Reading Dante for the first time, the reader faces monumental problems: another society, another religion (medieval Catholicism is not the same as modern Catholicism), a different culture, and a different political system, where politics controlled the papacy, and the papacy was manipulating the politics of the times — and often the pope was a political appointment.
The physical aspect of Hell is a gigantic funnel that leads to the very center of the Earth. (See the diagram later in this section.) According to the legend used by Dante, this huge, gigantic hole in the Earth was made when God threw Satan (Lucifer) and his band of rebels out of Heaven with such force that they created a giant hole in the Earth. Satan was cast all the way to the very center of the Earth, has remained there since, and will remain there through all of eternity.
he sinners who are the least repugnant, or those whose sins were the least offensive, are in the upper circles. In each circle, Dante chose a well-known figure of the time or from history or legend to illustrate the sin. As Dante descends from circle to circle, he encounters sinners whose sins become increasingly hateful, spiteful, offensive, murderous, and traitorous. He ends with Satan, eating the three greatest traitors in the world, each in one of his three mouths, at the center of the Earth.
