The Inferno (1321) (edit title/settings)

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• Dante: Protagonist and Author.
• Aeneas: Warrior prince of ancient Troy who led the remaining Trojans to Italy and founded the beginnings of Rome. Protagonist of Virgil's Aeneid who travelled through the underworld in a similar manner to Dante.
• Guido Da Montefeltro: A Journey Through Hell
• Fortuna: Add a description of this character.
• Guido
• Frederick
• Virgil: Ancient poet, Author of the Aeneid, Dante's guide through Hell, and his symbol of Human Reason. Virtuous Pagan in Limbo.
• Brunetto: Brunetto had great influence on Dante in life, and Dantes is so sad to see him in hell. Dante hardly recognizes him. Brunetto gives Dante a prophecy about Florence.
• Francesca: She is found in the second circle of hell: the Lustful. She and Paolo are forever in hell together. Dante faints after seeing her.
• Boniface Viii
• Cavalcanti: His son is Guido, in level 6, Heretic
• Caesar
• Lucan
• Frederick Ii
• Malebranche
• Mohamed
• Saint Peter
• Beatrice: Dante's Guide through Paradise, and his symbol of Divine Love.
• Ruggieri: He is forever gnawed on by Count Ugolino who he murdered on earth.
• Manfred
• Manto
• Uberti
• The Leopard: Represents Malice and Fraud.
• Ugolino: Forever gnaws on Archbishop Ruggieri's head in the ninth circle round two.
• The Lion: Represents Ambition.
• The She-Wolf: Represents Incontinence.
• Arrigo
• Malacoda
• Jacopo Rusticucci
• Gianni Schicchi
• Vanni Fucci
• Cain: biblical character from Genesis. The first murderer who kills his brother Abel.
• Ulysses: He is found in the eight circle of Hell (Counselors of Fraud). After leaving Troy, he didn't come back to Itaca, but he tried to sail beyond the pillars of Hercules, looking for new adventures. After five months they saw in the distance the mount of Purgatory and a storm sank their boat
• Thomas Aquinas
• Dido: Queen of Carthago, in love with Aenea
• The Opportunists: Those who wavered between sides in life, including Angels who took no side in the war between Heaven and Hell, residing just inside the gate of Hell. Their punishment is to chase a banner while being stung by swarms of biting bugs. Have no place.
• Pope Celestine V: (1209-1296) Gained the Papacy in 1294 and was shortly afterward convinced to renounce all worldly affairs lest his soul be damned, including the Papacy, by his successor, Benedetto, later named Pope Boniface VIII. Found with the Opportunists, his primary sin was cowardice.
• Charon: Portrayed as an old man, he ferries souls across the Acheron river in Hell.
• The Poets: Including Virgil, Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. They are considered Virtuous Pagans, the Master Souls of Antiquity, and are therefore given a special place in Limbo: the Citadel of Human Reason. Born before Christ.
• Minos: Son of Europa and Zeus, a mythological king of Crete. He guards the entrance into the Second Ring of Hell, judging where the damned will reside.
• The Lustful: Including Semiramis, Dido, Cleopatra, Helen, Achilles, Paris, and Tristan, these souls are swept up in an eternal tempest. Circle 1.
• Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini: Two lovers in thirteenth century Italy. Paolo was Francesca's brother-in-law, when her husband found her with his brother; he killed them both.
• Cerberus: The mythological three-headed canine guardian of Hell, here put to use ripping at the Gluttonous in the Third Ring of Hell. Overpowered by Hercules.
• Ciacco: "the Hog," apparently a well-known Florentine of Dante's time. Dante knows him.
• Plutus: Mythological God of Wealth, guardian of the Fourth Circle of Hell, where Hoarders and Wasters reside.
• Phlegyas: Mythological King of Boeotia, son of Ares, thrown into Hell for defacing one of Apollo's temples. Here, he is the Boatman of the Styx.
• Filippo Argenti: Of the Adimari family in Dante's Florence, who were some of Dante's most hated political enemies.
• The Rebellious Angels: Those who took the side of Satan in the war between Heaven and Hell, they guard the gates and wall of the city of Dis, capital of Hell.
• The Three Infernal Furies: Spirits of Greek mythology that tormented those who committed atrocious crimes. Guard the entrance to Dis.
• Medusa: The Gorgon of Greek antiquity, with the ability to turn anything she looked upon into stone. Guard Dis.
• The Heavenly Messenger: Divine Being that opens the gates of Dis to Virgil and Dante.
• Farinata degli Uberti: General and leader of the Ghibellines of Florence from 1239 to 1258, one Dante considers with respect, despite his position in Hell.
• Cavalcante die Cavalcanti: A famous Epicurean of Florence, father of Guido Cavalcanti, a rival poet to Dante.
• Pope Anastasius: Pope during the Schism of the Eastern and Western churches.
• The Minotaur: of the Labyrinth, mythological half-cow, half-man beast, child of Pasiphae, wife of King Minos of Crete. He guards the way to the Seventh Ring of Hell.
• Alexander: the Great, found in the Seventh Circle of Hell immersed in the Phlegethon as punishment for his crimes against man. Violent against Neighbors.
• Attila: Hun king from 433 to 453, also known as the Scourge of God. In Circle 7, Round 1.
• Chiron: King of Centaurs in Hell, son of Saturn and Philira, mythological mentor of Achilles and other Greek heroes. Here he guards over the Phlegothon River. Circle 7, Round 1.
• Nessus: Mythological centaur who carried travelers across the River Evenus. He was slain by Hercules after he attempted to kidnap the hero's wife.
• The Harpies: Mythological bird women, associated with the Furies and reputed to defile all they touched, here guardians over the Wood of Suicides. Circle 7, Round 2.
• Pier delle Vigne: (1190-1249) Minister of Emperor Frederick II, renounced by his master in 1247, he committed suicide to escape torture.
• Lano da Siena: Died in 1287 in battle. Dante implies that he deliberately courted death after squandering his considerable fortune.
• Jacamo da Sant' Andrea: An infamous arsonist assassinated in 1239.
• Capaneus: One of the captains who made war on Thebes, he defied Jove and was struck down for his blasphemy.
• Ser Brunetto Latino: (1210-1294) A Florentine Guelph, greatly respected by Dante for his writing. The nature of his sin is not known.
• Jacapo Rusticucci: A thirteenth century Florentine knight, well respected. Dante's is the only account of his sin.
• Guido Guerra: (1220-1272) Guelph leader, well respected. Dante is the only writer to note him as a sodomite. Dad is a heretic.
• Tegghiaio Aldobrandi: A knight of the Adimari family who died in 1265. Dante is the only writer to note him as a sodomite.
• Geryon: Mythical king of Spain, represented as a three headed, three bodied giant, slain by Hercules. In some myths, he is known for luring, killing, and robbing travelers. He guards the way to Lower Hell, where souls who sinned in Fraud reside.
• Venedico Caccianemico: Nobleman of Bologna who used his sister to curry favor with the Marquis.
• Pier da Medicina
• Jason: Mythological leader of the Argonauts, he won the Golden Fleece with Medea's help, only to leave her for Creusa. He had earlier affairs.
• Cleopatra VII: She is the guardian of the second circle of Hell, where the lustful are punished.

