the first part of The Divine Comedy, the greatest
work by the Italian poet,
Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321). The Divine Comedy is an
epic recounting an imaginary journey by the author through Inferno (
hell), Purgatorio (
purgatory) and Paradiso (paradise). In the Inferno a description of
hell is
given as being made up of
different levels, including a
level of
fire and one of ice, which descend conically into the earth.