Hell and its circles were described in detail in his trilogy "The Divine Comedy" by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. This poetic work of the late Middle Ages describes the afterlife of souls, including the nine circles of hell. Hell is the first part of The Divine Comedy, a cultural monument and synthesis of medieval culture. It describes the Christian underworld, the souls of sinners and their punishment. The story begins with how the author, upon reaching adulthood, finds himself in a terrible forest, where he is attacked by three terrible animals. He is saved by the poet Virgil, sent by Beatrice, Dante's lady of the heart. Together they begin their journey into the kingdom of shadows.
First circle, limb
In the first circle of Dante's hell, virtuous non-Christians and unbaptized pagans, who are punished by eternal life in the likeness of paradise, are tormented. They live in a palace with seven gates, which symbolizes the seven virtues. Here Dante meets prominent people of the era of antiquity, such as Homer, Socrates, Aristotle, Cicero, Hippocrates and Julius Caesar.
Second circle, adultery
In the second circle of hell, Dante and Virgil meet people who are possessed by lust. Their punishment is a strong wind that whirls them in the air. They have no rest. This incessant wind symbolizes people driven by the thirst for carnal pleasures. Here again Dante meets many famous people of a bygone era: Cleopatra, Tristan, Helen of Troy and other sinners, whose vice was adultery.
Circle three, gluttony
Having reached the third circle of hell, Dante and Virgil meet the souls of gluttons, guarded by the monster Cerberus. Sinners there are punished by lying in a dirty mess under the incessant freezing rain. Dirt symbolizes the degradation of those who abuse food, drink and other earthly pleasures. Gluttonous sinners do not see those lying nearby. This symbolizes their selfishness and insensitivity.
Circle four, greed
In the fourth circle of hell, Dante and Virgil see the souls of those who are punished for greed. The sinners of this circle are divided into two groups: those who saved up material wealth and those who spent them without measure. They push weights, which symbolizes their attachment to wealth. Sinners are guarded by Pluto, the Greek god of the underworld. Here Dante sees many priests, including popes and cardinals.
Circle five, anger
In the fifth circle of hell, the angry and sullen are serving their sentences. Phlegias transports travelers by boat on the Styx River. On the surface of the river, those who sin with anger fight with each other, and those whose vice is despondency are drowning under the water.
Circle six, heresy
In the sixth circle of hell, pilgrims meet the souls of heretics who lie in burning graves.
Circle seven, violence
Dante's seventh circle of hell is divided into three more circles. Murderers and other rapists are tormented in the outer ring. As punishment, they are immersed in a river of blood and fire. In the middle circle there are suicides. They are turned into trees that bats feed on. Together with them, the spenders are tormented, who are pursued and torn to pieces by the dogs. In the inner ring, blasphemers and sodomites are serving their sentences. They are sentenced to live in a desert of burning sand, and a rain of fire pours down on them from above.
Circle eight, deception
The eighth circle of hell is inhabited by deceivers. Dante and Virgil get there on the back of Geryon, a flying monster. This circle is divided into ten stone ditches connected by bridges. In the first moat Dante meets pimps and seducers, in the second - flatterers, in the third - those guilty of simony, in the fourth - false prophets and sorcerers. The fifth ditch is inhabited by corrupt politicians, the sixth by the hypocrites, and the rest by thieves, advisers, forgers, alchemists, counterfeiters and false witnesses.
Circle nine, betrayal
All inhabitants of the ninth circle are frozen in an icy lake. The heavier the sin, the more deeply the sinner is frozen. The circle consists of four rings, the name of which reflects the name of the one who personifies sin. The first ring is named after the fratricide Cain, the second - the Trojan Antenor, the advisor of King Priam, the third - Ptolemy, the Egyptian astrologer, and the fourth - Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Christ.
