Inferno , the iconic 14th-century poem by Dante Alighieri widely regarded as a literary masterpiece, may have been inspired by an asteroid impact, according to a groundbreaking new theory. Inferno is the first part of Dante’s epic The Divine Comedy , which explores themes of sin, moral corruption and divine justice as Dante travels through nine concentric circles of hell , witnessing punishments. The new theory suggests the masterpiece is likely an imagination of Satan as a high-velocity impactor , like an asteroid, hitting the Southern Hemisphere and tunnelling through to the Earth ’s centre. The impact forces the Northern Hemisphere to retreat significantly, causing it to form the core of hell as a bottom-up crater. The earth displaced by the impactor, meanwhile, creates the mountain of Purgatory , according to the new research presented at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2026 in Vienna.…