Inferno (Dante) Facts for Kids

Inferno by the Italian author Dante is a work of fiction published in the 1500s, as part of The Divine Comedy. It tells of the fictional journey that two men, Dante himself as well as Greek poet Virgil, takes through Christian Hell. Hell is made up of several levels, or circles, in which sinners are divided and punished according to their sins. Their punishments are measured according to how many good deeds vs bad deeds were done.

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Canto I from the Inferno, the first part of the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
Gustave Doré's engravings illustrated the Divine Comedy (1861–1868). Here, Dante is lost at the start of Canto I of the Inferno.
Gustave Doré's illustration of Canto III: Arrival of Charon
The third circle, illustrated by Stradanus
The fifth circle, illustrated by Stradanus
Lower Hell, inside the walls of Dis, in an illustration by Stradanus; there is a drop from the sixth circle to the three rings of the seventh circle, then again to the ten rings of the eighth circle, and, at the bottom, to the icy ninth circle
"Along the brink of the vermilion boiling, / Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments. / People I saw within up to the eyebrows ..."
Brunetto Latini speaks with Dante in Canto XV, an engraving by Gustave Doré
A Gustave Doré wood engraving of Geryon, Canto XVII
Illustration by Sandro Botticelli: Dante and Virgil visit the first two bolge of the Eighth Circle
Punishment of sorcerers and diviners in the Fourth Bolgia, Canto XX, illustrated by Stradanus
Dante's guide rebuffs Malacoda and his fiends between Bolge V and VI, Canto XXI
Dante and Virgil observe the false counsellors, Canto XXVI
Titans and Giants, including Ephialtes on the left, in Doré's illustrations
Dante speaks to the traitors in the ice, Canto XXXII
Satan in the Inferno is trapped in the frozen central zone in the Ninth Circle of Hell, Canto XXXIV (Gustave Doré)
The Tomb of Lucifer, 1506

Inferno (Dante) facts for kids

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See also