One of the most fascinating things about Dante’s Divine Comedy is the way he mixes famous figures from history and literature (Cerberus, Frederick II, Judas) with well-known people from his own time (Ugolino, even his own mentor Brunetto Latini: see this listicle!). He even throws shade by “reserving space” in Hell for people who aren’t dead yet (Pope Boniface VIII). Sometimes this means that 700 years later we have very little idea what someone did to merit their appearance in a particular section in Hell—their scandal was clearly widely known in Dante’s time, but it was a fleeting thing and now we have no idea who they were apart from what Dante tells us (cf. Filippo Argenti, canto 8, who also appears in the Decameron).
To bring Dante's Inferno up to date, our students nominated new people for Hell—well-known historical or literary figures, and celebrities or people recognizable from current events—and placed them in the ring of Hell they thought most appropriate to their sins. I have also included nominations from the last time I ran this exercise in 2015 (in italics). Note: This was intended to be a lighthearted exercise: the 2015 class had lively discussions of BOTH where to put Hitler, and where to put the entire Kardashian family. I also note that some of these categories are very culturally constructed: for example, the sin of the “sodomites” (7.3) is not generally considered a sin these days (and in fact there’s a whole fascinating thread of Dante studies arguing about whether Dante disapproved of it at all).
Mahatma Gandhi
Adam Sandler
Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)
The Marquis de Sade
Paris of Troy
Bill Clinton
Don Juan
Hugh Hefner
Newt Gingrich
Elvis Presley
Jeff Bezos
Kim Jong Un
Justin Bieber
Louis XIV
Charles Koch
Dan Bilzerian
Elon Musk
Ivanka Trump
Kim Kardashian
Joe Exotic
Napoleon
Alex Jones
Tom Buchanan
Milo Yannopoulos
Friedrich Nietzsche
Tom Cruise
Martin Luther
Ted Cruz
Mike Pence
The Unabomber
George Zimmerman
Attila the Hun
Nicholas Cruz
King Leopold II of Belgium
Andrew Jackson
Oliver Cromwell
Adolf Hitler
Ted Bundy
David Duke
Caligula
Rick Scott
Pewdiepie
Brock Turner
Pope Alexander VI
Jennifer McCarthy
Donald Trump
Kenneth Copland
Harry Potter
Mitch McConnell
Cecil Rhodes
Bernie Madoff
Christopher Columbus
Dick Cheney
Rasputin
Henry Kissinger
Steve Bannon
Judy Mikovits
Anita Bryant
Shiva Ayyadurai
Narendra Modi
Jair Bolsonaro
Richard Spencer
Clive Bundy
Donald Trump
L. Ron Hubbard
Philip V of Spain
Cain
Benedict Arnold
Recep Erdoğan
Richard Burr
Albert Speer
Al Capone
Brutus