Everything below the surface is sinful and negative the deeper you go, the worse it gets.

Throughout the story, acts of descension and ascension are symbolic of negative and positive acts, respectively. The Divine Comedy expresses a vertical worldview common to traditional belief systems. The top two spheres are reserved for the stars and the angels, which represent the highest beings of heaven, furthest from the world of sin below. Each of the first seven spheres corresponds to a heavenly body, starting with the Moon and continuing with Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, respectively. These celestial spheres represent virtues, in contrast to the terraces of Inferno and Purgatorio, which represented sins. After ascending from Mount Purgatorio, Dante then ascends through the nine celestial spheres of heaven. Once they pass the center, they climb ‘upward’ until they reach the surface of the southern hemisphere, opposite of their starting point. It’s fitting that Lucifer is located at the lowest and most central point all of hell is centered around him and is built up from him, much like the inverse of a mountain’s peak.Īfter reaching Lucifer, Dante and Virgil escape Inferno by climbing down Lucifer’s body and through the center point of the earth. The bottom of Inferno, at the center of the earth, is where Dante finds Lucifer, or the Devil.

As Dante descends down through the circles, the sins, as well as their punishments, get more severe. The descent through these terraces is symbolic of Dante traveling away from the surface and further from the sky, as he confronts the three types of sin: the self-indulgent, the violent, and the malicious.Įach terrace, or circle, contains sinners being eternally punished for a different type of sin. Overall, it resembles an inverted mountain or ziggurat, with its bottom point at the center of the earth. Pictured above, Inferno is composed of nine concentric terraces, each one smaller and lower than the previous one. He meets Virgil, who acts as his guide, and the two begin their descent into Inferno. This is an allegory for his soul, which is lost and seeking salvation. The poem begins with Dante lost in the forest, unable to find his way and fearful of becoming lost forever.

Dante alighieri commedia divina