1. Dante Alighieri’s Inferno
The 9 Circles of Hell

2. What is it about?
Dante is a man who has lost his way in life. The story starts out with him being denied into heaven because he is a sinner. He is visited by Virgil, who becomes his guide through Hell. Virgil tells him he must go through all the levels of hell and learn from his and others’ mistakes in order to get into heaven. The Inferno is a part of a trilogy called The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Dante combines legends, Greek mythology, and Christian theology together in his work.

5. Vestibule: Just outside the gates of hell
It is the place where those who would make no choices in life are condemned to spend their eternity. This includes those too self-absorbed to make choices, those who were neither warm nor cold on important matters, those who were neither believers nor blasphemers. They run about the hills of Ante-Hell forever having no hope of truly dying, chasing banners they will never catch, and being stung repeatedly by hornets and wasps. An example of such a person who refused to make decisions in his life would be Pontius Pilate, who refused to pass sentence of Christ.

7. Sign sinners see as they enter hell:
“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” -Inferno

8. Circle 1: Limbo, The Un-baptized and the Pagans
The Sin: Un-Baptized and or born before the time of Christ and did not have the opportunity to be baptized
The Punishment: the punishment for its residents is the loss of Hope; they must exist in desire for the glory of God (often a God who they do not believe in), without ever being able to attain it.
In this circle: Homer, Horace, Ovid, Caesar, Brutus, Lucretia, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Democritus, Thales, Heraclitus, Euclid, Hector, Aeneas, Epictatus, Ptolemy, and Hippocrates.

10. Circle 2: The Lustful
The Sin: Excessive sexual passion (put this before God)
The Punishment: The punishment for the Lustful is an infernal storm that lashes at them in darkness with rage and punishment, spinning through the air. The Lustful are mostly blown about in pairs, but this is not always so.
In this Circle: All the great lovers are here - Semiramis, Cleopatra, Helen, Achilles, Paris, Tristan.

12. Circle 3: The Gluttonous
The Sin: Loved in excess food and drink above the gifts God gave them
The Punishment: A great storm of putrefaction falls incessantly in this circle, a mixture of stinking snow and freezing rain, which forms into a vile slush underfoot. The souls of the Damned Lie in the icy paste, swollen and obscene, and Cerberus, the ravenous three-headed dog of Hell, stands guard over them, ripping and tearing them with his claws and teeth.

14. Circle 4: The Hoarders and Spenders
The Sin: Hoarders keep everything to themselves and Spenders buy everything (they lacked all moderation in regulating their expenses and so destroyed the light of God within themselves by thinking of nothing but money)
The Punishment: They push boulders against each other. One mob (the hoarders) pushed against another mob (the spenders). Thus the boulders never go anywhere. If you fit both categories, you were really screwed b/c you were put between the boulders and smashed for all eternity.

16. Circle 5: The Wrathful and The Sullen (the River Styxx)
The Sin: The Wrathful allowed their anger to over come them. The Sullen refused to welcome the sweet light of the sun (spiritual awakening) because they were always down in the dumps.
The Punishments: In the River Styxx the Wrathful are forced to fight each other for all eternity (They also have an eternal rage against themselves due to which they attack and bite their own bodies.)and the Sullen are buried at the bottom of the River, never to see light again.

19. Circle 6: The Heretics
The Sin: Those that did not believe in God and spoke against him in life
The Punishment: They are placed in a burning coffin for all eternity

21. Circle 7: The Violent (divided up into 3 Rings)
Ring 1: The Sin: Tyrants and Murderers (Violence against another person). The Punishment: They are forced to swim (or sink) in a boiling river of blood. The river is guarded by Centuars who stab anyone who tries to get out.
Ring 2: The Sin: Violence against one’s self (suicide). The Punishment: The suicides are encased in trees and then torn apart by Harpies over and over again.
Ring 3: The Sin: Violence against God and Nature. The Punishment: They are stranded forever on the Plain of Burning Sand where it constantly rains great burning flakes of fire which vanish when they hit the ground, but not when they hit the flesh of sinners.

25. Circle 8: The Fraudulent Circle 8 is called Malebolge, which is a large, funnel-shaped cavern, divided into ten concentric circular trenches or ditches. Each trench is called a bolgia (Italian for "pouch" or "ditch“).
Bolgia 1: Pimps and Seducers.
The Sin: Seduced others in life (pimps, prostitutes, adulturers, anyone who used sex to get what they want)
The Punishment: They are chased around by black, horned demons who lashed them with whips.

