The nine circles of hell were first described by Dante Alighieri, an Italian poet in his epic poem The Divine Comedy.
The epic poem consists of three parts, each describing Dante’s journey through the realms of Dante’s Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The first part of Dante’s Divine Comedy, Inferno, describes the poet’s version of hell with its nine levels.
The story begins with Dante being attacked by three beasts in a dark wood. He is rescued by Virgil, the ancient Roman poet from the Augustan period, who is sent by Dante’s ideal woman Beatrice.
He then begins his journey through the 9 circles of hell accompanied and guided by Virgil. Each Circle of Inferno describes the punishment deserved by a person who commits the sins.
The circles of hell are divided into the Upper Hell and Lower Hell. The first five circles of hell are a part of Lower Hell. It punishes people for sins of self-indulgence, such as Lust, Greed, Gluttony, and wrath.
The fourth circle of hell is for Heresy, while the last three circles are reserved for the souls of people who created much graver sins; The seventh circle is for violence, circle eight for Fraud, and the final ninth circle is for treachery.
First Circle: Limbo
Dante and Virgil arrive at the first circle of hell, Limbo, after crossing the river Acheron on a boat. The virtuous non-Christians who were never baptized and virtuous pagans are sent to spend eternity in Limbo, an inferior form of heaven. Heaven is close to the first circle of hell, but people inside will never be able to enter it.
People in the first circle of hell live in a seven-gated castle, symbolizing seven virtues. They are not tortured, but their souls are unhappy due to the atmosphere of sadness and melancholy.
The first circle of hell contains people who were not sinful but did not accept Christ. According to the poem, Dante sees several prominent public figures from Classical Antiquity in Limbo, such as Julius Caesar, Aristotle, Homer, Cicero, Hippocrates, and Socrates.
Second Circle: Lust
Dante and Virgil arrive at Lust, the second circle of hell. Here, they find people who were driven by Lust during their lives.
According to Dante, Lust is regarded as a comparatively less severe sin since it involves the mutual indulgence of two parties rather than being solely self-centered. This may be one reason for placing Lust in the Second Circle of Hell.
The people inside the second circle of hell are punished with violent winds that drag and then smash people into rocks and mountains. The winds symbolize the restlessness of those who are led by carnal pleasures.
Here Dante sees many adulterous people from history and mythology, such as Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, Semiramis, and Tristan.
Third Circle: Gluttony
In the third circle of hell, Dante and Virgil find the souls of gluttons; People who indulged in excessive eating and drinking. Gluttony succeeds Lust as it is self-centered and therefore considered much more wicked.
The souls of gluttons are overlooked by a worm monster called Cerberus and punished with a never-ending rain of human waste and worms upon them amid a never-ending storm of ice. The whole landscape of the third circle of hell is full of living organs, solid waste, and putrifying mud.
The vile landscape in the third circle of hell represents the state of personal degradation for those who excessively indulge in food, drink, and otherworldly pleasures. Furthermore, their inability to acknowledge the presence of others lying nearby signifies their selfishness and coldness exhibited by them.
Fourth Circle: Greed
In the Fourth Circle of Hell, Dante finds the souls of people who are punished for the sin of greed. The souls are divided into two groups in the fourth circle of hell. The miserly who hoarded possession and those who spent lavishly
Here, the souls of the punished are overlooked by Plutus, the classical Greek deity of wealth. Both groups of sinners joust by pushing great weights with their chests, symbolizing their selfish drive for never-ending greed and their choice to suffer for attaining more possessions.
The mutual antagonism between the hoarding and squandering groups was so intense left both groups too preoccupied that Dante does not even try to talk to them.
Dante sees many clergymen, including popes and cardinals who engaged in wasteful extravagance and accumulation of possessions in the inner circle of greed.
Fifth Circle: Wrath
Dante and Virgil are transported to the fifth circle of hell on a boat by Phylegas. The souls of people who were driven by wrath and morose in their life are punished here.
The fifth circle of hell exists in the putrid and decomposing waters of the Styx River. Here, Dante sees the souls of the wrathful fight each other furiously. The more severe the sins committed in their life, the deeper the souls are punished.
The souls of tho who were highly driven by anger were deep inside the river, and those who were morose were just below the surface. Their souls are condemned to fight for all eternity. Representing the harm that expression of anger can cause to others.
Here, Dante encounters Filippo Argenti, a distinguished political figure from Florence who seized possession of Dante’s belongings following his banishment from the city.
Sixth Circle: Heresy
The beginning of Lower Hell is designated by the Sixth Circle, where the tormented souls of people who rejected the core tenets of Christianity have been condemned to eternity in flaming hot tombs.
Here, Dante sees famous historical figures such as the Greek philosopher Epicurus and Pope Anastasius II. He also meets and talks with Farinata degli Uberti and Cavalcante de Cavalcanti of Florence.
Seventh Circle: Violence
In the seventh circle of hell, the souls who indulged in violence are tortured and punished. This circle is divided into three rings.
The outer ring punished the souls of those who are violent against other people. It contains the souls of murderers, tyrants, war-makers, looters, and the world’s most powerful tyrants. They are punished by being dunked in sweltering blood and flames of the river Phlegethon, representing their thirst for blood.
Here, Dante sees Guy de Montfort, Dionysius I of Syracuse, and disputedly Alexander the Great, among several other historical figures.
The middle ring punishes the souls of those who committed suicide. The suicides are turned into bushes fed by harpies and other creatures. Moreover, the drunkards are chased and torn to pieces by dogs in this ring.
The inner ring torments the souls of those who showed violence against God, art, or committed sodomy. Blasphemers are punished here in a desert of burning sand and flaming rain.
Eighth Circle: Fraud
Dante and Virgil reach the eighth circle of hell on the back of a flying monster called Geryon. Here, the souls of people who were fraudulent in their life are punished.
This circle of hell is divided into ten Bolgias, meaning ditches connected with bridges between them. Each of these ditches holds different kinds of fraudulent souls:
- Bolgia 1: Sex workers and seducers who are whipped by demons.
- Bolgia 2: Flatterers who exaggeratedly complimented others
- Bolgia 3: Simoniacs who took money for appointing people to church roles
- Bolgia 4: Fortune tellers and astrologers who used black magic to see the future
- Bolgia 5: Corrupt Politicians
- Bolgia 6: Hypocrites who built a false status in society
- Bolgia 7: All thieves are tormented in a huge pit full of reptiles here
- Bolgia 8: Divisive individuals and evil counselors
- Bolgia 9: People who formed their own religions
- Bolgia 10: Falsifiers such as alchemists, perjurers, and counterfeits
Ninth Circle: Treachery
The last circle of hell is a frozen lake called Cocytus divided into four rounds. The souls of those who committed the sin of treachery are bruised at different depths depending upon the severity of the sin.
The four rounds of the ninth circle of hell are:
- Round 1: Caina – Named after Cain, who killed his brother Abel. The souls of people who betrayed their families are buried here.
- Round 2: Antenor – Named after Antenora of Troy, Priam’s counselor during the trojan war who betrayed his own country.
- Round 3: Ptolomaea – Named after Ptolemy, the son of Abubus who invited his wife’s father along with his sons for a treat, but killed them.
- Round 4: Judecca: Named after Judas Iscariot, the apostle who committed Treachery against God.
Dante sees Satan frozen in the central zone of the ninth circle of hell. He also saw Lucifer, the archangel who betrayed God, trapped waist-deep in ice here.
