Demophon

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Demophon is mentioned in Paradiso IX, v. 101, within the recollection that Cunizza da Romano makes of the most famous passions celebrated by ancient poetry. The name appears in the tercet that places his story alongside that of Hercules (Alcides): "was by Demophon, nor Alcides". According to the authoritative notes to the canto, Demophon was the son of Theseus and was loved by Phyllis, daughter of the king of Thrace, called Rhodopeia from Mount Rhodope; he had promised to marry her and, not returning from Athens within the agreed time, caused her to kill herself believing herself abandoned. His story is recalled by Ovid in the Heroides (Her. II), the source to which the commentary explicitly refers, and is invoked by Dante to measure the intensity of his own amorous ardour: none of the three celebrated lovers – Dido, Phyllis, and Hercules – burned more than Cunizza.