them as blasphemous.
Cerchio VIII — Frode
Before entering the eighth circle of Fraud, Dante finds Geryon. Geryon is an interesting case; in Greek mythology he is the grandson of Medusa and is a monster with three heads and one head (or three bodies and one head). However, in the Inferno, Dante describes the beast similar to a manticore, which stems from Persian mythology and is a lion with a human’s head and a scorpion’s tail. Geryons give the pair a ride down to the eighth circle or Malebolge. Malebolge is shaped like an amphitheater with ten concentric bolge (ditches) where the dam presides. This circle punishes the sin of fraud.
Bolgia I: The first bolgia houses the panderers and seducers. The two groups are forced into separate lines and bitten by demons as they run for eternity. Of the seducers, the most famous is Jason. He is a character from Greek mythology who led the Argonauts to get the Golden Fleece. He is a seducer because he seduced Medea, a princess, to later leave her for Creusa. Furthermore, along his journey for the fleece be abandoned Hypsipyle, a woman he got pregnant.
Bolgia II: The second bolgia is for flatterers. They are forced to wade in feces, fighting each other.
Bolgia III: The third bolgia is for simoniacs, people who used the church to gain wealth. For their sins, these souls are placed in bastardized versions of baptismal fonts and burned from their feet. Dante encounters many popes here, taking turns burning for their sin of simony. One of these is Pope Nicholas III, who will later be replaced by Pope Boniface VIII.
Bolgia IV: The fourth bolgia is for sorcerers. Sorcerers are said to be any person who has claimed to be a fortune teller, diviner, astrologer, or false prophet. Here, they are forced to have their neck and head twisted behind them so they may never ‘see’ the future again, while being blinded with their tears. One of these sorcerers is King Amphiaraus, who saw his death in war, and so hid, instead dying in an earthquake.
Bolgia V: The fifth bolgia is for the barrators, politicians who sold office to gain wealth. They are placed in boiling tar and guarded by Malebranche (clawed demons) who tear the souls when they try to rise above the surface
Bolgia VI: The sixth bolgia is for hypocrites. The hypocrites are forced to walk around with leaden robes, which look like a habit. Here is when Caiaphas decided. Caiaphas was a High Priest of Israel under Pontius Pilate and persuaded Pilate to crucify Jesus.
Bolgia VII: The seventh bolgia is for thieves who have their arms tied behind their backs and are bitten by snakes constantly. Whenever one of them ‘dies,’ they are reborn through fire.
Bolgia VIII: The eighth bolgia is for counsellors of fraud. These souls walk for eternity in flame. Odysseus and Diomedes, two soldiers and advisors from the Trojan War, preside here, burning for their council, more specifically for the Trojan Horse, during the war with Hector and Paris.
Bolgia IX: The ninth bolgia is for sowers of discord. They are tortured by being hit with a bloody sword by a demon, and then having to sow themselves back together, just to restart the entire process. The souls are also divided into three categories: religious schism and discord, civil strife and political discord, and family disunion. The first category is home to Muhammad for causing a schism between Christians and Muslims, and a schism between the Sunni and Shiites.
Bolgia X: The final bolgia is for falsifiers. Due to these people’s infectious behavior, they are forced to suffer from different diseases and ailments. The first group Dante and Virgil encounter is the falsifiers of things, or alchemists. The second group is the falsifiers of persons, or impostors. One of these impostors is Myrrha, a Greek figure who committed incest with her father, King Cinyras, while impersonating another. The third group is the falsifiers of money, or counterfeiters. The fourth group is the falsifiers of words, or perjurers. One of the perjurers is Sinon, who is the Greek spy who convinced the Trojans to permit the Trojan Horse entry into their city.
Pozzo Centrale di Malebolge: The central well of Malebolge in the entrance into the ninth circle. Inside the well are the classical and biblical giants Nimrod, Ephialtes, Briareus, Tityos, Typhon, and Antaeus. Nimrod is the man who tried to build the Tower of Babel to the heavens. God punished humans for this, forcing mankind to speak different languages. Nimrod, for being the leader of the build, speaks in unintelligible language. Ephialtes is a Greek figure, and a giant who tried to overthrow Olympus during the Gigantomachy—a battle between rebelling giants and the Olympian gods. Antaeus is another Greek giant, though he did not participate in the Gigantomachy, so he is the only giant that is unchained.
Cerchio IX — Tradimento
Antaeus lowers Dante and Virgil into the ninth circle which punishes treachery. The pair land on the banks of Cocytus, another Greek, chthonic river. This circle consists of four concentric rounds. This circle is the opposite of what modern Hell is to us. The entire circle is a large frozen river and large gusts of freezing wind.
Giri I – Caina: The first round is named after Cain, the first murderer from the Bible, and houses traitors of their kind. These people are forced to be frozen in the river with their head above the river.
Giri II – Antenora: The second round is named for Antenor, a Trojan who betrayed his people during the Trojan War, and houses traitors to their country. One of these traitors is Ganelon, a guard to Charlemagne who betrayed him to Muslims.
Giri III – Ptolomaea: The third round’s namesake is Ptolemy, who according to the deuterocanon invited his father-in-law and his sons to a banquet and killed them. This round is for traitors to their guests. The traitors are punished by lying in the frozen river with their eyes sealed shut from their own frozen tears.
Giri IV – Judecca: The fourth round is named for Judas Iscariot, the man who betrayed Jesus with a kiss to Roman officials. This round houses the tractors to their lords. If one has not noticed, with each giri, the souls become more encased in ice, so, logically, in the final giri the sinners are fully enclosed. They are forced into contortionistic positions and unable to speak.
Centro dell’Inferno: “Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni,” “The banners of the King of Hell draw closer” (I, Canto XXXIV).
In the center of Hell rests people who have committed treachery against God. Lucifier, Satan, The Devil, Dis has three heads: one red, one black, and one yellow. This is a demonic perversion of the Holy Trinity as well as a symbol for the temptation of all humans. The Devil’s red head represents the race of Japheth, Europeans, the black head represents the race of Ham, Africans and Asian, and the yellow head represents the race of Shem, Semitic. Japheth, Ham, and Shem were the three sons of Noah, who are the descendants of all humans due to the biblical flood.
Lucifer has three pairs of large bat wings which create the gusts of freezing winds, which chills the ninth circle and keeps him trapped in ice. He is also eternally crying, while having each mouth chew on a different traitor. Satan’s black mouth chews on Marcus Junius Brutus and the yellow mouth chews on Gaius Cassius Longinus. Both of these men were a critical part in the Ides of March, the assassination of Julius Caesar. They are considered to be two of the greatest traitors because Caesar was divinely appointed and unified Italy. In Dis’s central mouth is Judas, who is turned so his head is in the mouth.
“E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.”
“Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars.”