Quotes edit see section history

• “'Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’entrate!'=> 'Abandon all hope, you who enter!'"”

  The warning sign -- in somber colors -- atop the gate of Hell

• “Midway upon the journey of our lifeI found myself within a forest dark,For the straightforward pathway had been lost.”

  Dante

• “. . . One day, for pleasure,We read of Lancelot, by love constrained:Alone, suspecting nothing, at our leisure.. . .And so was he who wrote it; that day we read. . .No further. . . .”

  Francesca speaks these lines in Canto V when she tells Dante the story of her love affair with Paolo, her husband’s brother, for which they are now both condemned to the tempest of the Second Circle of Hell (V.112–124).

• “I did not open them—for to be rudeTo such a one as him was courtesy.”

  Dante speaks these lines in reference to a promise, in Canto XXXIII, to open Fra Alberigo’s eyes for him (XXXIII.146–147).

• “To get back up to the shining world from thereMy guide and I went into that hidden tunnel;Where we came forth, and once more saw the stars.”

  Dante. These concluding words of Inferno describe Dante and Virgil’s climb out of the underworld and back to the surface of the Earth (XXXIV.134–140).

• “"Canst thou be Virgil? thou that fount of splendour Whence poured so wide a stream of lordly speech?" Said I, and bowed my awe-struck head in wonder;”

  Dante when first meeting Virgil

• “Now, Muses, now, high Genius, do your part! And Memory, faithful scrivener to the eyes, Here show thy virtue, noble as thou art!”

