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[[Image:Gfdyte7y6.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Satan is trapped in the frozen central zone in the Ninth Circle of Hell, Inferno, Canto 34.]]

[[Image:Gustave_Dore_Inferno1.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Dante lost in the dark forest: ''In the midway of this our mortal life / I found me in a gloomy wood, astray'']]

The '''Inferno''' is the first of the three cantiche in [[Dante]]'s poetic work, ''[[The Divine Comedy]]'', about his imagined trip to [[Hell]] ('Inferno' is the Italian word for 'Hell').  It is very frightening. According to Dante, the inscription at the entrance to Hell reads "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

The '''Inferno''' is the first of the three cantiche in [[Dante]]'s poetic work, ''[[The Divine Comedy]]'', about his imagined trip to [[Hell]] ('Inferno' is the Italian word for 'Hell').  It is very frightening. According to Dante, the inscription at the entrance to Hell reads "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."

The first circle of Hell is [[Limbo]], home to those who led good lives but were not Christians, so cannot enter Heaven. Although it is in Hell, Limbo is relatively pleasant - the only punishment is disappointment and regret. Limbo in the Divine Comedy is analogous to the [[Elysian Fields]] in classical mythology.

The first circle of Hell is [[Limbo]], home to those who led good lives but were not Christians, so cannot enter Heaven. Although it is in Hell, Limbo is relatively pleasant - the only punishment is disappointment and regret. Limbo in the Divine Comedy is analogous to the [[Elysian Fields]] in classical mythology.

[[Image:Ferdinand_Victor_Delacroix_006.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Dante and Virgil are ferried across the River [[Styx]], towards the City of Dis (illustration by Delacroix).]]

[[Image:Ferdinand_Victor_Delacroix_006.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Dante and Virgil are ferried across the River [[Styx]], towards the City of Dis (illustration by Delacroix).]]

===The lesser circles===

===The lesser circles===

The next four circles are known as 'lesser Hell', because the sins that are punished there are the result of weakness rather than malicious intent. These are:

The next four circles are known as 'lesser Hell', because the sins that are punished there are the result of weakness rather than malicious intent. These are:

These sins are known as minor fraud, as distinct from treachery (see below), which is considered a worse form of fraud. The imaginative, cruel and grotesque punishments of the eighth circle provide some of the most enduring images in the Inferno, and are what most people have in mind when they think of the works of Dante.

These sins are known as minor fraud, as distinct from treachery (see below), which is considered a worse form of fraud. The imaginative, cruel and grotesque punishments of the eighth circle provide some of the most enduring images in the Inferno, and are what most people have in mind when they think of the works of Dante.

===The ninth circle: Treachery===

===The ninth circle: 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.

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.