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| Layers of Hell |
The Gate of Hell and Charon
Charon, the ferryman of the Acheron
carries souls of the newly deceased across the river Styx
A coin to pay Charon for passage, usually an obolus or danake, was sometimes placed in or on the mouth of a dead person
Some authors say that those who could not pay the fee, or those whose bodies were left unburied, had to wander the shores for one hundred years, until they were allowed to cross the river
Limbo
The First Circle: Limbo - The Heathens
Virtuous pagan is a concept in Christian theology that addressed the problem of pagans who were never evangelized and consequently during their lifetime had no opportunity to recognize Christ, but nevertheless led virtuous lives, so that it seemed objectionable to consider them damned.
Prominent examples of virtuous pagans are Heraclitus, Parmenides, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Trajan, and Virgil. Dante Alighieri, in his Divine Comedy, places a number of virtuous pagans in the first circle of Hell (analogous to Limbo), including Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan.
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