  Dante in Canto II (paying homage to similar lines in both Homer's and Virgil's epics)

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• 'THROUGH me you pass into the city of woe: Through me you pass into eternal pain: Through me among the people lost for aye. Justice the founder of my fabric mov'd: To rear me was the task of power divine, Supremest wisdom, and primeval love. Before me things create were none, save things Eternal, and eternal I endure. All hope abandon ye who enter here.'

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• 'This miserable fate Suffer the wretched souls of those, who liv'd Without or praise or blame, with that ill band Of angels mix'd, who nor rebellious prov'd Nor yet were true to God, but for themselves Were only.

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• Farther, I would thou know, that these of sin Were blameless; and if aught they merited, It profits not, since baptism was not theirs, The portal to thy faith. If they before The Gospel liv'd, they serv'd not God aright;

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• For whose fair realm, Camilla, virgin pure, Nisus, Euryalus, and Turnus fell.

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Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Inferno: Hell, where those who have sinned beyond repair are punished.
• Rome
• Malebolge
• The First Circle: Limbo, where unbaptized children and virtuous pagans reside.
• Bologna
• Thebes
• Italy
• Black Guelph
• Pisa
• Mantua
• Tuscany
• Canto
• Pistoia
• Montaperti
• Arezzo
• Ciacco
• Rimini
• Florence: Dante's home in Italy, the source of many of those he finds in Hell.
• Verona
• Sardinia
• Middle Ages
• Boccaccio
• Siena
• Egypt
• Loderingo
• Crete
• Padua
• Sicily
• Ravenna
• Capocchio
• Hell
• Barbariccia
• Diomedes
• Hecuba
• Jerusalem
• New York
• Spain
• Lucca
• Israel
• Mars
• Heaven: Paradise, above Purgatory and Hell.
• Paris
• Brescia
• Latium
• Farinata
• Avernus
• Neptune
• Guelphs
• Navarre
• Judecca: Named for Judas, the Fourth Round of the Ninth Circle, where those treacherous to their masters reside, bound completely in ice.
• The Dark Wood of Error: Worldliness, where Dante finds himself at the beginning of the Inferno, where he is accosted by a Lion, Leopard and She-Wolf.
• Ptolomea: Named for Ptolomaeus who killed his father-in-law at a feast, the Third Round of the Ninth Circle, where those treacherous against the ties of hospitality reside, bound to their eyes in ice.
• Antenora: Named for the Trojan that betrayed his city to the Greeks, the Second Round of the Ninth Circle, where those treacherous to their country reside, bound to the neck in ice.
• Caïna: Named for Cain, the First Round of the Ninth Circle, where those treacherous to kin reside, their bodies bound in ice.
• Cocytus: The Ninth and Final Circle of Hell, where those who committed treachery against those to whom they were bound by special ties reside.
• The Pit of the Malebolge: The entrance to the Ninth Circle of Hell, guarded by Giants.
• The Tenth Bolgia: Where Falsifiers of all classes reside, each with a punishment specific to the sin.
• The Gate and Vestibule of Hell: Entrance into Hell, where the Opportunists reside.
• The Center of Cocytus: Where a three-faced Satan resides, chewing on Judas, Brutus, and Cassius. Below him lies the path to Purgatory.
• Acheron: The first river of Hell, where the damned are ferried into Hell by Charon.
• The Citadel of Human Reason: Located in Limbo, where the Master Souls of Pagan Antiquity reside under the light of Human Reason.
• The Second Circle: Where those given to carnal sins (lust) reside, swept up in an eternal tempest. Guarded by Minos.
• The Third Circle: Where the gluttonous reside in a rain of putrescent snow. Guarded by Cerberus.
• The Fourth Circle: Where Hoarders and Wasters reside, sentenced to ram two great boulder-like weights together for all eternity. Guarded by Plutus.
• The Fifth Circle: The Marsh of Styx, where the Wrathful battle and the Sullen lie beneath the slime. Guarded by Phlegyas the Boatman.
• The Iron Gate and Red Towers of Dis: The barrier between Upper and Lower Hell, gateway into the Capital of Hell, Dis. Guarded by Rebellious Angels, the Furies, and Medusa.
• The Sixth Circle: Where Heretics (those who denied their immortal soul) reside, a cemetery of flame-wreathed graves.
• Phlegethon: The First Round of the Seventh Circle of Hell, a river of boiling blood where those violent against people and property reside, guarded by the Minotaur and Centaurs.
• The Wood of Suicides: The Second Round of the Seventh Circle of Hell, where those who destroyed their lives or property reside. Guarded by Harpies and Hounds.
• The Plain of Burning Sand: The Third Round of the Seventh Circle of Hell, where those violent against God (blasphemers), nature (sodomites), and art (usurers) reside.
• The Waterfall: Between the Seventh and Eighth circles of Hell, marks the barrier between sins violent in nature and those malicious and fraudulent. Guarded by Geryon.
• The Malebolge: The Evil Ditches, the Eighth Circle of Hell, containing ten rounds (bolgias).
• The First Bolgia: Where Panderers and Seducers walk, eternally whipped on by horned demons
• The Second Bolgia: Where Flatterers lie in filth.
• The Third Bolgia: Where Simoniacs (those who sold the favors and positions of the Church) reside, stuck upside-down, feet aflame.
• The Fourth Bolgia: Where Fortune Tellers and Diviners walk backward, eyes blinded with tears, heads turned around.
• The Fifth Bolgia: Where Grafters are sunk in boiling bitch, pulled apart by the hook-wielding demons.
• The Sixth Bolgia: Where Hypocrites are weighted down by brilliant leaden robes.
• The Seventh Bolgia: Where Thieves are bound with serpents.
• The Eighth Bolgia: Where Evil Counselors are obscured from view by tongues of flame.
• The Ninth Bolgia: Where Sowers of Religious and Political Discord and Discord Between Kinsmen are torn apart by a sword-wielding demon.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Malebolge: "The evil ditches". It is a large, funnel-shaped cavern, itself divided into ten concentric circular trenches or ditches. Each trench is called a bolgia (Italian for "pouch" or "ditch"). Long causeway bridges run from the outer circumference of Malebolge to its center, pictured as spokes on a wheel. At the center of Malebolge is the ninth and final circle of Hell.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Followed by Purgatorio.

