The Inferno

Hey everyone, this is Mitch. Since Lacey always posts when she finishes a book I figured that I would do the same. I've always wanted to read Dante's Inferno, and Lacey got it for me for Christmas. It is the first part of a 3 part poem called the Divina Commedia that Dante Alighieri wrote back in the early 1300's. The poem is about the Christian afterlife as seen by medieval Catholics. The other two parts (purgatory and heaven) are supposed to be good, but the inferno is supposed to be the best part. It was originally written in Italian, and was written in a complex rhyming scheme. The English translation obviously doesn't rhyme very much and is somewhat difficult to understand, but the version I got has a commentary in the back that helps a lot when reading through it.
Dante makes himself the main character of the story as he is led by one of his hero's down through the 9 circles of Hell. Hell is arranged like an inverted cone with each circle getting smaller as they descend. There are lots of characters from Greek and Roman mythology, but as the commentator points out, the most interesting characters are everyday people that Dante knew, who he placed in various places in Hell. The commentary makes this even better because it has the back story of all these people and the things they did.
The punishments in Hell are all somewhat ironic to the sin that they relate to, and they grow in severity as you go down the circles of Hell. For example, those who commit suicide (destroyed the body that God gave them) have their bodies taken away and are in the form of trees. Thieves are punished by having their human form stolen from them as they constantly change from reptile form to human form and back. Soothsayers are punished by having their head turned around backward on their body since they were always trying to see the future (ahead of them) in life. You can read the Wikipedia summary to get an idea of all the punishments (Divina Commedia).
I thought it funny that Dante places several popes, bishops, and other church figures in Hell, for things that they did wrong. Great poetic justice for him, but I bet it didn't make him popular with the church. He even places some people who were still living in Hell saying that those who commit the most heinous crimes have their souls instantly taken from them and a devil possesses their body on Earth.
The 9th and final circle of Hell is reserved for betrayers. It is a large lake of ice with those punished being frozen in the lake at various levels from their neck up depending on the severity of the sin. There are 3 sub-circles in this circle (those who betray family, those who betray country, and those who betray their benefactor). In the middle of Hell (which is also the center of the Earth), a giant Lucifer is frozen in ice from the waist down. He has 3 heads and in each of his 3 mouths is biting on the 3 worst sinners, in Dante's opinion, Judas Iscariot, Brutus and Cassius.
It is a good read, but is difficult to understand at times because of the poetic format. If you want to read it I recommend to get a copy with a commentary so that you can get more out of the story. It helps put some things into perspective and although not doctrinally in line with my faith, gives some interesting religious insights.