[denim]

Originally posted by 11011001:
I must win this.. I must reach level 9!

You should have to betray yourself or others, to do that.

The 9th level is kinda split in three concentric circles. First is for those who betray their country. Second is for those who betray their family, friends, and benefactors. Third is for those who betray themselves, IIRC. All are doomed to spend eternity in the part of Hell which is frozen.

The outer-most are buried in the ice up to their chins. The middle has them buried face-up below the ice. The inner-most is in the ice in contorted shapes (read: head up ass).

But that's not the worst Hell has to offer, according to Dante!

[suprz]

level 8!! WOOHOO!!!

[scaught]

Originally posted by denim:
You should have to betray yourself or others, to do that.

The 9th level is kinda split in three concentric circles. First is for those who betray their country. Second is for those who betray their family, friends, and benefactors. Third is for those who betray themselves, IIRC. All are doomed to spend eternity in the part of Hell which is frozen.

The outer-most are buried in the ice up to their chins. The middle has them buried face-up below the ice. The inner-most is in the ice in contorted shapes (read: head up ass).

But that's not the worst Hell has to offer, according to Dante!

as youre seemingly the only one in this thread thats read the book, each level is sort of "customized" to each "sin"? so is lower particularly worse or just different? you know. according to dante.

[dcmacdaddy]

Level 6 overall. Here is the level-by-level breakdown. I think I am a nice, charitable, non-believer.

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to the First Level of Hell - Limbo!

Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
Level | Score
Purgatory | Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo | Very High
Level 2 | Low
Level 3 | Low
Level 4 | Low
Level 5 | Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis | High
Level 7 | Low
Level 8- the Malebolge | Low
Level 9 - Cocytus | Moderate

[11011001]

Yes!

I mad it to level 8.. but I am having a hard time getting to level 9.

Thank for the help denim.. I am trying to modify my answers to be as treacherous as possible.

You know this all oddly fascinating. I think it would be interesting to read this work in full.

I take it that you, Denim, have read it? How is it?

[denim]

Originally posted by scaught:
as youre seemingly the only one in this thread thats read the book, each level is sort of "customized" to each "sin"? so is lower particularly worse or just different? you know. according to dante.

Yes, exactly.

This test shouldn't really include Purgatory, as that's not part of the Inferno.

According to Dante, the Inferno is shaped like a massive bowl, with the bottom at the center of the Earth, and centered on Jeruselem. Each level is a ring around the bowl.

Consider that Dante's cosmology is based on the general idea of the universe at the time, before Copurnicus. Think "Aristotle". Earth is the center of the universe. The whole universe is oriented around rings both in and around the Earth.

God is represented by the Sun, outside the outer-most ring around the Earth, so the opposite of God (Good), meaning the most evil, is at the center of the Earth. Dante describes Inferno as a kind of funnel-like bowl, with Satan/Lucifer at the center where God threw him at the end of the Revolt in Heaven. The result of that descent is a 4000 mile deep hole, with Satan at the bottom/center of the Earth.

The opposite of the hole thus created is a mountain next to the hole. This mountain is Purgatory, which ascends to Paradise.

In the Comedy, Dante decends to the Vestibule on the outskirts of the Inferno in a dream before Easter of the year 1300, and is escorted by Virgil through Inferno to the center, where they both climb down Satan's body, through the center of the world, to the bottom of the hole I mentioned earlier.

They then climb the 4000 mile hole to the base of Purgatory, and climb the mountain, with Virgil explaining the meaning of what we're seeing. At the top of Purgatory, Virgil returns to the First Level of Hell since he can't go farther, and Dante is escorted through Paradise by his dead beloved (Beatrice), who continues Virgil's task, escorting Dante through the Paradisio.

If you want more, I can point you at the translation I used, which has commentary which made the whole thing understandable to me, or you can get a copy of Inferno by Pournelle and Niven for a kind of updated version of the first part of the Comedy.

[denim]

Originally posted by 11011001:
You know this all oddly fascinating. I think it would be interesting to read this work in full.

I take it that you, Denim, have read it? How is it?

Yes, I've read a translation. I'd have to learn Italian to read the original, which I understand is worth reading. Dante is to Italians something like Shakespere is to the British. The man could write.

Inferno is the most interesting, in some ways. The cosmology starts getting in the way, for me, with the following parts of the Comedy. Dante would put a very tall mountain opposite Jeruselem, and is basing all of this on the old (Aristotelian?) idea of Earth as the center of the universe. He also underestimated the size of the planet by over 3000 miles of radius.

