This occurred not long after Virgil’s death: following his crucifixion, Jesus Christ descended into Hell, where he reached the First Circle, blessed and liberated from it the many Old Testament figures who had been faithful to the God of the Jews – also known as Anastasis. This allows Virgil to explain the Harrowing of Hell by Christ after his crucifixion. Wikimedia Commons.ĭante asks whether any of those in Limbo, as this circle is known, have ever been blessed and been able to leave.
Gustave Doré (1832–1883), The Virtuous Pagans (1857), engraving, dimensions not known, location not known. This is where Virgil’s ghost now inhabits, for despite his merit and attainments, he never revered the Christian God. Virgil leads him down into darkness, where there is no grief or pain, and explains that the multitude there never sinned at all, but none was baptised in faith as they had lived before the Christian era. Charon’s boat them crosses the River Acheron, shown in blue, taking Dante and his guide Virgil to the First Circle of Limbo.ĭante is woken by thunder, and realises that he is on the edge of the abyss that is Hell. At the left, Virgil led Dante down to the area in which the cowards are trapped, neither being allowed admittance to Heaven, nor to Hell. Wikimedia Commons.īotticelli’s Map of Hell from 1480-90 shows these stages at the very top: highest are the woods through which Dante was wandering when he encountered the three wild beasts.
Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510), Map of Hell (1480-90), silverpoint, ink and distemper, 33 x 47.5 cm, Biblioteca Apostólica Vaticana, Vatican City. Dante lost consciousness just before he was expecting to be ferried in Charon’s boat across the River Acheron, from Hell’s Gate to its First Circle.
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