Urs Graf, Two mercenary soldiers approach a seated prostitute while Death sits in a tree, pointing to an hourglass, 1524

Gustave Courbet, The Calm Sea, 1869

Edvard Munch, The Death Chamber, 1896

David Roberts, Colossal figures in front of the Great Temple of Aboo-Simbel, 1838

George Bellows, Club Night, 1907

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Umbrellas, 1886

Ivan Aivazovsky, Shipwreck, 1856

Leonora Carrington, The Ancestor, 1968

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