Dante's History

Dante and Virgil enter the tenth and final bolgia of the 8th circle, the circle of fraud, where they encounter the first of the Falsifiers; those who practiced alchemy. We will meet two souls who knew Dante and learn what the poet can tell us about straw-men arguments, misuse of wealth, and how lies create a toxic, viral culture.

The pilgrim and his guide enter the ninth bolgia and encounter the sowers of discord, those who sought to create division. He will meet a controversial religious leader and a few other disfigured souls and begin to learn how those who divide from within can be worse than an outside threat.

Dante and Virgil are in the 8th bolgia where they meet a former warlord turned friar who broke his vows to help a contested pope defeat his enemies. Though he was promised absolution, he would be the cause of his own damnation.

In this canto, Dante and Virgil climb out of the pit of the thieves and approach the eighth ditch of the 8th circle of the Inferno, where fire itself becomes the instrument of punishment. Here, Dante will behold flickering tongues of flame that speak without mouths — and one mysterious double flame that burns unlike the others. What it reveals offers both wonder and caution.

In this canto, Dante and Virgil continue to observe the thieves that reside in the seventh ditch of the 8th circle of the inferno, aka The Malebolge. Virgil will tell him about us about the raging centaur that terrorizes the inhabitants here and Dante will witness a couple of grotesque transformations.

In this canto, Dante and Virgil finally make it out of the sixth subring of the 8th circle. As they cross the next bolgia, a disgruntled voice draws them down to take a closer look. They discover the seventh subring is full of snakes and thieves. Our travelers speak with one of these thieves, a political opponent of Dante's, who tells them about his greatest crime and offers the pilgrim a discouraging prophecy.

In this canto our travelers venture into the sixth bolgia of the 8th circle and walk with a procession of miserable monks who've been forced to wear heavy cloaks. We'll meet two of these sad hypocrites and learn why some of them have been crucified to the ground.