1. Dante’s Inferno Canto XXVI-XXXIV

2. Canto XXVI: Circle 8, Chasm 8

3. Dante is ashamed that 5 citizens of his city were
such thieves; Florence almost deserves Prato

4. Dante sees tongues of flame, every flame
concealing a sinner

5. Dante asks about a double flame, and Virgil says
it is that of Ulysses and Diomedes

6. Dante really wants to hear from these guys, but
Virgil says only he should ask the questions

7. Virgil asks Ulysses about his end; Ulysses explains
how he led his men to watery destruction

8. Canto XXVII: Circle 8, Chasm 8

9. Another flame breaks forth in speech Dante
compares to the sound of Perillus’ bull

10. It is Guido da Montefeltro
The Lord of Urbino. He became a
Franciscan friar in 1296. Boniface VIII
summoned him from his retreat in
1297 to consult with him about the
razing of Palestrina (Penestrino)
twenty-five miles east of Rome, held
by the Colonna family, who were in
rebellion against the Church. Guido,
finding it impregnable, advised
Boniface to promise immunity and
then break it, inducing the Colonna
to surrender (in September 1298),
then razing the fortress to the
ground. Dante regarded Guido highly
for his entering the Franciscan order
(see his Convivio iv 28). Guido was
born in 1223 and died in 1298. His
son Buonconte appears in the
Purgatorio.

11. At his request, Dante tells Guido the state
of affairs in Romagna

12. Guido, a former
soldier turned
Franciscan monk, was
promised absolution
in advance if he
helped Pope Boniface
defeat enemies.

13. When he died, St. Francis came to collect
his soul

14. But a demon claimed he must spend
eternity in Hell

15. Canto XXVIII

16. The 9th chasm is littered with body parts

17. Mahomet demonstrates how he rips his
own body apart

20. Running with him is his son Ali

21. Mahomet tells Dante to warn Friar Dolcino

22. Piero Medicina, who sowed discord in
Romagna, addresses Dante

23. He tells Dante to warn Guido and Angiolello that
Maslatestino plots to murder them

24. Pier introduces Curio, who advised Caesar
to cross the Rubicon

25. Mosca de Lamberti, who encouraged the
murder of Buondelmonti, speaks up

26. But Dante was especially drawn to a trunk
holding up its severed head

27. Bertran de Born, a talented poet, fomented discord
between King Henry II and his son Henry

28. Henry II

29. Henry Plantagenet

30. Henry II was also
known for
encouraging his
knights to murder
Thomas a Becket in
Canterbury Cathedral.

31. The sowers of discord, who divided others,
spend eternity themselves divided

32. The poets leave Bertran and move on

33. Canto XXIX: Chasm 10

34. Dante lagged behind, staring at a relative
who sowed discord

35. Chasm 10 is that of the
falsifiers, stricken with disease, pain
and stench

36. Dante addresses two scabby sinners who
sit together

37. Griffolino
responds, explaini
ng he was burnt
alive as an
alchemist for
promising to teach
Albero of Siena to
fly.

38. When Dante attacks the Siennese for
vanity, the spirit Capocchio speaks up in
defense

39. A Florentine alchemist, Capocchio was also
burnt alive

40. Canto XXX: More falsifiers

41. Suddenly 2 stinging, biting creatures appear;
one stabs Capocchio and carries him off

42. Griffolino tells Dante that the attacker is
Gianni Schicci

43. Schicci disguised himself as a dying man
and forged a will

44. His story has been made into a comic
opera

46. The other spirit is Myrrha

47. She disguised herself so she could sleep
with her father

48. She was turned into a tree

49. Now she is punished as a falsifier

50. Dante sees one shaped like a lute, heavy
with dropsy

51. It is Master Adam, who counterfeited
Florentine coins

52. Master Adam curses
those who induced
him to crime. He can
barely move, and is
thirsty all the time.
He too was burned at
the stake.

