The indecisive/opportunists/amoral, those who lived for themselves rather than good or evil
Charon
Ferryman of the damned
Acheron
Charon takes sinners to Hell Proper across this river
Minos, the Infernal Judge
Sinners are eager to tell Minos their sins
Minos then decides where in Hell they go
Circle 1 – Limbo
For:
Virtuous pagans
Unbaptized souls
Circle 2 – Lust
For:
Those who subjugate reason for desire
Circle 3 – Gluttony
For:
Those who overindulge in food, drink, or something else
Circle 4 – Greed
For:
A divine love of items (those obsessed with material goods)
Circle 5 – Wrath
Lower Hell – City of Dis
Gate to the City of Dis, guarded by fallen angels
Circle 6 – Heresy
For:
Those who believe the soul dies when the body dies
Circle 7 – Violence
Ring One – Violent against their neighbors
For:
Murderers
Tyrants
Those guilty of violent war crimes
Ring Two – Violent against themselves
For:
Suicides
Indirect suicide (those who neglect themselves in a way that leads to death)
Ring Three – Violent again God
For:
The violent against God
Blasphemers
The violent against art
Those guilty of usury
Usury is considered art
Art is the child of nature
Nature is the child of God
Therefore, art is the grandchild of God
Usurers are guilty of exploiting the poor
In Dante’s interpretation as well as much medieval sentiment, usury is not necessarily charging unusually high interest, but any interest at all
The violent against nature
Sodomites
In Dante’s sentiment, this would be any sexual immorality
Geryon is the demon here who brings Dante and Virgil into the 8th circle
Circle 8 – “Malebolge” – Fraudulent Counselors – Those who provided fraudulent advice or used fraud to bring about the downfall of others
Bolgia 1 – Panderers and seducers
Panderers are any form of pimp
Seducers are prostitutes
Bolgia 2 – Flatterers
Those guilty of false flattery to gain favor
Bolgia 3 – Simoniacs
Those involved in the selling of sacred or spiritual things
Bolgia 4 – Sorcerers (fortune tellers and diviners)
Fortune tellers
Bolgia 5 – Grafters
Unscrupulous politicians
Those who bribe public officials
Bolgia 6 – Hypocrites
Those who failed to live by the standards of their own supposed morality (in modern terms, those who did not practice what they preached)
Bolgia 7 – Thieves
Bolgia 8 – Evil counselors (deceivers)
Those who provided false or corrupted advice to others for personal gain
Bolgia 9 – Schismatics (sowers of discord)
Those who create a schism against the Christian church, such as the Muslim prophet Muhammad who founded Islam
Bolgia 10 – Falsifiers (evil impersonators, counterfeiters, and false witnesses)
Falsifiers of metal
Alchemists
Falsifiers of persons
Impersonators
Falsifiers of money
Counterfeiters
Circle 9 – “Cocytus” – Treachery – Compound Fraud – Fraud which goes against the bonds of love, blood, honor, or the bond of hospitality
“Caïna”
Betrayers of kin
“Antenora”
Betrayers of country
“Ptolomea”
Betrayers of guests
“Judecca”
Betrayers of benefactors
The treacherous to their masters
The very center of all of creation, the furthest one can be from God
Where Satan resides
Notes
Circle 1 includes noble pagans who died before the birth of Jesus. After Jesus resurrected, he returned here to collect some of the noble pagans like Moses and brought them to Heaven. In doing so, he broke the gate of Hell, which remains broken to this day. One possible allegory of a broken gate is that the damned remain in Hell by choice, but I don’t see how this is possible except for those in the vestibule, before the river of Acheron.
Circles 2-5 are for incontinence
Incontinence includes sins that have to do with a lack of self-control
The reason these sinners are in Upper Hell is because they had divine love for something, although that something was not the one true God.
The sinners here want to be remembered
Circle 6-9 are in the City of Dis
This area of Hell deals with perversions of the intellect
The reason these sinners are in Lower Hell is because they lacked any form of divine love.
The City of Dis has its own gate, guarded by rebellious angels, and the only part of Hell with demons
The sinners here want to be forgotten
Circle 8 is separated into ten bolgias. A bolgia in Italian can mean “ditch” or “pouch”. Dante likely intended both meanings, making each bolgia both a ditch of evil and a pouch full of it.
Seducers and panderers are both places in the first bolgia and suffer the same punishment, however seducers are on a side more inward, possibly implying their sin is greater (i.e., making the sin of prostitution slightly worse than the sin of pimping).
Circle 9 at its very center is where Satan resides. The ironic reason it stays frozen over is because Satan endlessly tries to escape by flying away, his wings causing the very frost that causes suffering.