You have to allow for that and just accept what he's saying based on the research he was able to do at the time, in the early 1300s. His hero was Virgil, his main sources of information were ancient literature and the Bible as known in his part (Florence) of what we now call "Italy" in 1308 through around 1320. There's a lot on the Web about Dante, if you're interested.

BTW, "winning" this test means getting "Purgatory".

[deekay1]

level 6 ahoi!

[BlackGriffen]

Yeah, the Inferno was good. Make sure you get an unabridged translation, though. Dante had several rather crass lines that translators will often 'adjust.' Stuff like a demon making, "a trumpet of his @ss."

The worst torture was reserved for the three prime traitors. First and foremost was, of course, Judas. Dante exposes himself to be in the early Renaissance when he puts Brutus and Cassius (the main conspirators in the assassination of Julius Caesar, something Italians [the name of the peninsula was Italia in Roman times, so he would have considered himself Italian, though not in the nationalistic sense; Machiavelli actually makes reference to Italians as a group in his book "The Prince") in to a position of similar punishment as Judas. I suppose Italians of the day would have seen that as the end of the golden age of the Roman Republic, and the begin of the fall. Though IIRC, Julius would have pretty much made himself emperor anyway. That, or they just really liked Caesar as a really good conqueror.

It's funny, though. Dante gives Hell 9 rings. There are so many different types of sin, each with their own best ironic punishment, that he has to start subdividing the rings after about level 6 or so.

I would also tend to agree that, from a literary standpoint, the second two parts of the Comedia (did I spell that right?) aren't nearly as important or interesting as the Inferno.

BlackGriffen

[malvolio]

Sixth Level of Hell - The City of Dis

Yup, that's me, the Happy Heretic.

[denim]

Originally posted by BlackGriffen:
The worst torture was reserved for the three prime traitors. First and foremost was, of course, Judas. Dante exposes himself to be in the early Renaissance when he puts Brutus and Cassius (the main conspirators in the assassination of Julius Caesar

Yes, they get the worst punishment. Worse than freezing. Worse than the boiling blood or the napalm-like fire flakes or the boiling pitch or the candle flames or the burning tombs. According to Dante, they are God's chief sinners, and they are treated accordingly. I'm not going to spoil how they spend their time...

Note the relevance of this, for instance.

[Jansar]

aaaa...I'm really going to Hell!

LEVEL EIGHT

[GirlSplyph]

Only level 2. The Disney movies must've softened me.

[MindFad]

Originally posted by GirlSplyph:
Only level 2. The Disney movies must've softened me.

Pansy -- too much Lilo and Stitch.

[denim]

Originally posted by scaught:
as youre seemingly the only one in this thread thats read the book, each level is sort of "customized" to each "sin"? so is lower particularly worse or just different? you know. according to dante.

Here's a level nine:

The wretched King Minos has decided your fate. His tale wraps around his body 9 times.
The sweet light no longer strikes against your eyes. Your shade has been banished to... the Ninth Level of Hell - Cocytus!

Ninth Level of Hell - Cocytus

This is the deepest level of hell, where the fallen angel Satan himself resides. His wings flap eternally, producing chilling cold winds that freeze the thick ice found in Cocytus. The three faces of Satan, black, red, and yellow, can be seen with mouths gushing bloody foam and eyes forever weeping, as they chew on the three traitors, Judas, Brutus, and Cassius. This place is furthest removed from the source of all light and warmth. Sinners here are frozen deep in the ice, faces out, eyes and mouths frozen shut. Traitors against God, country, family, and benefactors lament their sins in this frigid pit of despair.

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Ninth Level of Hell - Cocytus!

Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
Level | Score
Purgatory | Low
Level 1 - Limbo | Very Low
Level 2 | Low
Level 3 | Low
Level 4 | Moderate
Level 5 | Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis | Very Low
Level 7 | High
Level 8- the Malebolge | High
Level 9 - Cocytus | Very High

Level descriptions: http://www.4degreez.com/misc/dante-i...formation.html
Take the test: http://www.4degreez.com/misc/dante-inferno-test.mv

To get this, I focused my answers on betrayal of all kinds.

(edit) Hey, they mis-spelled "tail"!

[andymcdeee]

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Eigth Level of Hell - the Malebolge!

Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
Level | Score
Purgatory | Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo | Very Low
Level 2 | High
Level 3 | High
Level 4 | Moderate
Level 5 | Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis | Moderate
Level 7 | Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge | Very High
Level 9 - Cocytus | Low

Fair enough. I was never very good at the truth.