The Divine Comedy has been regarded as one of the greatest works in literature, encompassing various cultures, legends, and religious beliefs. The story tells the tale of how Dante travels from Hell, to Purgatory, to Heaven. Throughout his journey, he comes across many iconic figures in history. However, his journey will take him through the 9 Circles of Hell, a depiction that has served as one of the foundations for the depictions of Hell. Below are these 9 Circles. 

1. Limbo 

Limbo is a place that houses both pagans and moral non-Christians. They reside in a castle that supposedly symbolizes the seven virtues. Some of the people living in this castle include Julius Caesar, Socrates, and Cicero. 

2. Lust

As the name denotes, this second circle is only for those who have given themselves over to carnal pleasures. The victims are violently forced back and forth by a gust of wind, so much so that they can never hope to find rest. Both Helen of Troy and Cleopatra reside here.

3. Gluttony

The victims in the third circle have drowned themselves in food, drink, and other wordily pursuits. They have ignored others who are pleading for food and other material objects, things that they truly need. Because of this, they are forced to lie in a pile of revolting crops, nurtured by icy rain. 

4. Greed

The fourth circle of Hell divides victims into two groups: those who hoard, and those who pursue objects. For their punishment, the victims have to joust, with their weapons weighed down by their selfishness. When Dante walks through, many of the clergy and other religious authorities are here. 

5. Anger 

In the fifth circle of Hell, the victims are separated into those who are wrathful, and those who sulk. When Dante arrives, he sees a river where the wrathful are fighting each other on a boat, and the sulkers being held underwater. Interestingly enough, a man named Filippo Argenti resides there, a man that took Dante’s property away. 

6. Heresy

This circle of hell is rather iconic, simply because the heretics are being burned alive for all eternity. Dante sees figures such as Epicurus, a Greek philosopher, and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. 

7. Violence

The seventh circle of Hell, Violence, is separated into three rings. The outermost rings contains those who were violent to other people, the middle ring with suicides, and the innermost ring, sodomites and abusers. Each punishment is different for each ring. In the outermost ring, the residents are drowning in a river of fire and blood. In the second ring, suicides are changed into trees where harpies continually peck at them, and in the third ring, the victims live in a desert filled with burning sand and rain. 

8. Fraud

The eighth circle of Hell is divided into 10 ditches, each of which houses a specific fraud committed. Inside the circle is a creature called Geryon, who has many different names, symbolizing the various natures of fraud. 

9. Treachery 

The last circle of Hell is a place where the betrayed reside. A frozen lake is within the circle, where there are four levels to the lake, each level deeper according to the more serious the sin is. 

The 9 Circles of Hell are usually the most iconic out of Dante’s works. Because Dante encompassed many different cultures within his work, each culture could see their beliefs in Hell come to life, at least in the ancient world. But more than that, the circles of Hell have come to represent the various cultures that made up Europe, and laid the foundation of various works to include those depictions of Hell.