Dante's Inferno

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Dante's Inferno
Canto 31
Astrid Schindler 11/10/07
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Summary of Canto 31

• Passage to the 9th Circle. The central pit of
  hell, where Cocytus, the last river of Hell,
  freezes. The giants Nimrod, Ephialtes, Briareus,
  Antaeus.
• Antaeuss compliance with Virgils request to
  lower the two poets into the pit.

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The Giants

• Visible from the waist up at the 9th circle of
  the Malebolge, include Nimrod who lost the bands
  of common speech, Ephialtes who attacked Jove,
  and Antaeus who is invincible on earth but not in
  the air or sky carries Virgil and Dante to the
  pit bottom to Lucifer and Judas
• Dante compares the giants to the castle of
  Monteriggioni outside Siena

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Circle 9 Traitors in Cocytus

• Cocytus is a frozen lake of ice, where Satan is
  immobilized at the center
• Cocytus includes four kinds of traitors

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Four Traitors

• To Kindred- Caina named after Cain, first
  murderer of a kinsman
• To country- Antrenora, Trojan Antenor believed to
  have betrayed Troy to the Greeks
• To guests- Ptolemea, named after Ptolemney, who
  murdered his guests
• To masters- Judecca (benefactor), where Satan is
  munching on Judas

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Satan Lucifer
trapped in the frozen lake Cocytus