Editing Inferno (Dante) (section)

====Central Well of Malebolge====
[[File:Gustave Doré - Dante Alighieri - Inferno - Plate 65 (Canto XXXI - The Titans).jpg|thumb|left|Titans and Giants, including [[Aloadae|Ephialtes]] on the left, in Doré's illustrations]]

'''''Canto XXXI'''''
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Dante and Virgil approach the Central Well, at the bottom of which lies the Ninth and final Circle of Hell. The [[Giants (Greek mythology)|classical]] and biblical [[Giant]]s – who perhaps symbolize pride and other spiritual flaws lying behind acts of [[Betrayal|treachery]]<ref name="DLS31">[[Dorothy L. Sayers]], ''Hell'', notes on Canto XXXI.</ref> – stand perpetual guard inside the well-pit, their legs embedded in the banks of the Ninth Circle while their upper halves rise above the rim and can be visible from the Malebolge.<ref name="DLS32">[[Dorothy L. Sayers]], ''Hell'', notes on Canto XXXII.</ref> Dante initially mistakes them for great towers of a city. Among the Giants, Virgil identifies [[Nimrod]] (who tried to build the [[Tower of Babel]]; he shouts out the unintelligible ''[[Raphèl mai amècche zabì almi]]''); [[Aloadae|Ephialtes]] (who with his brother Otus tried to storm [[Mount Olympus|Olympus]] during the [[Giants (Greek mythology)#The Gigantomachy|Gigantomachy]]; he has his arms chained up) and [[Hecatoncheires|Briareus]] (who Dante claimed to have challenged the Gods); and [[Tityos]] and [[Typhon]], who insulted Jupiter. Also here is the Giant [[Antaeus]], who did not join in the rebellion against the Olympian Gods and therefore is not chained. At Virgil's persuasion, Antaeus takes the Poets in his large palm and lowers them gently to the final level of Hell.

{{Clear}}