Cocytus: The Ninth Circle of Hell

Cocytus: The Ninth Circle of Hell

It is a place for dead giants and all traitors, including Lucifer himself.

The giants are from biblical, Greek, and Roman accounts, and are each punished individually based on what they did in their lives. Some, for example, have little to know restrictions on them, while some are heavily bound and cannot move.

The first giant encountered by Dante and Virgil is Nimrod, the one from the Book of Genesis who founded Babylon and is believed to have led the construction of the Tower of Babel, a tower that was supposed to exalt man above the heavens. Because God stopped this by confusing the speech of all men, Nimrod speaks a language that no one can understand, and he cannot understand anyone else. Instead, he has a massive horn around his neck that is piercingly loud.

Cocytus begins a fair ways beneath the feet of the giants. Dante describes the river as being frozen and transparent, calling it a lake instead of as a river. Thousands of souls, if not more, are suspended in or lay above this frozen lake.

Cocytus is divided into four parts, though each is not distinctly separated from the previous apart from what sinners occupy each.

Among those in Caina is Camiscion de' Pazzi, an Italian man whom had killed a family member in order to take full possession of the castles they co-owned. Because, perhaps, that he had tried to consolidate the power of both castles, he had lost both of his ears to the cold.

The brothers Napoleone and Alessandro degli Alberti had killed each other for their father's property after his death. Napoleone and Alessandro are stuck right together in the ice, being so close that their hair is locked together and that they bang against each other in anger against one another. This could be because they forsake all warmth and fellowship for the same dark path, which led both of them to cause the other to stumble. Camiscion de' Pazzi says that they are the most worthy of all those in Caina to be there.

Ganellone was a traitor to Emperor Charlemagne. Ganellone convined Charlemagne to cross the Danube into hostile France, bringing Charlemagne's rearguard open to ambush.

Ptolomea has a unique atribute in that some of its occupants are still physically alive.

This happens whenever these persons commit their high treason; from that point on, their physical bodies are occupied by evil spirits, while the real soul of the individual goes down to Cocytus, according to Frate Alberigo. Alberigo killed a relative of his at a banquet, telling his henchman to "bring the fruit:" predetermined code words meaning that it was time to kill the guest. Here, we see Dante's principle of a sinner belonging in a certain circle of hell based on what he thinks they are most guilty of.

That people in Ptolomea do not die before they descend to hell shows us Dante's views on the crime of treason. Killing one's guests, whom are at the host's mercy and are putting trust in them, is a very hardened thing to do, and as such seems to be, from Dante's perspective, an almost forgivable sin.

Satan's place in the ice of Cocytus just so happens to be the physical center of Dante's world and universe. Lucifer is frozen at his chest in the very heart of the world, at the center of all gravity. Satan's arm is to a giant as a giant is to a human being, making him to be a tremendous size. In this work, he is described as having three heads, meant to represent his opposition against the Godhead. He has a red face, a whitish-yellowish face, and a darker brown face, each weeping bitterly. He also has pairs of wings under each of his faces, and his massive wings flap to generate a very cold gust.

Yzma tried to kill her emperor Cuzco when she was fired, when he had been fairly good to her.

Tai Lung rebelled against his master Shi-Fu, so that he could become the next Dragon Warrior.

Judecca

Macbeth killed King Duncan in his sleep, even though Duncan had honored Macbeth and was his respectful guest.

Ptolomea:

Emperor Palpatine went against his political allies in the Galactic Senate through a series of nasty deeds in order to consolidate power to become the first emperor of the galaxy.

Antenora:

Caina:

Scar killed his brother and attempted to kill his nephew in order to take the throne of Pride Rock.

If we took a trip to Cocytus, one might see the following:

Dante describes Satan as ugly, as opposed to him once being the most beautifu thing in all of creation. This shows the nature of his existence: once being the "light bearer," he turned from God's light and fell down into uttermost darkness.

