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[[Image:Gfdyte7y6.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Satan in the Ninth Circle of Hell: ''That Emperor, who sways / The realm of sorrow, at mid breast from the ice / Stood forth'' (Canto XXXIV)]]

[[Image:Gfdyte7y6.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Satan in the Ninth Circle of Hell: ''That Emperor, who sways / The realm of sorrow, at mid breast from the ice / Stood forth'' (Canto XXXIV)]]

===The ninth circle: Treachery===

===Cocytus===

The ninth and lowest circle, situated at the bottom of a deep well leading down to the center of the earth, is set aside for [[Treachery|traitors]]. The circle takes the form of a frozen lake called Cocytus (the fourth river of Hell), and the traitors are frozen into the [[ice]]. Some have their heads free, while others are completely covered, according to the severity of their treachery.

The ninth and lowest circle, situated at the bottom of a deep well leading down to the center of the earth, is set aside for [[Treachery|traitors]]. The circle takes the form of a frozen lake called [[Cocytus]] (the fourth river of Hell), and the traitors are frozen into the [[ice]]. Some have their heads free, while others are completely covered, according to the severity of their treachery.

In the ultimate depths of this circle, the travelers come upon [[Satan]] and the three worst human offenders: [[Judas Iscariot]], [[Brutus]] and [[Cassius]]. Satan is depicted as a three-headed, winged [[demon]] of immense size, yet at the same time he is a pathetic figure: he is unable to move except to beat his wings ineffectually, and he cries constantly. The three worst traitors are punished by being chewed by Satan himself, and Judas, as the worst of all, is also lacerated by Satan's claws.

In the ultimate depths of this circle, the travelers come upon [[Satan]] and the three worst human offenders: [[Judas Iscariot]], [[Brutus]] and [[Cassius]]. Satan is depicted as a three-headed, winged [[demon]] of immense size, yet at the same time he is a pathetic figure: he is unable to move except to beat his wings ineffectually, and he cries constantly. The three worst traitors are punished by being chewed by Satan himself, and Judas, as the worst of all, is also lacerated by Satan's claws.

In Dante’s time, [[Julius Caesar]] was honored as the first emperor of Rome, and Rome brought the ‘[[Pax Romana]]’. Hence, his assassins Brutus and Cassius are seen as betraying the divinely-ordained natural order.<ref> [[The Divine Comedy]], By Dante Alighieri, Translated by Charles Singleton, Bollingen Series 80, Vol 1: Inferno. Copyright 1970 by Princeton University Press.  </ref>

In Dante’s time, [[Julius Caesar]] was honored as the first emperor of Rome, and Rome brought the ‘[[Pax Romana]]’. Hence, his assassins Brutus and Cassius are seen as having betrayed the divinely-ordained natural order.<ref> [[The Divine Comedy]], By Dante Alighieri, Translated by Charles Singleton, Bollingen Series 80, Vol 1: Inferno. Copyright 1970 by Princeton University Press.  </ref>

==Denizens of Hell==

==Denizens of Hell==