Introduction

Welcome to The Inferno, an online representation of the structure and imagery of Dante's Inferno. The goal of this website is to provide a way to visualize the complex, yet systematic structure of The Inferno, and to present the types of sins and punishments in a manageable and accessible form.

Dante was a master of consistent structure. In his Inferno, Dante adheres to his strict structure at all cost: the entire work is written in tercets, is broken down into exactly 34 Cantos and 9 separate Circles. Because the structure is such an important part of The Inferno, this interpretation also adheres to a strict structure of its own. In addition to a graphical representation of the structure of The Inferno, there is information on every Circle, Round, and Bulgia which always includes a definition of the sin assigned there, a list of the punishments found there and their symbolic meaning, and a two-tercet quote from The Infenro which displays Dante's imagery of the punishments. When available, artwork by Gustave Dore is included.

It should be noted that this website does not mention any specific characters or specific punishments. It is meant to be an overview only of the structure and general symbolism of The Inferno.

This site is best viewed with a Mozilla product.