Malebolge For the programming language , see Malbolge programming language . In Dante Alighieri ’s Inferno , Malebolge is the eighth circle of Hell . Roughly translated from the Italian , Malebolge means “evil ditches” or “evil pouches” . Malebolge is a large , funnel-shaped cavern , itself divided into ten concentric circular trenches or ditches . Each trench is called a bolgia ( Italian for pouch or ditch ) . Long causeway bridges run from the outer circumference of Malebolge to its center , pictured as spokes on a wheel . At the center of Malebolge is the ninth and final circle of hell , Cocytus . In Dante’s version of hell , categories of sin are punished in different circles , with the depth of the circle ( and placement within that circle ) symbolic of the amount of punishment to be inflicted . Sinners placed in the upper circles of hell are given relatively minor punishments , while sinners in the depths of hell endure far greater torments . As the eighth out of nine circles , Malebolge is one of the worst places in hell to be . In it , sinners guilty of ‘ordinary’ fraud are punished ( that is , fraud that is committed without particularly malicious intent ; malicious or ‘compound’ fraud — fraud that goes against bond of love , blood or honor — are punished in the deepest depth of hell , Cocytus ) . Sinners of this category include counterfeiters , hypocrites , sorcerers and Simonists . Dante and his guide , Virgil , make their way into Malebolge by riding on the back of the monster Geryon , the personification of fraud , who flies them down through the yawning chasm that separates the eighth circle from the seventh circle , where the violent are punished . Dante and Virgil plan on crossing Malebolge by way of the system of bridges , but find their path disturbed by many broken ledges and collapsed bridges that were destroyed during the Harrowing of Hell . They must then cross some of the bolgias on foot and even rely on demons to guide them . Eventually they make it to the inner ledge , where the Titan Anteaus lowers them down to Cocytus . The Ten Bolgias The ten ditches of the Malebolge , in descending order , are listed thus : Bolgia One : Panderers and Seducers are punished here . They are forced to march , single file around the circumference of their circle , constantly lashed by horned demons . Bolgia Two : Sinners guilty of excessive flattery are punished in this bolgia , immersed forever in a river of human excrement . Bolgia Three : Simonists ( sinners guilty of selling church offices for personal gain ) are punished here . They are turned upside down in large baptismal fonts cut into the rock , with their feet set ablaze by oily fires . The heat of the flames burns according to the guilt of the sinner . Bolgia Four : Astrologists , seers , sorcerers and others who attempted to pervert God ’s laws to divine the future are punished here . Their heads have been twisted around to face backwards , and thus they are forced to walk backwards around the circumference of their circle for all of time . Bolgia Five : Grafters ( peculators , extortionists , blackmailers and unscrupulous businessmen : sinners who used their positions in life to gain personal wealth or other advantages for themselves ) are punished by being thrown into a river of boiling pitch and tar . In addition , should any of the grafters try to escape the pitch , a horde of demons armed with grappling hooks and barbs stands guard over them , ready to tear them to pieces . Bolgia Six : Hypocrites are punished in this circle . They are forced to wear heavy lead robes as they walk around the circumference of their circle . The robes are golden and resemble a monk’s cowl but are lined with heavy lead , symbolically representing hypocrisy . Also , Caiphas , the Pharisee who insisted on the execution of Jesus , is crucified in this circle , staked to the ground so that the ranks of the lead-weighted hypocrites march across him . Bolgia Seven : This bolgia houses the souls of thieves . The bolgia is also filled with serpents , dragons and other vengeful reptiles that torture the thieves endlessly . The bites of some of the snakes cause the thieves to spontaneously combust , only to regenerate their bodies for further torment in a few moments . Other thieves are denied human forms and appear as reptiles themselves , and can only assume their true shape if they steal a human shape from another sinner ; this involves a very painful transformation for both souls involved . Bolgia Eight : In this trench , the souls of those who gave false or corrupted advice to others for personal benefit are punished . They are constantly ablaze , appearing as nothing so much as living , speaking tongues of flame . Bolgia Nine : Sinners who , in life , promoted scandals , schism , and discord are punished here ; particularly those who caused schism within the church or within politics . They are forced to walk around the circumference of the circle bearing horrible , disfiguring wounds inflicted on them by a great demon with a sword . The nature of the wound mirrors the sins of the particular soul ; while some only have gashes , or fingers and toes cut off , others are decapitated , cut in half ( as schismatics ) , or are completely disemboweled . In the Inferno , Muslim prophet Muhammad is tortured in this ditch . Bolgia Ten : Falsifiers , those who attempted to alter things through lies or alchemy , or those who tried to pass off false things as real things , such as counterfeiters of coins , are punished here . This bolgia has four subdivisions where specific classes of falsifiers ( alchemists , impostors , counterfeiters , and liars ) endure different degrees of punishment based on horrible , consumptive diseases such as rashes , dropsy , leprosy and consumption . The lower edge of Malebolge is guarded by a ring of titans and earth giants , many of whom are chained in place as punishment for their rebellion against the gods . Beyond and below the giants lies Cocytus , hell’s final depth . In comic books In the comic book series Spawn , Malebolgia is a demon of hell that allows Al Simmons to return to the living with a limited amount of supernatural powers , masked in an outfit to hide his charred human flesh . The reason for his return is his unending hatred to find those who had him assassinated , as well as to return to his wife , Wanda . In the comic book universe of Image , Malebolgia is named as the lord of the Eighth Hell , which corresponds to Malebolge being the eighth circle of hell in Dante 's cosmology . The lord of the Ninth Hell is never openly named in Image 's own cosmology , leaving room for a demonic overlord even more powerful and evil than Malebolgia . In the 1981 annual of The Uncanny X-Men , Storm is condemned to Bolgia Seven when the X-Men are sent to a recreation of Dante 's Inferno . See also The Divine Comedy Sources Most of the information on this page came from the Allen Mandelbaum 's translation of the Inferno , published by the University of California Press in 1980 . The Inferno is the first book of the three books of the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri , which also includes the Purgatorio and the Paradiso . Dante began writing the Comedy in approximately 1307 . Categories : Medieval literature | Fictional dimensions | Life after death the programming language Malbolge programming language 