In Dante's Inferno the concept of hell is that there are nine circles or levels to hell. Dante takes a journey into the underworld; which we all know as hell. The first level of hell is called the limbo stage. This is the stage where non-Christians reside. Also people who are not baptized live in the limbo level of hell. They all live together in a castle that has seven gates and there you will find the seven virtues; hence the seven gates. The seven people Dante see are Homer, Socrates, Aristotle, Cicero, Hippocrates, and Julius Caesar. The second level is called lust. This where people who are overcome with lust reside. Since they are so lustful they are punished by being blown back and forth by a violent. They never have peace. Cleopatra, Tristan, Helen of Troy and others who were adulterous during their lifetime were found in this level of hell. The third level is called gluttony. This is where people who desire food and overeat reside. They are punished by having to live a lie a vile slush that is produced by icy rain; which symbolizes degradation. The fourth level of hell is called greed. This is where people who are greedy live. Their punishment is being divided into two groups: people who hoarded possessions and those lived lavishly and were frivolous. Both groups pushed weights with their chest and used them as weapons. Clergymen including cardinals and popes are found in this level of hell. The fifth level of hell was called anger. People who lived in this level of hell were wrathful and sullen. They were punished reflected the type of sin they committed in that lifetime. Filippo Argenti was found in the level of hell. The sixth level of hell is called Heresy. This is where people who heretics live. They are punished by being condemned to living in flaming tombs. ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Anastasius II were found on this level hell. The seventh level of is called violence. This level was divided into three circles. People in the outer circle were the houses murderers and others who were violent to other people and property. Alexander the Great (disputed), Dionysius I of Syracuse, Guy de Montfort and many other notable historical and mythological figures such as the Centaurus punishment was that they sank into a river of boiling blood and fire. The middle ring the poet sees suicides who have been turned into trees and bushes which are fed upon by harpies. Profligates, chased and torn to pieces by dogs were also seen in this level of hell. The inner ring is where blasphemers and sodomites resided in a desert of burning sand and burning rain falling from the sky as their punishment. The eight level of hell is called fraud. This is where people who were fraudulent lived. This circle of Hell is divided into 10 Bolgias or stony ditches with bridges between them. In Bolgia 1, Dante sees panderers and seducer. In Bolgia 2 he finds flatterers. After crossing the bridge to Bolgia 3, he and Virgil see those who are guilty of simony. After crossing another bridge between the ditches to Bolgia 4, they find sorcerers and false prophets. In Bolgia 5 are housed corrupt politicians, in Bolgia 6 are hypocrites and in the remaining 4 ditches, Dante finds hypocrites (Bolgia 7), thieves (Bolgia 7), evil counselors and advisers (Bolgia 8), divisive individuals (Bolgia 9) and various falsifiers such as alchemists, perjurers and counterfeits (Bolgia 10). The ninth level of hell was called treachery. This level of hell is divided into 4 Rounds according to the seriousness of the sin though all residents are frozen in an icy lake. Those who committed more severe sin are deeper within the ice. Each of the 4 Rounds is named after an individual who personifies the sin. Thus Round 1 is named Caina after Cain who killed his brother Abel, Round 2 is named Antenora after Anthenor of Troy who was Priam’s counselor during the Trojan War, Round 3 is named Ptolomaea after Ptolemy (son of Abubus), while Round 4 is named Judecca after Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus with a kiss.
Dante's view of what hell is and the modern view of what hell is can be considered to be similar. However, the punishments in hell that are mentioned in Dante's Inferno and the modern view of the punishments in hell differ.
The modern view of hell and Dante's view of hell are similar because people have to suffer when they sent to hell to live their eternal life. The modern view of hell is that people are deemed to total damnation for the rest of their lives if they sin and do not follow GOD's commandments. Also people who commit crimes are punished by being sent to hell. People believe that if you do good and lived by the word of GOD then you will not be sent to hell. Likewise, in Dante's Inferno people who believed in GOD did not go to hell and people who did not went to hell. Also the people who committed sins and crimes were punished in hell for their wrongdoings. The only difference is that in the modern world there is just one level to hell; while in Dante's Inferno there were nine levels of hell.
The punishments differed because in the modern world when a person is sent to hell he or she has sinned their entire life and they have never worshipped GOD. Their punishment in hell is that they have to suffer by living in a flaming environment and being burned for the rest of their lives. While in Dante's Inferno punishments were based on what a person did while they were living during the time period in which they existed.
