THE INFERNO

The Divine Comedy

By Dante Alighieri
 INFERNO: LAYOUT AND JOURNEY

Dante's Hell is cone-

shaped and points
to the center of the
earth (Lucifer’s
crashsite)

Hell is divided into

an orderly structure
according to the
gravity of sin.

It is split into two

major divisions,
upper and lower
Hell
Three rivers
circle around
three levels of the
cone: Acheron,
Phlegethon, and
Styx.
All three rives
flow down to the
pit at the bottom
of Hell and
become one
known as
Cocytus, the ice
lake which
imprisons Lucifer.
 UPPER HELL

Upper Hell's five levels

correspond to five of
Christianity's seven deadly
sins: lust, gluttony, greed,
sloth, and wrath.
 UPPER HELL

The story begins with Dante waking up

at a dark wood on Good Friday.

He saw a hill at a distance and thought

that it must be safer there.

As he began to travel to the hill, he

was met with three beasts: a lion, a
leopard, and a wolf.
 UPPER HELL

In fear, Dante ran back towards

the dark woods.

There, he met the spirit of Virgil

who told Dante that he knows the
way to Paradise (heaven) but
warned him that they must
journey through hell (inferno) first.
And there, he would meet his
beloved Beatrice.
At the entrance of the gates of
hell, Dante reads the warning.
River Acheron – boatman Charon ferries
Virgil and Dante, along with other souls, to
the first circle of hell.
 THE DIVISIONS OF UPPER HELL

1. Circle One: Limbo - Classical poets,

philosophers, and unbaptized souls who lived
before Christ. They wander endlessly in a dark
forest completely deprived of heaven.
 THE DIVISIONS OF UPPER HELL

2. Circle Two: Lust – the lustful and adulterous

are tormented by harsh and harsh winds. Their
bodies are blown around and about violently.
THE DIVISIONS OF UPPER HELL

3. Circle Three:
Gluttony – the
gluttons are
tormented by vile
slush and icy rain
endlessly while
guarded by
Cerberus. They are
not permitted to
stand.
 THE DIVISIONS OF UPPER HELL

4. Circle Four: Greed – the hoarders and the wasteful

jousting endlessly using large boulders. Once they meet at
the top of the mountain, their boulders would fall down.
They must push it up again - endlessly.
 THE DIVISIONS OF UPPER HELL

5. Circle Five: Wrathful – they are forced to fight

in the river Styx (made of black toxic liquid) while
gurgling or drowning. Phlegyas helped them cross
the river safely.
 THE DIVISIONS OF UPPER HELL

the ever-burning City of Dis, which separates the

upper and lower regions. This is guarded by two
demons. An angel arrived and opened the gates for
them.
 LOWER HELL

Lower Hell holds the

shades of those guilty of
the other two deadly sins,
envy and pride.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

6. Circle Six: Heresy – the heretics are

condemned in flaming, scorching
tombs, burning them alive.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

7. Circle Seven: Violence – reserved

for the violent. This circle is divided
into three divisions.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

7. Circle Seven: Violence (against neighbors) –

sank into the river of boiling blood those who
escape are hunted by the centaurs.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

7. Circle Seven: Violence (against self) – those

guilty of suicide are turned to trees and bushes
which are fed upon by harpies.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

7. Circle Seven: Violence (against self) – those

guilty of suicide are turned to trees and bushes
which are fed upon by harpies.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

7. Circle Seven: Violence (against art,

nature, and God)– the blasphemers reside
in a burning desert with burning rain.
 The Great
Barrier, a
sheer drop no
nothingness
separates
Circle Seven
from the rest
of lower Hell.
Virgil and Dante had to ride
Geryon to cross the barrier
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

8. Circle Eight (Malebolge): Fraud –

the fraudulents are divided into 10
stony ditches “evil ditches”
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

8. Evil Ditch # 1 – the panderers and seducers.

These pimps and pleasure-givers are whipped by
demons and become their slaves.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

8. Evil Ditch # 2 – excessive

flatterers are immersed in human
excrement.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

8. Evil Ditch # 3 – The Simonists guilty of

simony who took religious positions to
gain money/power. They are stuck upside
down while their feet are on fire.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

8. Evil Ditch # 4 –
Soothsayers/prophets/sorcerers/fortune
tellers are condemned with their heads
twisted backwards.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

8. Evil Ditch # 5 – barrators (grafters, hecklers,

and money swindlers) are thrown into a lake of hot tar in
punishment for their “sticky” business.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

8. Evil Ditch # 6 – hypocrites wearing heavy lead

robes. They are golden and look elegant on the
outside, but are extremely and torturously
heavy.
THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

8. Evil Ditch #
7 – thrown in
the pit of
serpents. Once
bitten, they
transforming
into serpents,
robbing them
of their
identity.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

8. Evil Ditch # 8 – Deceivers who

gave false or corrupted advice were
set aflame endlessly.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

8. Evil Ditch # 9 –
promoters of
scandals, and
discord were
maimed and
mutilated by a
devil in the most
unimaginable
way endlessly.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

8. Evil Ditch # 10 – falsifiers were

plagued by a leprosy-like disease
for eternity.
 UPPER HELL

Before the last circle is a well

guarded by 3 giants.

One of the giants assisted Virgil

and Dante down the well into the
deepest corner of hell.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

9. Circle Nine: Treachery – sinners:

traitors to family, country, guests, and
lords.
 9TH CIRCLE

Cocytus, the vast icy lake, is divided in to 4 which

hold the traitors and betrayers in various crimes.
The 9th circle is constantly cold and is kept cold
by the freezing wind from the flapping wings of
Lucifer.
9TH CIRCLE

1) Caina
(against
their kin) –
they are
incompletely
frozen. They
can still
move some
parts of their
upper body
9TH CIRCLE

2) Antenora
(against
homeland) –
they are
almost frozen.
The eyes
covers their
eyes and
mouth so they
cannot speak
nor cry.
 9TH CIRCLE

3) Ptolomea (against their guests) – after

committing the sin, their souls are trapped here
while their bodies in the earthly realm are already
replaced by demons.
 9TH CIRCLE

34) Judecca (against their masters and

benefactors) – they are completely frozen and
suffering the torturous pain brought by the icy
feeling and the inability to move for eternity.
 THE DIVISIONS OF LOWER HELL

At the center of this lake Dante finds the

three-headed and six-winged Lucifer
devouring on Brutus (left), Judas (center),
and Cassius (right) in each mouth.
To escape hell, Virgil
and Dante climbed
downwards to the feet
of Lucifer.

They passed through

the center of the earth
and to the other side,
where they finally
emerged in the
southern hemisphere.
Their journey has
led them outside
hell across the
towering image
of Mount
Purgatorio.