Joseph

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Joseph is mentioned by Dante in Canto XXX of the Inferno as a parallel example to Potiphar's wife: the woman who failed to seduce him falsely accused him of having used violence against her, an episode narrated in Genesis. For this reason Dante cites him alongside the Greek Sinon as an illustrious victim of a falsification of speech. In the Comedy Joseph does not speak directly nor is he depicted on stage, but is only evoked by Master Adam to characterize the sinner beside him as "la falsa ch'accusò Gioseppo" (the false woman who accused Joseph). The mention thus takes place in the ditch of the falsifiers, where Dante is punishing those who have falsified speech and those who have accused unjustly. The ancient form "Gioseppo" with an -o ending, attested in the text, was also common in prose in the ancient vernacular.