Dante Alighieri’s Inferno describes Hell as having nine circles. The poem, completed in the early 14th century, follows Dante’s fictional journey through the afterlife with the Roman poet Virgil as his guide.
Each circle is associated with different sins and punishments. The circles become progressively more severe as Dante descends, moving from lesser forms of incontinence to fraud and finally treachery. The ninth circle is a frozen lake rather than a fiery landscape, and it contains traitors.
A common mix-up is confusing Dante’s nine circles with the seven deadly sins, which come from a different Christian classification. Dante’s complete Divine Comedy has three major realms: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Inferno is the first part and focuses entirely on the structure and inhabitants of Hell.