The+Ninth+Circle,+Treachery

"//Just so the livid dead are sealed in place// //up to the part at which they blushed for shame,// //and they beat their teeth like storks. Each holds his face//

//bowed toward the ice, each of them testifies// //to the cold with his chattering mouth, to his heart's grief// //with tears that flood forever from his eyes."//

//-Inferno Canto XXXII II. 34-39//



The final circle of hell features those souls that are regarded as traitors. Here they are placed within four different zones based on their type of betrayal. The first area is called Caina and has souls who were traitors to their family. These souls are buried in ice which goes up to their faces. The next area is referred to as Antenora and belongs to political traitors. The third zone, named Ptolomaea, encases those souls responsible for being traitors to their guests. Some of the souls found here belong to people who are still living, but have already been possessed by a demon and are therefore incapable of repentance. The fourth area is named Judecca, in reference to Judas. This zone features those who betrayed their lord. These souls are completely buried in the ice. Satan is located in the center of these 4 zones, buried to his waist in ice. He has three faces, along with two wings jutting out from beneath each one, and each mouth chews on a different traitor. Brutus and Cassius are each trapped in one of Satan's mouths, for their betrayal of Julius Caesar. The worst torture is reserved for Judas, whose head is continually gnawed on and back skinned by Satan. While betraying Caesar doesn't seem like it should belong in the same category as betraying Christ, this can be explained by Dante's views on the correlation between emperor and God. Whereas Christ redeemed all men, Dante believed that the emperor was to govern all men. Since Julius Caesar was the first emperor, Dante places his betrayers alongside Christ's in hell. After seeing Satan, Dante and Virgil climb down his fur to finish their descent through hell. They pass through the center of the earth while doing this which initially confuses Dante into thinking they are returning to hell, but they eventually emerge on the other side beneath the sky.