Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the
Phoenicia
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...
n city-state of
Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...
(located in modern
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
), in 814 BC.
In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of
Tyre (today in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
) who fled tyranny to found her own city in northwest Africa.
Known only through
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
and
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
sources, all of which were written well after Carthage's founding, her historicity remains uncertain. The oldest references to Dido are attributed to
Timaeus Timaeus (or Timaios) is a Greek name. It may refer to:
* ''Timaeus'' (dialogue), a Socratic dialogue by Plato
*Timaeus of Locri, 5th-century BC Pythagorean philosopher, appearing in Plato's dialogue
*Timaeus (historian) (c. 345 BC-c. 250 BC), Greek ...
, who was active around 300 BC, or about five centuries after the date given for the foundation of Carthage.
Details about Dido's character, life, and role in the founding of Carthage are best known from the account given in
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...
's
epic poem, the ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...
,'' written around 20 BC, which tells the legendary story of the
Trojan
Trojan or Trojans may refer to:
* Of or from the ancient city of Troy
* Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 189 ...
hero
Aeneas
In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...
. Dido is described as a clever and enterprising woman who flees her ruthless and autocratic brother,
Pygmalion
Pygmalion or Pigmalion may refer to:
Mythology
* Pygmalion (mythology), a sculptor who fell in love with his statue
Stage
* ''Pigmalion'' (opera), a 1745 opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau
* ''Pygmalion'' (Rousseau), a 1762 melodrama by Jean-Jacques ...
, after discovering that he was responsible for her husband's death. Through her wisdom and leadership, the city of Carthage is founded and made prosperous.
Dido remains an enduring figure in Western culture and arts since the early
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
and into the 21st century.
In the early 20th century, she was also chosen as a national symbol in
Tunisian nationalism
Tunisian nationalism refers to the nationalism of Tunisians and Tunisian culture. Tunisian nationalism's origins stretch back to the 19th century; however, Tunisian nationalism became a significant political force after 1908 with the founding of t ...
, so that e.g. Tunisian women can be poetically referred to "Daughters of Dido"; Dido (Elissa) has also been represented on
Tunisian currency in 2006.
Name
![Dosso Dossi 041](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Dosso_Dossi_041.jpg)
Many names in the legend of Dido are of
Punic
The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of t ...
origin, which suggests that the first Greek authors who mention this story have taken up Phoenician accounts. One suggestion is that ''Dido'' is an epithet from the same
Semitic root
The roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or " radicals" (hence the term consonantal root). Such abstract consonantal roots are used in the formation of actual words by adding the vowel ...
as ''
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
'', which means "Beloved". Others state Didô means "the wanderer".
According to Marie-Pierre Noël, "Elishat/Elisha" is a name repeatedly attested on
Punic
The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of t ...
votives. It is composed of the Punic reflex of
*ʾil- "god", the remote Phoenician creator god
El, also a
name for God in Judaism, and "‐issa", which could be either "
ʾiš" (
𐤀𐤎) means "fire", or another word for "woman". Other works state it is the feminine form of El. In Greek it appears as ''Theiossô'', which translates Élissa: ''el'' becoming ''theos''.
Early accounts
The person of Dido can be traced to references by Roman historians to
lost writings
A lost work is a document, literary work, or piece of multimedia produced some time in the past, of which no surviving copies are known to exist. It can only be known through reference. This term most commonly applies to works from the classical ...
of
Timaeus Timaeus (or Timaios) is a Greek name. It may refer to:
* ''Timaeus'' (dialogue), a Socratic dialogue by Plato
*Timaeus of Locri, 5th-century BC Pythagorean philosopher, appearing in Plato's dialogue
*Timaeus (historian) (c. 345 BC-c. 250 BC), Greek ...
of
Tauromenium
Taormina ( , , also , ; scn, Taurmina) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina, on the east coast of the island of Sicily, Italy. Taormina has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. Its beaches on ...
in Sicily (c. 356–260 BC).
Ancient historians gave various dates, both for the foundation of Carthage and the foundation of Rome.
Appian
Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadr ...
, in the beginning of his ''Punic Wars'', claims that Carthage was founded by a certain Zorus and Carchedon, but ''Zorus'' looks like an alternative transliteration of the city name ''Tyre,'' while ''Carchedon'' is just the Greek form of ''Carthage''. Timaeus made Carchedon's wife Elissa the sister of King
Pygmalion of Tyre. Archaeological evidence of settlement on the site of Carthage before the last quarter of the 8th century BC has yet to be found. Paucity of material for this period may be explained by rejection of the
Greek Dark Age
The term Greek Dark Ages refers to the period of Greek history from the end of the Mycenaean palatial civilization, around 1100 BC, to the beginning of the Archaic age, around 750 BC. Archaeological evidence shows a widespread collapse ...
theory.
