Ottavo cerchio - Bolgia IV - Maghi e indovini

Fourteenth painting in the 'Inferno di Dante Alighieri' series.

The eighth circle of Hell, also know as 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").

The fourth bolgia hosts the souls of fortune tellers, diviners, astrologers, and other false prophets. The punishment is to have their heads twisted around on their bodies; in this horrible contortion of the human form, these sinners are compelled to walk backwards for eternity, blinded by their own tears.