Jocasta

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Jocasta appears in the Divina Commedia only in Purgatorio XXII, v. 56, where she is cited by Statius within the examples of punished pride that the Theban poet proposes to the proud of the second terrace. The text qualifies her with the expression 'the double sorrow of Jocasta,' alluding to her mythical story marked by two bereavements. The identification of the figure as Jocasta, mother and spouse of Oedipus according to the Theban cycle, is confirmed by the verses and by the tradition from which Statius draws. The authorized note to Canto XXII adds no further details about her biography, limiting itself to clarifying the exegetical context of the preceding passages concerning the opposing vices and ignorance.