Every Level of Purgatory Explained Animated | Dante’s Full Mountain of Souls

What really happens in Purgatory? In Dante’s Divine Comedy, Purgatory is not just seven terraces of sin. It is a full mountain of purification, beginning at the shore, passing through Ante-Purgatory, the gate, the seven terraces of Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Avarice, Gluttony, and Lust, and ending in the Earthly Paradise. That 14-stage structure is the more complete version the source text itself later settles on, rather than the earlier simplified 7-terrace framing. In this video, we break down every level of Purgatory in a cinematic and easy-to-understand way, showing how Dante imagined the soul being purified before entering Heaven. The source draft also explicitly frames Purgatory not as “Hell 2.0,” but as a place where the soul is repaired, and where the full climb runs from the shore through Ante-Purgatory, the gate, the seven terraces, and finally the Earthly Paradise. If you enjoy dark mythology, theology, medieval literature, and animated lore explainers, subscribe for more.