Preceded by The Canterbury Tales, and followed by The Odyssey.

Preceded by Walden.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Dante Alighieri (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. M. Gustave Dore (Illustrator)
2. Barry Moser (Illustrator)
3. Allan Gilbert (Translator) - English
4. Allen Mandelbaum (Translator) - English
5. Anthony M. Esolen (Translator) - English
6. Charles Naton (Translator) - English
7. Charles Southward Singleton (Translator) - English
8. Dorothy S. Singleton (Translator) - English
9. Eleanor Vinton Murray (Translator) - English
10. Elio Zappulla (Translator) - English
11. E. R. Ellaby (Translator) - English
12. Harry Morgan Ayres (Translator) - English
13. John Cardi (Translator) - English
14. Henry Francis Cary (Translator) - English
15. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Translator) - English
16. Isabella DeCarlo (Translator)
17. Jean Hollander (Translator) - English
18. John A. Carlyle (Translator) - English
19. John Hollander (Translator) - English
20. John Sinclair (Translator) - English
21. Kathryn Lindskoog
22. Lacy Pocket (Translator) - English
23. Mark Musa (Translator) - English
24. Michael Mazur (Translator)
25. Michael Palma (Translator) - English
26. Matthew Pearl (Translator)
27. Nicholas Kilmer (Translator) - English
28. Peter E. Bondanella
29. Robert M. Darling (Translator) - English
30. Robert Hollander (Translator) - English
31. Robert Pinsky (Translator) - English
32. Sean O'Brien (Translator) - English
33. Thomas G. Bergin (Translator) - English

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Los Angeles Times Book Prize (1995: Poetry)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 851.1

Notes for Parents edit see section history

The alert is not only because of the graphic mental images the poem evokes, but more so because of the level of maturity an understanding of the poem requires. Fascinating creatures aside, Dante's poem is heavy. It attempts to explain the concept of Divine Justice -- by showing how different kinds of sins warrant corresponding kinds/degrees of horrifying punishment. (Dante resorts to generous poetic license, obviously.). Although children 9-12 would be able to understand what's written on the surface, because of their LIMITED experience – let us hope! -- with lust, despair, murder, treachery..., there would unlikely be enough traction for insightful absorption of the material.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Religion & Spirituality › Christianity › Literature & Fiction › Poetry
• Books › Literature & Fiction › History & Criticism › Movements & Periods › Renaissance
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Poetry › Epic

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Project Gutenberg: Free e-book, full text in Italian

Books That Influenced This Book edit see section history

Books Influenced by This Book edit see section history

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history