100 Fun Facts About Seven Deadly Sins

Which sin is considered the original and worst of the seven on almost every list?

It is viewed as the source of the other capital sins and the opposite of humility.

Which pope revised the list of deadly sins into its familiar form in AD 590?

He folded sorrow into sloth, vanity into pride, and added envy to make seven.

Which sin was added in 590 that had not been on the earlier list of eight?

Its Latin name is invidia; he also merged two pairs of older vices to land on seven.

How many forms of temptation did the monk Evagrius Ponticus settle on in the fourth century?

His Greek list of logismoi included sadness and boasting, which later lists merged away.

Which student of Evagrius carried his list of vices into the Latin West?

Cassian's Latin list included tristitia (sorrow) and vanagloria (vainglory) as separate entries.

What is the Latin name for the sin of sloth on the old Western list?

The word came from a Greek term and originally meant a monk's listless neglect of spiritual duties.

Which Latin word for a deadly sin means anger?

Gula is overeating, luxuria is lust and avaritia is greed, so the other three are sins too.

Which theologian called the seven 'capital sins' because they are the head of all others?

He defended Gregory's list in the Summa Theologica.

Which sin is generally thought to be the mildest of the seven?

Aquinas saw sins of the flesh as less grievous than spiritual sins.

The word for the sin of overeating comes from a Latin verb meaning what?

One objection to it was that the gorging of the rich could leave the needy hungry.

How many forms of overindulgence in food did Aquinas list, including eating too soon?

Laute, studiose, nimis, praepropere and ardenter: too expensively, daintily, much, soon and eagerly.

Aquinas defined which sin as 'sorrow about spiritual good'?

Unlike the others, it is a sin of avoiding responsibilities rather than committing an act.

Which sin is a sad or resentful covetousness toward another person's traits or possessions?

Bertrand Russell called it one of the most potent causes of unhappiness.

Which philosopher said envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness?

He noted it brings sorrow to the envious while urging them to inflict pain on others.

Which author wrote in Mere Christianity that pride is 'the complete anti-God state of mind'?

He called unchastity, anger and greed 'mere fleabites in comparison'.

'Pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall' comes from which Bible book?

The shortened 'pride goeth before a fall' is from Proverbs 16:18.

The Greek word hubris is used as another name for which sin?

In politics it describes leaders who grow irrationally self-confident and contemptuous of advice.

Which historical vice, meaning unjustified boasting, was merged into pride in 590?

The Latin gloria roughly meant boasting, and 'vain' once simply meant futile.

Fourth-century monks blamed the vice later folded into sloth mainly on what state?

The Catechism now defines acedia as spiritual sloth: believing spiritual tasks to be too difficult.

A 2009 study of confessions found which sin was most commonly confessed by men?

The same Jesuit study found that women most often confessed to pride.

According to that 2009 Jesuit study, which sin did women confess most often?

The researchers could not tell whether the gap reflected behaviour or views about what to confess.

Which cardinal virtue is NOT one of the four named by Ambrose in the 4th century?

The three theological virtues of faith, hope and charity were added to make seven heavenly virtues.

Which virtue is usually paired against lust on the list of seven capital virtues?

The remedial virtues run chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness, patience and humility.

Whose 5th-century poem Psychomachia first staged a battle between personified sins and virtues?

Its female combatants did not match the later standard list but popularised the idea.

In Dante's Purgatorio, how many terraces of Purgatory proper correspond to the sins?

Each terrace pairs a sin with an appropriate prayer and beatitude as Dante climbs.

On Dante's first terrace, how are the proud souls punished?

They walk past sculpted examples of humility, starting with the Annunciation.

What letter does the angel erase from Dante's forehead as he leaves each terrace?

It stands for peccatum, the Latin for sin, and climbing grows easier with each one removed.

Which sin does Dante's fourth terrace purge with souls in ceaseless activity?

Having failed to act in pursuit of love in life, the slothful run around the terrace calling out examples of zeal.

On Dante's fifth terrace, the avaricious and prodigal lie how?

They recite Psalm 119:25, 'My soul cleaveth unto the dust'.

Which French king personifies greed on Dante's fifth terrace?

He bemoans how avarice motivated his successors and 'prophesies' events after the poem's date.

Which 1995 thriller follows two detectives hunting a killer who stages murders on the deadly sins?

David Fincher directed it from Andrew Kevin Walker's script; it grossed $327 million worldwide.

In the film Seven, which sin is written on the wall at the first murder scene?

The obese victim had been forced to eat until his stomach burst.

Who plays the serial killer John Doe in Seven?

He won Best Villain at the MTV Movie Awards for the role.

In Seven, the killer says he himself represents which sin?

He envied Mills's life with Tracy, and urges Mills to become wrath.

