nine circles
Dante's hell structure
The nine circles are the concentric regions of Hell in Dante's *Inferno*, each punishing a different category of sin with increasing severity as one descends toward Satan at the center.
The phrase evokes elaborate systems of punishment or torment: Getting a refund required passing through the nine circles of customer service.
Someone enduring prolonged difficulty might say they've been through all nine circles.
- InfernoLiterary journey through damnation
- DanteItalian epic poet
- Divine ComedyItalian allegorical verse trilogy
- dark woodLightless wooded area
- pitFruit's hard seed
abandon all hope · Minos · frozen lake · fire · Virgil · Justice · eternal damnation · Styx · Beatrice · seven deadly sins · Eternity · Allegory · darkness · abyss · wrath · underworld · heresy · torment
- Divine ComedyInferno, Dante, Paradiso, Beatrice, Virgil
- DanteDivine Comedy, Inferno, Dante, Paradiso, Beatrice
- Dante's influencesDivine Comedy, Inferno, Virgil, Aeneid, Beatrice
- Hellhellfire, brimstone, lake of fire, eternal fire, perdition
- ninesninth, cat lives, nonagon, novena, Ennead
- Italian epicsOrlando Furioso, Ariosto, ottava rima, Angelica, Divine Comedy
nine circlesParadiso
Heaven in verse
celestial spheres · heaven · seven heavens · Mount Purgatory · Elysium
nine circlesHeaven
Sacred afterlife realm
Paradise · Mount Purgatory · salvation · divine union · eternal bliss