The Devil is chewing on three victims, whom are assumedly are Dante's chosen top three worst sinners among humankind. In the red face's mouth is Judas Iscariot, betrayer of the Messiah. Brutus is chewed in the mouth of the black face, while Cassius is in the mouth of the yellow face. All three endure the greatest pain of any person in the Inferno.

The last section of Cocytus is Judecca, the place of traitors against benefactors and masters, named after Judas Iscariot, one of its most infamous occupants. It is as dark and obscure as a starless night, and all of the people--except for three--are frozen beneath the surface of the ice in varying positions.

Branca Doria is another soul in the same situation, being alive and in Ptolomea. Branca killed his father-in-law at a banquet, and has yet to pass away.

Ptolomea is the next section of Dante's Ninth Circle of hell. The ice here wraps around the people, whom are laying down. Their face is exposed on it their tears freeze within their eye sockets, and so their internal anguish intensifies.

Count Ugolino and Archbishop Ruggieri are shown with Ugolino frozen directly behind Ruggieri, eating his skull. Ruggieri arrested Count Ugolino and left him to starve in a tower after Ugolino, a Guelf, gave the Ghibelline some castles in order to avoid a war. Ruggieri had done this by abusing Ugolino's trust, and so was himself a traitor. Ugolino feeds off of Ruggieri because Ruggieri had caused him and his children to die a painful death by starvation. While Ugolino's betrayal was understandable, Ruggieri's was brutal and cruel, which is why he gets to fel the brunt of their soon-to-be eternal relationship.

Another Italian political traitor in Antenora is Tesauro dei Beccharia, a bishop accused of assisting a political party that had been banned from his city.

One of the persons in Antenora is Bocca degli Agati, whose face Dante accidentally steps on. Bocca betrayed his political party, the Guelf, in the Battle of Montaperti by cutting of the hand of the standard-holder in order to create disarray in his party's own ranks, so that he could benefit his family's traditional party (the Ghibelline, the party against whom the Guelf were fightring against).

Sassol Mascheroni killed his cousin for his inheritance, was discovered, and was killed by being rolled in a barrel full of nails through the streets of Florence.

The next section of Cocytus is Atenora, named after the traitor Antenor from the Iliad. It is a place for the traitors whom committed fraud against their country, state, political party, or the like. The punishment here is very much the same as the punishment in Caina, with persons frozen from the neck or collarbone down, weeping for their sins.

The first level of Cocytus is named Caina, after Cain from the Bible. It is a place for those who have betrayed their families. Herein, people are frozen at the surface of the lake to where only their heads and perhaps some of their necks are above the ice, their teeth chattering and their weeping eyes showing their sorrow.

Cocytus is divided into four levels, each holding a different breed of traitor. All of Caina is fitting to its occupants, as the cold they feel not only symbolizes their separation from God's presence and grace but also represents a cold and forsaken loneliness, as these traitors have forsaken those that were with them.

Antaeus is a mythological Libyan. His mother was Gaia, and so he had a supernatural strength from the earth, which he used to wrestle and kill passerbies, using their skulls to make a temple for his father Poseidon. He was not a traitor, but was violent; for whatever reason, he is less bound than Ephialtes and Nimrod, and he is used to bring Dante and Virgil down into Cocytus.

Ephilates, unlike Nimrod, is bounds very rigidly, with his arms and neck and the rest of his body chained tightly in submission. His mouth is covered, and he is far bigger and more frightening to Dante than Nimrod is. He is punished for being among the giants whom tried to ascend Mount Olympus by making a mound of mountains in order to overthrow the gods.

The entirety of the Ninth Circle consists of the frozen river Cocytus and its embankment. In Greek mythology, the river flowed into the river of Acheron. It is the river of wailing.

This place is the home of giants--all dead-- and of traitors.

The giants are located at the banks of Cocytus. They are located at a sudden drop-off from the rim of the Eigth circle, their wastes at the drop-off. They are so large thay Dante mistakes just their upper bodies for towers.

Giants line the embankment of Cocytus, and are all chained up and/or in restrained positions based on what they did in their lives.

According to Dante, it is the very center of the universe.

This is the bottom of Dante's Inferno.