“Dante’s Inferno” authored by Dante Alighieri is a 14th-century narrative poem describing the journey of a fictionalized version of Dante himself through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest works of Western literature. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine concentric circles of torment located within the Earth. Over the next weeks I hope to write a series of articles briefly describing the various circles and related sins and punishments that Dante imagined comprised Hell. For the first article I will present the entrance vestibule that leads to Hell and the First Circle.
Dante first enters the vestibule to Hell which contains people that were rejected by God but not accepted by the powers of Hell because of their cowardly refusal to make a choice in life. Their punishment is to follow a banner at a furious pace forever, and to be tormented by flies and hornets. Dante passes through them quickly to the river Acheron, where they are greeted by the infernal boatman, Charon, who ferries the lost souls going on to Hell across the river. These souls, called shades, do not put up a fight but rather desire to cross the river, driven by Divine Justice that spurs them on.
The First Circle of Hell, known as “Limbo”, is where the “virtuous” non-Christians dwell. They suffer no physical torment, but they are tormented by a desire for salvation without the hope of ever seeing God. Some of these shades live in a splendid castle, where the greatest non-Christian thinkers dwell together with other famous historical figures. These were persons who lived relatively moral and ethical lives but were not Believers. Similar to Purgatory except a permanent state instead of temporary.
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