Recent Changes

Certainly different thenthan that of reading from.
Regardless, this wiki is intended to give one a crash course into the mind and vision of Dante Alighieri and his idea of Hell, as it were. We hope you can use and appreciate the diligence and effort that went into the creation of this project, and we hope it serves you well in your academic endeavors.
-Aaron Belk

out of Gods'favor."
This is perhaps the most clearly defined statement we can draw about the level of Limbo and its relation to Hell. In that it simply is not "Hell" as we would come to think of it in the traditional sense. Limbo is geographically very dark, but has within it plains and fields and forests. It is the absence of God, the most one soul can hope for who either did not anger him greatly, or performed some admirable service in their lives as to mark them as deserving of an afterlife devoid of eternal damnation.
Odyssey & Metamorpheses.
Metamorphoses. He is
It is in the first few stanzas of Canto V we see the judgement process of Minos. All those souls who freely committed sins in their lifetimes stand before him, and he picks them up with his tail. He examines them in depth, with all their sins laid bare. It is on those sins that he judges, and depending on which level of Hell their sins fit most, he wraps his tail around them in coils for that number: ex. six coils for the sixth level of Heresy.
After those damned souls are judged, they descend in earnest into the true Hell. Minos sits on the brink between Limbo and the Second Level Dante & Virgil continue towards. The Circle reserved for those who delved too deeply into life's more carnal indulgences...

The Divine Comedy is truly one of the premiere works of Medieval Literature, and certainly the foremost text in the language of Orthodox Italian. The verse quoted throughout this wiki page are from the John Ciardi translation of La Divina Commedia (Inferno) and as such, will display subtle variations in prose and delivery. Certainly different then that of the Norton Anthology textbook you may be reading from.
Regardless, this wiki is intended to give one a crash course into the mind and vision of Dante Alighieri and his idea of Hell, as it were. We hope you can use and appreciate the diligence and effort that went into the creation of this project, and we hope it serves you well in your academic endeavors.
-Aaron Belk
Wiki Page Presented in Honors World Literature by:
-Aaron Belk
-Andrew Lipson
-Casey Jo Breland
{Michelino_DanteAndHisPoem.jpg}

-Inferno Canto XXXII II. 34-39
{Gustave_Dore_Inferno32.jpg}
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.

Here's a sample of the original Italian text, to show the terza rima rhyme scheme:
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita A
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, B
che la diritta via era smarrita. A
Ahi quanto a dir qual era e cosa dura B
esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte C
che nel pensier rinova la paura! B
Tant' e amara che poco e piu morte; C
ma per trattar del ben ch'i vi trovai, D
diro de l'altre cose chi'i' v'ho scorte. C
Io non so ben ridir com' i' v'intrai, D
tant' era pien di sonno a quel punto E
che la verace via abandonai. D

-Inferno Canto XVIII II. 1-3
{473px-Geryon.jpg}
reserved for thisthose guilty of
The first Bolgia is for panderers and seducers. Here souls are whipped by Demons while marching in line. They encounter Jason, who seduced Medea in order to gain her help, but later deserted her for Creusa. The next Bolgia has flatterers, which are those who exploit others through the use of language. These souls are condemned to be submerged in excrement, which represents everything they spewed from their mouth. The third Bolgia features the simoniacs, who engaged in fraud related to spiritual endeavors, such as sacraments. One of the souls they encounter here is named Simon Magus, who was condemned for offering holy power to Saint Peter in exchange for money. The fourth Bolgia has those souls guilty of being sorcerers and false prophets. They have their heads twisted around on their bodies so that they are facing backwards. This punishment is meant to reflect their lack of foresight due to relying on superstition and fraudulence. The fifth Bolgia has corrupt politicians, known as barrators, who are immersed in a boiling pitch, which is boiled down tar. The stickiness of the boiled tar is thought to be representative of the politicians' sticky fingers. The sixth Bolgia features hypocrites who are weighted down by lead cloaks, which is supposed to make their spiritual progress impossible. The lead cloak preventing their progress represents how their false beliefs held them back in life. Bolgia seven includes thieves. Here the souls are chased and bitten by snakes and other lizards. The snake bites cause the souls to transform, sometimes to ashes, as is the case with Vanni Fucci (a violent member of the White Cancellieri faction of Pistoia), or sometimes they become merged with creatures, as with Agnello. The souls found in Bolgia eight are those referred to as evil counselors, people who used their positions in society to spur others to act fraudulently. These souls are enveloped in their own personal flames as punishment. Here Dante encounters Ulysses, also known as Odysseus, who has been condemned for his part in the deception of the Trojan horse. The sowers of discord are found in the ninth Bolgia, where they are perpetually hacked apart by a demon. As soon as their wounds heal the demon slashes them again. This punishment of corporeal division reflects how these characters divided others on earth. Dante comes across Muhammad here and refers to him as a schismatic. This term refers to those who create a division within a group, such as a religious denomination. This indicates that Dante felt that Islam originated from Christianity, but branched off from it and created a separate group. The tenth Bolgia belongs to falsifiers that are afflicted by various diseases. This punishment stems from the idea that they were a disease to society while living.