Can you tell me anything about Inferno?

Question

Biblical parallels having been brought to my attention:

2 Samuel 21:1 & 2; 1 Chronicle 24:1 & 2,

brings me to something my friend told me about. He says that our popular image of "Satan" as "The Devil" and also our visual conception of Hell as a physical place, originates largely with Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. In this story, he told me, The Lucifer is essentially God's dark angel. Since I have yet to read the Divine Comedy, can anyone who is familiar with the work tell me if this is somewhat what it talks about?

When I talked to my friend, a Jehova's Witness, she told me that they do not belive in "Hell" and helped me research it. I was pretty floored at what I found. This so, I've become more interested in "Just where does this idea originate, really".

Any help: much appreciated.

Answer 1

The devil was represented as a large, snarling, dumb beast in Dante's Inferno. Half of his body, the lower half, was forever frozen in a large block of ice. Hell was first depecited as a place of suffering in the Divine Comedy, until then, Hell was merely viewed as a seperation from God when you died. I.E. you stopped living and just rotted in the ground.

go to wikipedia.com and type in Divine Comedy to view more about the play.

Answer 2

You find many "parallels" in the Bible, because Biblical authors had access to previous Biblical writings. Also they were later edited by people who liked stories to have such similiar symbology.