53. Dante asks about nearby sinners; Adam
mentions Potiphar’s wife

54. She tried to seduce Joseph, and when he
refused, accused him of seduction

55. The other sinner is Sinon, the liar who convinced
the Trojans to accept the wooden horse

57. Adam and Sinon get into a verbal and
physical battle

59. Virgil scolds Dante for his interest in this scabby
pair, and they move on

60. Canto XXXI: Pit of Giants

61. Dante thinks he sees towers, but Virgil
explains these are giants

63. Dante compares the size of one giant’s face to
that of the bronze pine-cone

64. The giant babbles, and Virgil identifies him
as Nimrod

65. Nimrod, great-grandson of Noah, was ruler
of Babylon

66. Nimrod is blamed for constructing the
tower of Babel

68. Next they see Ephialtes

69. Dante wants to see
Briarius, another giant
who challenged Jove.

70. Instead, Virgil takes him to Antaeus

71. Unchained, Antaeus is a giant who fought
with Hercules

72. Antaeus picks up the poets

73. And gently deposits them in the 9th circle

75. Canto XXXII: Circle 9

76. Circle 9 is a frozen river, Cocytus

77. Embedded in the ice are the traitors

78. Virgil leads Dante across the ice

79. The outer circle is Caïna, named for Cain,
who slew his brother Abel

80. The heads of two brothers, Allesandro and
Napoleone degli Alberti, embody treachery to
kin

81. Camiccione Pazzi tells Dante about some of
the other sinners

82. Such as Mordred, who killed his uncle King
Arthur

83. Facaccia de’ Cancellieri, who instigated a
feud among kinsmen

84. And Sassol Mascheroni, who killed a
kinsman for an inheritance

85. Moving on to
Antenora, Dante kicks
one head.

86. Dante and the head exchange curses; another
spirit tells Dante he insults Bocca degli Abati

88. The new speaker is Buoso de
Duera, who names other political
traitors
• Tesauro de’ Beccheria
• Gianni de’ Soldanier
• Ganelon
• Tribaldello

89. Dante sees two heads frozen together, one
chewing on the other

90. The chewer is Count Ugolino

91. Canto XXXIII: Circle 9

92. Ugolino, a traitor to Pisa, party, and family
himself, tells Dante his story

93. Archbishop Ruggieri had Ugolino, his two
sons and two grandsons, locked in a tower

95. The tower entrance was sealed

96. They all slowly starved to death, Uggolino
last

98. Thus he chews on Ruggieri’s head for all
eternity

99. The poets move on to where the heads barely
appear above the ice, and a breeze is felt

100. They are in Ptolomea, where those who
betrayed guest friends dwell

101. Dante promises to remove iced tears if one
spirit will talk to him

102. Friar Alberigo explains that these sinner are so
horrible, that their souls arrive in Hell before
their bodies, inhabited by demons, die

103. This is the case with Branca d’ Oria

104. Canto XXXIV: Circle 9 Judecca

105. Judecca, named after the apostle who betrayed Jesus
(Judas Iscariot), is the innermost zone of the ninth and
final circle of hell. The term also hints at a manifestation
of Christian prejudice--which Dante certainly shares--
against Judaism and Jews in the Middle Ages: it alludes to
the names--Iudeca, Judaica--for the area within certain
cities (e.g., Venice) where Jews were forced to live, apart
from the Christian population.
Together with Judas in this region of hell are others
who, by betraying their masters or
benefactors, committed crimes with great historical and
societal consequences. Completely covered by the ice--
like "straw in glass"--the shades are locked in various
postures with no mobility or sound whatsoever (Inf.
34.10-15).

106. Here, traitors to masters are buried
completely below the ice

107. Virgil tells Dante to gaze at the central
figure, giant Lucifer

108. Satan’s flapping wings create an icy wind

109. Lucifer has three heads

110. Each mouth chews a sinner

111. The center mouth chews Judas Iscariot

112. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss

114. For 30 pieces of silver

116. The other mouths chew Brutus and Cassius

117. These men conspired to assassinate Julius
Caesar

119. Virgil tells Dante it is
time to go.

120. To exit Hell, they must
climb Lucifer’s body.

122. The poets climb out of the abyss

125. They emerge under the stars