Who wrote the screenplay for Seven, basing it on his move to New York City in the 1980s?

He was working at Tower Records in 1991 when he began the spec script.

Who directed Seven after the studio's first choice left the project?

His only previous feature, Alien 3, had left him saying he would rather die than make another movie.

Which writer inspired the name of Morgan Freeman's character in Seven?

Walker had pictured William Hurt in the role before Freeman was cast.

Which actor declined to play John Doe, calling the script 'the most evil thing I've ever read'?

Fincher wanted a face that resembled the 1969 Zodiac Killer composite sketch.

Who composed the score for Seven, hired on the strength of The Silence of the Lambs?

An orchestra of up to 100 musicians performed it.

Which museum displays Bosch's The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things in a sealed case?

In 2015 a research project called it the work of a follower; the museum's scholars dismissed the argument.

What does the centre of the large circle in Bosch's sins painting represent?

Its 'pupil' shows Christ rising from the tomb above the words 'Beware, Beware, The Lord Sees'.

Which king kept Bosch's painting of the sins in his own bedroom at El Escorial?

He bought it before 1560, probably at a monastery art sale, convinced it was a Bosch original.

Which leader published a list of 'seven social sins' in Young India in 1925?

The list begins 'wealth without work' and ends 'politics without principle'.

Gandhi's social sins list includes 'science without' what?

Other entries are 'commerce without morality' and 'religion without sacrifice'.

Who wrote and drew the manga The Seven Deadly Sins, about knights named for the sins?

He borrowed character names from King Arthur tales and won the 2015 Kodansha Manga Award.

In the manga The Seven Deadly Sins, what is the name of the knights' leader?

Princess Elizabeth finds him first so the group can clear their names in Liones.

In Fullmetal Alchemist, the homunculi named for the sins were created by which character?

He extracted what he believed were his own flaws into fragments of his Philosopher's Stone.

In Fullmetal Alchemist, which homunculus is called 'the Ultimate Shield' and betrays the others?

He craves money, women and possessions, so feeding Father's appetite would deprive him of his own.

Which composer wrote the 1933 sung ballet The Seven Deadly Sins with Bertolt Brecht?

It was their last major collaboration, premiered in Paris with choreography by George Balanchine.

Which Canterbury Tales pilgrim delivers a treatise on penitence and the sins instead of a story?

It is the final tale, and modern readers often find it pedantic next to the rest.

Which chipmaker took its name from the Latin word for envy, one of the seven deadly sins?

Nvidia comes from invidia, the Latin for envy. The founders first fancied the name NVision, but a toilet-paper maker had already taken it.

Which monster of Greek myth guards the gluttons in the third circle of Dante's Inferno?

Cerberus claws at the gluttons as they lie in freezing slush under an endless icy rain. Dante's guide gets past by throwing mud into the beast's three mouths.

Which demon did Peter Binsfeld match with greed in 1589, using a New Testament word for riches?

Mammon is the word Jesus uses in 'You cannot serve both God and mammon'. Medieval writers turned that term for wealth into a demon in his own right.

In the film Seven, which sin does Detective David Mills become when he shoots the killer John Doe?

Wrath is the part John Doe has saved for Mills. The studio pushed for a more heroic ending in which Mills held his fire, but the director and his star refused to change it.

Which biblical brother does Dante's Purgatorio hold up as its great warning example of envy?

Cain is named not for killing Abel but for the jealousy that came first. On the same terrace Dante also hears voices telling stories of generosity, the opposite virtue.

Which Roman poet guides Dante up the terraces of Mount Purgatory, where the deadly sins are purged?

Virgil stands for human reason in the poem, so he can lead Dante only so far. Near the summit, where reason runs out, Beatrice takes over as guide.

Which DC superhero battles the seven deadly sins as monsters unleashed by Doctor Sivana?

Shazam fights the sins as seven demons living in a magic orb lodged in Sivana's eye socket. On the 2019 film's set they were stunt performers in motion-capture suits.

Which English epic has a proud Satan declare it better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven?

Paradise Lost traces the whole war in Heaven to pride. Satan rebels when God anoints the Son above him, and a third of the angels follow him down.

The manga The Seven Deadly Sins borrows its characters' names from tales of which legendary hero?

King Arthur and his court supplied the names, though the personalities and the plot are the author's own. He had wanted to draw an Arthurian fantasy for years and kept having the idea rejected.

The English name of the sin of sloth was built in the 12th century from which everyday adjective?

Slow plus the ending -th made the Middle English word 'slouthe'. The tree-dwelling animal only took the name in the 1610s, as a translation of its Portuguese name.

Which lesser kind of sin may be left unconfessed in Catholic teaching, unlike a mortal sin?

Venial sins injure a person's friendship with God without breaking it. Confessing them is still recommended, just not required.

