| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Beatrice | aids Dante's journey by asking an angel to find Virgil and guide Dante through Hell; perhaps a representation of spiritual love; sent by God with the prayers of the Virgin Mary, Saint Lucia, and Rachel |
| Leopard | represents Malice and Fraud, the first beast Dante encounters in the Dark Wood |
| Lion | the second Beast dante encounters in the Dark Wood |
| She-Wolf | represents Incontinence; is the third beast Dante encounters in the Dark wood; prevents him from climbing the Mount of Joy |
| Mount of Joy | Dante is unable to climb this hill; represents true happiness |
| Virgil | poet from ancient Rome, represents human reason; sent by Beatrice who was sent by God to help Dante |
| The Gates of Hell | "Abandon all hope ye who enter here"; |
| Charon | the boatman/ferryman of the Acheron River; takes only the souls of the dead to the shore of Hell and initially refuses to take Dante; however Virgil rebukes him that says that God has sent him |
| Minos | found at the beginning of circle 2 (the lustful); tells each soul where its final place and torment will be; figure from classical mythology; as a judger of the dead; when the souls confess, his tail coils a certain number of times...corresponds with the number of circles the soul will decend; he also challenges Dante's entering of Hell |
| Francesca da Rimini | associated with Paolo; both found in the circle 2, for being guilty of Lust; she was married to another man, Giovanni; Paolo was his younger brother; Paolo and she had an affair and Giovanni murdered them; they do not love each other in hell, because they have too much guilt to feel sympathy or feel pleasure of another |
| Cheberus | 3 headed beast in the 3rd circle of hell (gluttony); eats the souls here; was originally in classical mythology as the guardian of the underworld; |
| Ciacco the Hog | a Florentine found in circle 3 (gluttony) |
| Filippo Argenti | found in Circle 5 (the wrathful); was an enemy of Dante; Dante thanks God for his suffering |
| Farinata degli Uberti | found in circle 6 (heretics); leader of the Ghibellines; speaks to Dante; warred with the Guelph family for many years and lost (and declared a heretic); in the same tomb as his son in law |
| Pier delle Vinge | is among the suicides; was the minister and private secretary and counselor of Frederick II but was put into jail and blinded when he fell into disfavor; he committed suicide in prison. Dante thinks he is innocent of the crimes he was blamed for |
| Brunetto Latini | found among the sodomites; was one of Dante's teachers and a highly respected individual in society |
| Geryon | found on the Great Barrier; takes Dante and Virgil to circle 8 |
| Bertrand de Born | found in the 8th circle of hell; caused mutiny against king and son and now must carry his head around like a latern |
| Nimrod | giant found in the 9th circle; one of the builders of Babylon; can never be understood |
| Ephialtes | giant found in circle 9; chained to the ground because he tried to wage war against the gods |
| Antaeus | giant found in circle 9; Virgil flatters him and allows them to pass |
| vestibule | not actually in Hell; people lived neither for God nor evil, but only for themselves |
| Acheron | the first river in Hell; separates the Vestibule from the circles of Hell; Charon mans the boat that floats along this river |
| Limbo | Virgil is from here; place of the virtuous pagans |
| Styx | the river found in circle 5 |
| wall of Dis | divides upper and lower hell; bt circls 5 and 6 |
| phelgeton | found in circle 7; a river made of blood |
| the great barrier | guarded by Geryon in circle 7; separates circle 7 from 8 |
| malebolge | found in circle 8; the different ditches that hold many sinners of fraud; 10 bulgia |
| cocytus | circle 9; the coldest place in hell |
Combine with other sets
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