What are all nine gates?
The nine gates are pictured in the The Nine Gates of the Kingdom of Shadows in the form of woodcuts with a Tarot-like quality. They have been likened to a concept in Dante’s Inferno, the first part of Dante’s Divine Comedy (1308-1321), that hell is constructed of nine circles and in the ninth circle at the center is Satan. Others have noticed a similarity between the nine gates and the Kabalah’s ten spheres on the Tree of Life. Each engraving is accompanied by an abbreviated caption in Latin and is thought to represent a step, a lesson, an experience, or a ritual that must be performed to get through the ninth gate. The engravings as pictured in the movie are as follows. English translations are flashed on the screen during the opening menu of the Artisan DVD. Gate 1: A knight on horseback approaches a castle while holding a finger against his lips. Caption: SILENTIUM EST AUREUM [Silence is golden]. Gate 2: An old man holding two keys approaches a closed door. Caption: CLAUSAE PATENT [
