Dante Circles of Hell

Circle 1 Limbo On the first level, also called Limbo, reside those who died before being baptized as well as virtuous pagans who lived and died before the birth of Christ. Here can be found poets and philosophers from the pagan world such as Virgil, Homer, Horace, Ovid, Socrates, Plato and, surprisingly (considering that he led the Arab armies against the Christian crusaders) the Moslem leader Saladin.

3rd Circle  Gluttony--like lust--is one of the seven capital sins (sometimes called "mortal" or "deadly" sins) A three-headed dog who guards the entrance to the classical underworld. In the Aeneid Virgil describes Cerberus as loud, huge, and terrifying (with snakes rising from his neck); to get by Cerberus, the Sibyl (Aeneas' guide) feeds him a spiked honey-cake that makes him immediately fall asleep (Aen. 6.416-25). Here the gluttons are forced to eat vile filth.

Circle 5 Wrathful and Sullen Those guilty of wrath and sullenness spend eternity suffering for their sins in the fifth level of hell. The angry ones eternally fight each other on the surface of the river Styx, while the sullen ones gurgle beneath the waters. River Styx: muddy waters

Circle 7 The seventh level of hell is reserved for those who are guilty of violence, whether it be against themselves, property, nature, or other people. Here are tormented the sodomites, the suicides, the murderers, and blasphemers.

*Suicides: are turned into trees/bushes and Harpies feed off of trees. *The River Phlegethon: river of boiling blood for murders, tyrants, This ring is for the tyrants and the murderers, especially those, who in the form of homicide, malice, and destruction; incorporated violence not only in their own lives, but also made others suffer. *The violent blasphemers against God are stretched naked with their face upward on the ground, with the burning rain pouring over them. *The sodomites wander in the hot sand for eternity, naked, and squatting with their arms. Circle 7 cont’d

Circle 7 cont’d The usurers who were violent against art and nature lie crouching on the hot sand with concealed identity and money bags hanging from their necks. They wear fine dresses, the colors of which express their family shields but this signifies that they were so concerned with material goods that they ended up losing their actual identity. Usurer: noun 1. a person who lends money and charges interest, especially at an exorbitant or unlawful rate; moneylender. 2. Obsolete . a person who lends money at interest.

Usurers

The Minotaur, a bull-man who appears on this broken slope (Inf. 12 The Minotaur, a bull-man who appears on this broken slope (Inf. 12.11-15), is most likely a guardian and symbol of the entire circle of violence. Dante does not specify whether the Minotaur has a man's head and bull's body or the other way around (sources support both possibilities), but he clearly underscores the bestial rage of the hybrid creature. At the sight of Dante and Virgil, the Minotaur bites himself, and his frenzied bucking--set off by Virgil's mention of the monster's executioner--allows the travelers to proceed unharmed. Why is he in this level? What sin did he commit ?

Almost everything about the Minotaur's story--from his creation to his demise--contains some form of violence. Pasiphaë, wife of King Minos of Crete, lusted after a beautiful white bull and asked Daedalus to construct a "fake cow" (Inf. 12.13) in which she could enter to induce the bull to mate with her; Daedalus obliged and the Minotaur was conceived. Minos wisely had Daedalus build an elaborate labyrinth to conceal and contain this monstrosity. To punish the Athenians, who had killed his son, Minos supplied the Minotaur with an annual sacrificial offering of seven Athenian boys and seven Athenian girls. When Ariadne (the Minotaur's half-sister: Inf. 12.20) fell in love with one of these boys (Theseus, Duke of Athens: Inf. 12.16-18), the two of them devised a plan to slay the Minotaur: Theseus entered the labyrinth with a sword and a ball of thread, which he unwound as he proceeded toward the center; having slain the Minotaur, Theseus was thus able to retrace his steps and escape the labyrinth.

Circle 8 Panderers and Seducers: This is where the souls of the seducers and the panderers reside, even pimps, movie producers, emotional rapists are found here. These souls are condemned to walk endlessly driven by the lashes of tall horned ugly looking demons.

Circle 8 cont’d Falsifiers: All the souls that have sinned falsifying in life, are plagued with all types of illnesses including STD's, rabies, leprosy, and are forced to drag themselves on the ground in order to move forward because their illnesses make them so weak. Fortune Tellers: This section consists of the fortune tellers, the soothsayers, and the sorcerers. They are punished by twisting their necks backwards so that they always move forward by moving backward. Even teachers who referred a slow reader as 'dyslexic' and predicting a child's educational future are found here.

Circle 8 cont’d Sowers of Discord, Scandal, and Schism: In the words of Dante, "And just as their sin was to rend asunder what God had meant to be united, so are they hacked and torn through all eternity by a great demon with a bloody sword. After each mutilation the souls are compelled to drag their broken bodies around the pit and to return to the demon, for in the course of the circuit their wounds knit in time to be inflicted anew.“ Thieves: This is the widest bolge than all other in this level. These souls wander naked and are constantly attacked by snakes which when bite the souls, turn the souls into flames and ashes, after a few seconds, these ashes are again turned into shades and again attacked by the snakes. Many a time, the shade bitten by the snake turns into a human soul and the soul bitten turns into a snake. This keeps on happening resulting in unending chasing and attacks all the time.