I think he may be talking about the Greek Hell(see Hades) in which there were nine rings. In the center there were the Heroes, only the truly righteous made it here. Then in the outermost rings were the truly evil people who were tortured for all of eternity. So basically, the center was like heaven and each ring out got worse until the last ring which is how we(Judeo-Christians, modern society) view hell. Although there may be some other hell I don't know of. Now if no one minds, I must go watch Cowboy Bebop, see you all in the ninth ring. :)