Jason

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Jason is a figure from the ancient mythological world, celebrated in poetry for his heroic exploit, and notably for having led the Argonauts, who were the first to sail the sea toward Colchis to seize the Golden Fleece. In the verses of Paradiso, Beatrice recalls him when she evokes the wonder of the Argonauts upon seeing him humbled to act as a plowman. In Inferno, Dante places him among the seducers and flatterers and, while acknowledging his royal nobility and greatness, judges him guilty: through deceit he seduced and abandoned Medea, a defenseless young girl, who had been left pregnant and alone by him. This sin earns him the infamous punishment of the eighth ditch, where the greatness of his heroic exploit, far from exonerating him, intensifies the meaning of his moral condemnation.