The First Circle of Hell: Limbo
Limbo is the first circle of Dante's Hell, described in Canto IV. It holds the virtuous unbaptised. The punishment: no torment at all — only a sigh, and the certainty of never arriving.
The punishment
No torment at all — only a sigh, and the certainty of never arriving.
They lived without the faith, so they spend eternity within sight of what they lack. Dante gives them a green meadow, a castle and good company. The suffering is that nothing ever happens.
Who guards it
None. Charon ferries them; nobody guards them.
Who Dante puts here
Named residents of the first circle include:
- Homer
- Socrates
- Aristotle
- Plato
- Virgil
- Saladin
- Julius Caesar
The modern read
The circle for people who did nothing wrong and still ended up here. Nice, competent, a little unfulfilled. Every group chat has one.
Sending someone to Limbo
The friend nobody can find fault with — which is its own kind of insult when you bury them for it.
Damnation Vacation sells a numbered, permanent plot in one of Dante's nine circles of Hell. You pay $6.66, pick who it's for, name their cardinal sin in twenty characters or fewer, and choose their circle. They get a public gravestone page with their name on it, their plot number, and a counter tracking how many days they've been down there. Limbo is Circle I, and it has open plots.
Common questions
What is the first circle of Hell?
Limbo, described in Canto IV of Dante's Inferno. It holds the virtuous unbaptised, whose punishment is: no torment at all — only a sigh, and the certainty of never arriving.
Which circle of Hell is limbo?
The first — Circle I of nine.
Who guards the first circle?
None. Charon ferries them; nobody guards them.