Which actor cut tendons in his hand filming a rain-soaked chase as Detective David Mills in Seven?

Brad Pitt did the stunt himself, slipped on a wet car hood and went through the windscreen. He came back days later in a forearm cast, which had to be written into the remaining scenes.

In which modern language does the word Lust still simply mean pleasure, as it once did in English?

German kept the innocent sense of the word. English lust narrowed to sinful desire after Bible translators chose it for phrases such as 'lusts of the flesh'.

In which Christopher Marlowe play are the seven deadly sins paraded before a scholar who sold his soul?

Doctor Faustus is shown the pageant by Lucifer, who lays it on as a distraction the moment the scholar starts to think about repenting.

What is done to the eyes of the envious on the second terrace of Dante's Purgatorio?

Sewn shut with iron wire, their eyes can no longer look on other people's good fortune. Dante borrowed the image from falconry, where a hawk's eyelids were stitched to tame it.

Which demon, long cast as the prince of lust, kills seven husbands of Sarah in the Book of Tobit?

Asmodeus strikes down each bridegroom on the wedding night. Tobias finally drives him off with the smoke of a fish's heart and liver laid on hot cinders.

Which Canterbury Tales pilgrim preaches that greed is the root of all evils while selling fake relics?

The Pardoner happily admits he preaches against avarice only to fill his own purse. The saints' bones he carries around are really pig bones.

In the anime The Seven Deadly Sins, which thief became immortal by drinking from the Fountain of Youth?

Ban carries the fox mark of the Sin of Greed and the nickname Undead Ban. For a legendary bandit he is written as a surprisingly good-natured man.

Which streaming service licensed the anime The Seven Deadly Sins in 2015 as its second exclusive anime?

Netflix picked the series up after Knights of Sidonia. In 2017 the company said it was the fourth most binge-watched show on the platform within a day of release.

In the anime The Seven Deadly Sins, which knight's strength peaks for a single minute at noon?

Escanor looks scrawny until daylight builds him up. At the sun's zenith he becomes 'The One', stronger than any living thing, and he bears the lion mark of the Sin of Pride.

Which Rodin sculpture was first titled after Francesca da Rimini, whom Dante put among the lustful in Hell?

The Kiss began as a small relief of Francesca and her brother-in-law Paolo on Rodin's portal The Gates of Hell. In the marble version the lovers' lips never actually touch.

Which novel takes its title from a name for Beelzebub, the demon Peter Binsfeld tied to gluttony?

Lord of the Flies is a literal translation of the name Beelzebub. In William Golding's novel the title belongs to a pig's head on a sharpened stick, swarming with insects.

In Dante's Inferno, the wrathful tear at one another forever in the swampy waters of which river?

The Styx forms a stinking marsh in Dante's fifth circle. The openly angry brawl on its surface while the sullen lie sunk beneath the slime.

In Dante's Purgatorio, pride, sloth and lust alike are explained as a warped form of which impulse?

Love gone wrong is Dante's whole theory of sin: it can be aimed at harming others, be too weak, or chase good things to excess. His guide lays the scheme out halfway up the mountain.

Which Flemish painter of peasant weddings designed a 1558 set of engravings of the seven deadly sins?

Pieter Bruegel the Elder drew the designs for the Antwerp print publisher Hieronymus Cock, filling them with monsters in the manner of Bosch. He designed a companion series on the virtues too.

Which Russian-born choreographer staged the 1933 Paris premiere of the sung ballet The Seven Deadly Sins?

George Balanchine produced, directed and choreographed the premiere. In 1958 he staged it again at New York City Ballet, with Lotte Lenya back in the singing role she had created.

Which actress played Lust in the 1967 comedy Bedazzled, opposite Peter Cook and Dudley Moore?

Raquel Welch, credited as Lilian Lust, is on screen only briefly. Peter Cook's Devil keeps all seven sins on his staff, with Barry Humphries as Envy.

In Fullmetal Alchemist, which tattoo marks the body of every homunculus named for a deadly sin?

The Ouroboros, a serpent swallowing its own tail, sits somewhere different on each of them. King Bradley's is on an eye he keeps hidden under a patch.

In the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, which flame-wielding colonel burns the homunculus Lust to death?

Roy Mustang blasts her with fire again and again until the Philosopher's Stone that keeps reviving her is spent. She dies taunting him about the doom to come.

The seven deadly sins grew from a list of thoughts that tempted fourth-century desert monks in which country?

Egypt was home to the hermit colonies of Nitria and Kellia, where the monk Evagrius Ponticus spent his last years writing about the temptations of desert life.

Which Jim Henson series had a 1975 pilot, subtitled Sex and Violence, built around a Seven Deadly Sins pageant?

The Muppet Show had two pilots, and this second one aired on ABC in March 1975 with Sam the Eagle helping to organise the pageant. Kermit, later the host, had only a cameo.

