For centuries, Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy has been regarded as one of the great works of Western civilisation. As a discussion on justice, human nature, the soul, redemption, and the ultimate battle between good and evil, the poem tells the tale of the author’s dreamlike journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. During his travels through Hell, Dante finds that the ninth circle of Hell is reserved for traitors—those who had betrayed their own. This inner circle is not a fire, but a frozen wasteland, devoid of anything that might resemble love or compassion. In the very centre, Dante finds Lucifer himself, eternally gnawing on the bodies of Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius: history’s most infamous traitors. By this, Dante seeks to convey to his reader that, even though there are many evils in this world (there are multiple circles in Hell), the worst evil lies in betrayal.