27. Bolgia 2: Flatterers. The Sin: They used lies and flattery to get what they want (advertisers and salesmen). The Punishment: They are sunk in excrement (any kind of human waste) and if they try to talk, excrement pours out of their mouths.
Bolgia 3: Simoniacs. The Sin: Corrupt the things of God (specifically those who buy or sell their way into a church office). The Punishment: They are put in a hole filled with oil (upside own) and their feet are set on fire). In This Circle: Pope Nicholas II (yep, he put a pope in Hell).

28. Bolgia 2

29. Bolgia 3

30. Bolgia 4: Sorcerers and Fortunetellers
Bolgia 4: Sorcerers and Fortunetellers. The Sin: Anyone who tries to predict the future, attempting to be like God. The Punishment: They have their heads turned around backwards that way they can only see where they have been. In this Circle: Such famous soothsayers as Amphiarus, Tiresias, Aruns, Manto, Euryplus, Michael Scot, Guido Bonatti and Asdente . Another type of fortune teller found in this Bolge is a teacher who would label any slow reader as dyslexic, thereby predicting the child's educational future.

31. Bolgia 5: Corrupt Politicians
Bolgia 5: Corrupt Politicians. The Sin: Those who stole from people that trusted them or those who obtained money in unfair ways. The Punishment: They are buried in boiling pitch and if they try to get out there are demons who tear them apart with spears, grappling hooks, and pitchforks.
Bolgia 6: Hypocrites. The Sin: Those who say/do one thing but mean another. The Punishment: They are forced to wear lead-heavy hooded cloaks and walk around a narrow track with out stopping. If they stop, the clock gets hotter and hotter.

33. Bolgia 7: Thieves. The Sin: Steal and take what does not belong to them. The Punishment: They are naked and attacked by snakes who bite at them. Sometimes when they are bitten they combust into a heap of ash, reform and start all over again.
Bolgia 8: Fraudulent counselors and deceivers. The Sin: They gave false counsel. The Punishment: They are trapped in an eternal flame (they burn in Hell literally).

34. Bolgia 7

35. Bolgia 8

36. Bolgia 9: Sowers of Discord and Scandal
Bolgia 9: Sowers of Discord and Scandal. The Sin: Tore apart what God meant to be together. The punishment: They are hacked and ripped apart for all eternity by a demon with a sword. In This Circle: Mohammed, Ali, Henry VIII, Vlad Tepes, lawyers who goaded people into suits and divorces, people who advocated hatred, and people who started wars or refused to end them. In addition many here are religious schismatics - people who fractured the true church for their own gain.
Bolgia 10: The falsifiers. The Sin: Evil Impersonators (pretended to be someone else). The Punishment: Diseased. Rabies, leporasy, STDs.

38. Bolgia 10

39. Circle 9: Cocytus, the Traitors
Circle 9: Cocytus, the Traitors. Circle 9 is a frozen pool where betrayers are buried in ice.
Caina: The Sin: Traitors against your kindred (family, friends, etc.). Names after Cain who betrayed his brother Abel. The Punishment: Frozen in the ice with only their faces showing in order to express their pain. In This Circle: Mordred, the nephew of King Arthur, who attempted to kill him.
Antenora: The Sin: Traitors to their country. Named after the Trojan Warrior who betrayed his country to the Greeks. The Punishment: Only their heads are above the ice.

41. Ptolomea: The Sin: Traitors to their Guests or Host
Ptolomea: The Sin: Traitors to their Guests or Host. Named after after the captain of Jericho, Ptolemy, who had Simon, his father-in-law and two of his sons killed while they dined. The Punishment: They are frozen in the lake on their backs so that their eyes that fill with tears cannot fall. Their bodies are also still alive on Earth, just possessed by demons.
Judecca: The Sin: Betrayed their lord and master. Named after Judas Iscariot. The Punishment: They are completely buried in the ice.

43. Lucifer in circle 9
Lucifer is frozen in the ice in the centre of Judecca, but with half his chest above the ice; even the part projecting above the ice is more than a mile tall. He has bat-like wings.
Lucifer has three faces from which he weeps tears mixed with bloody slaver, a mockery of the Trinity. The forward-facing face is red, mocking Primal Love with hatred; one is yellow, parodying Diving Omnipotence with impotence; and one is black, perverting Highest Wisdom with ignorance. Each of the faces has a mouth that is stuffed with one of the worst traitors of the world, those who are treacherous against their benefactors. The first is Judas Iscariot, who was a traitor to Christ for thirty pieces of silver. He endures the worst punishment by being chewed on by the red face and being clawed by his bat-like wings. The second is Marcus Brutus, traitor to Caesar. The black face is chewing him. The third sinner is Caius Cassius Longinus, who was another member of the conspiracy against Caesar.