Which ice cream brand once sold a limited-edition 7 Deadly Sins range, with each flavour named after a sin?

Magnum's sins sold so well that in 2005 the brand tried to repeat the trick with 5 Senses, a range including flavours named Aroma, Touch and Taste.

In which film does Gordon Gekko defend one deadly sin with the line 'Greed, for lack of a better word, is good'?

Wall Street won Michael Douglas an Oscar for the part. Director Oliver Stone based the line on a real speech by the trader Ivan Boesky, who told business graduates 'I think greed is healthy'.

In the Bosch painting of the seven deadly sins, the Four Last Things are death, heaven, hell and what?

Judgment fills one of four small circles around the main ring, with Christ in glory as angels wake the dead. The sins themselves are acted out as scenes from everyday life.

In The Seven Deadly Sins anime, the heroes' travelling bar rides on the back of which giant green animal?

A pig the size of a hill, known as Hawk's Mother, carries the bar from town to town. Her talking son Hawk eats the leftovers as self-appointed captain of scraps disposal.

In the manga The Seven Deadly Sins, which princess of Liones sets out to find the disbanded knights?

Elizabeth is the third princess of Liones, the adopted younger sister of Margaret and Veronica. She wants the knights to free her kingdom from the Holy Knights who have seized it.

In the anime The Seven Deadly Sins, which band of elite demons was hand-picked by the Demon King?

The Ten Commandments each wield a curse that plays on the virtue they stand for. Those curses turn out to be fragments of the Demon King's own soul.

Which young knight is the hero of Four Knights of the Apocalypse, the sequel to The Seven Deadly Sins?

Percival was invented for the sequel. The author's first plan was to give the lead to Tristan, a boy introduced at the very end of the original series.

In the anime The Seven Deadly Sins, Diane, who bears the Serpent Sin of Envy, belongs to which clan?

Giants in the series are enormous and long-lived: Diane stands thirty feet tall and is 750 years old. Her home village is called Mega Dozer.

In Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom novels, seven villains who each embody a deadly sin are named after what?

Days of the week name the Trustees, from Mister Monday to Lord Sunday, and each of the seven books takes its title from the villain it features.

In which 14th-century poem by William Langland do the seven deadly sins make confession one by one?

Piers Plowman has the sins repent after Reason preaches to a field full of folk. As penance they try to set off on a pilgrimage to Saint Truth.

Which French New Wave director made the Sloth episode of the 1962 anthology film The Seven Deadly Sins?

Jean-Luc Godard cast Eddie Constantine as himself, a film star too lazy to go through with seducing a starlet. Claude Chabrol and Jacques Demy directed two of the other sins.

Which famously reclusive novelist wrote a 1993 New York Times essay on sloth, 'Nearer, My Couch, to Thee'?

Thomas Pynchon wrote it for a Book Review series on the deadly sins. He argues that by the time of Melville's Bartleby, sloth had turned from a sin against God into an offence against the economy.

Which friend of Chaucer wrote Confessio Amantis, where a lover confesses the seven deadly sins to a priest of Venus?

John Gower has Venus's chaplain, Genius, walk the lovesick Amans through each sin as it plays out in courtship. By the poem's own account, Richard II commissioned it after a chance meeting on the Thames.

Which demon, cast as the prince of sloth, comes to Earth to find a wife in a novella by Machiavelli?

Belphegor was the demon of sloth on a famous list of 1589, though an earlier English tract had given him gluttony. Machiavelli's tale was later turned into an opera by Respighi.

In the 1933 sung ballet The Seven Deadly Sins, a singer and a dancer play two sisters who share which first name?

Anna I sings and Anna II dances as the sisters leave Louisiana to earn the money for a family house, meeting one deadly sin in each of seven American cities.

Which apostle is traditionally credited with the letter warning that the love of money is the root of all evil?

Paul is the traditional author of the First Epistle to Timothy, where the warning appears. The verse blames the love of money, not money itself, and sits beside advice to steer clear of envy.

The deadly sin of gluttony gives which fierce member of the weasel family its Latin genus name, Gulo?

The wolverine may owe its greedy reputation to a mix-up. One theory is that a Norwegian name meaning 'mountain cat' was garbled abroad into a word meaning 'devours much'.

Which actress played Tracy, the wife of Detective David Mills, in the film Seven?

Gwyneth Paltrow was recommended by her co-star, who had been impressed by her audition for Legends of the Fall. Christina Applegate had already turned the part down.

Which American evangelist, famous for his stadium crusades, wrote the 1955 book Freedom from the Seven Deadly Sins?

Billy Graham was explaining a list that is not set out anywhere in the Bible. It grew out of early Christian teaching, and Protestant churches such as the Lutherans and Methodists kept it.