At the base of the well, Dante finds himself within a large frozen lake: Cocytus, the Ninth Circle of Hell. Trapped in the ice, each according to his guilt, are punished sinners guilty of treachery against those with whom they had special relationships. The lake of ice is divided into four concentric rings (or "rounds") of traitors corresponding, in order of seriousness, to betrayal of family ties, betrayal of community ties, betrayal of guests, and betrayal of lords. This is in contrast to the popular image of Hell as fiery; as Ciardi writes, "The treacheries of these souls were denials of love (which is God) and of all human warmth. Only the remorseless dead center of the ice will serve to express their natures. As they denied God's love, so are they furthest removed from the light and warmth of His Sun. As they denied all human ties, so are they bound only by the unyielding ice." This final, deepest level of hell is reserved for traitors, betrayers and oathbreakers (its most famous inmate is Judas Iscariot).

Gustave Doré, Dante and Virgil in the Ninth Circle of Hell, 1861

Joe Coleman, Faith, 1996

Titian, Tityus, 1548

James Montgomery Flagg, The Fencer, 1938

Winslow Homer, Eight Bells, 1886

Guy is wearing glasses in 1520!

Unknown, Prophets, c. 1520, Bode Museum, Berlin

Ignaz Günther, Erzengel Michael als Bezwinger des Satans, 1755–60, Bode Museum, Berlin

David Scott, Night (Four Periods of the Day), 1833

David Ryckaert III, La ronde des Farfadets de Les Farfadets, 17thc

Gustav-Adolf Mossa, Sie, 1905

Jeanne Mammen, Frau am Kreuz, 1908-1914

Jeanne Mammen, Mörder und Opfer (Reue), 1908-1914

Le Corbusier, Trois Baigneuses, 1935

Emil Nolde, Reclining Female Nude, c1931

Richard Edmond Flatters, The Fall of the Rebel Angels, 1855

Eugen Bracht, The Shore of Oblivion, 1889

Jeanne Mammen, She Represents (Carnival Scene), 1928

Unknown Kangra Artist, Krishna Fluting to the Milkmaids, 1775/1785

Robert Crumb, Youth fashions of 1990, 1972

Kangra painting. Click on image for large version.

Purkhu of Kangra, Krishna and the gopis bathing in the river Yamuna, illustration from a Harivamsa series, c1800-1815