That the city is named (''Qart-hadasht'', or "New City") at least indicates it was a colony.
The only surviving full account before Virgil's treatment is that of Virgil's contemporary
Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus
Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus also anglicized as was a Gallo-Roman historian from the Celtic Vocontii tribe in Narbonese Gaul who lived during the reign of the emperor Augustus. He was nearly contemporary with Livy.
Life
Pompeius Trogus's grandfathe ...
in his ''Philippic histories'' as rendered in a digest or epitome made by
Junianus Justinus
Justin ( la, Marcus Junianus Justinus Frontinus; century) was a Latin writer who lived under the Roman Empire.
Life
Almost nothing is known of Justin's personal history, his name appearing only in the title of his work. He must have lived af ...
in the 3rd century AD.
Justin
Justin may refer to: People
* Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin
* Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire
* Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...
quoting or paraphrasing Trogus states (18.4–6), a king of
Tyre whom Justin does not name, made his very beautiful daughter Dido and son Pygmalion his joint heirs. But on his death the people took Pygmalion alone as their ruler though Pygmalion was yet still a boy. Dido married
Acerbas
Acerbas was a Tyre (Lebanon), Tyrian priest of Hercules (that is, Melqart, the Tyrian Hercules), who married Dido (Queen of Carthage), Elissa, the daughter of king Mattan I, and sister of Pygmalion of Tyre, Pygmalion. He was possessed of conside ...
her uncle who as priest of
Heracles
Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive ...
—that is,
Melqart—was second in power to King Pygmalion. Acerbas (Sicharbas, Zacherbas) can be equated with the Zikarbaal king of Byblos mentioned in the Egyptian
''Tale of Wenamon''.
Rumor told that Acerbas had much wealth secretly buried and King Pygmalion had Acerbas murdered in hopes of gaining this wealth. Dido, desiring to escape Tyre, expressed a wish to move into Pygmalion's palace, but then ordered the attendants whom Pygmalion sent to aid in the move, to throw all Acerbas' bags of gold into the sea apparently as an offering to his spirit. In fact these bags contained only sand. Dido then persuaded the attendants to join her in flight to another land rather than face Pygmalion's anger when he discovered what had supposedly become of Acerbas' wealth. Some senators also joined her in her flight.
The party arrived at Cyprus where the priest of
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
joined the expedition. There the exiles also seized about eighty young women who were prostituting themselves on the shore in order to provide wives for the men in the party.
Eventually Dido and her followers arrived on the coast of North Africa where Dido asked the
Berber king
Iarbas
Iarbas (or Hiarbas) was a Roman mythological character, who has appeared in works by various authors including Ovid and Virgil. The character is possibly based on a historical king of Numidia.
In Roman mythology, Iarbas was the son of Jupiter H ...
for a small bit of land for a temporary refuge until she could continue her journeying, only as much land as could be encompassed by an oxhide. They agreed. Dido cut the oxhide into fine strips so that she had enough to encircle an entire nearby hill, which was therefore afterwards named ''Byrsa'' "hide". (This event is commemorated in modern mathematics: The "
isoperimetric problem
In mathematics, the isoperimetric inequality is a geometric inequality involving the perimeter of a set and its volume. In n-dimensional space \R^n the inequality lower bounds the surface area or perimeter \operatorname(S) of a set S\subset\R^n by ...
" of enclosing the maximum area within a fixed boundary is often called the "Dido Problem" in modern
calculus of variations.) That would become their new home. Many of the local Berbers joined the settlement and both Berbers and envoys from the nearby
Phoenicia
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...
n city of
Utica urged the building of a city. In digging the foundations an ox's head was found, indicating a city that would be wealthy but subject to others. Accordingly, another area of the hill was dug instead where a horse's head was found, indicating that the city would be powerful in war.
But when the new city of Carthage had been established and become prosperous, Iarbas, a native king of the Maxitani or Mauritani (manuscripts differ), demanded Dido for his wife or he would make war on Carthage. Still, she preferred to stay faithful to her first husband and after creating a ceremonial funeral
pyre
A pyre ( grc, πυρά; ''pyrá'', from , ''pyr'', "fire"), also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. As a form of cremation, a body is placed upon or under the ...
and sacrificing many victims to his spirit in pretense that this was a final honoring of her first husband in preparation for marriage to Iarbas, Dido ascended the pyre, announced that she would go to her husband as they desired, and then slew herself with her sword. After this self-sacrifice Dido was deified and was worshipped as long as Carthage endured. In this account, the foundation of Carthage occurred 72 years before the foundation of Rome.
Servius Servius is the name of:
* Servius (praenomen), the personal name
* Maurus Servius Honoratus, a late fourth-century and early fifth-century grammarian
* Servius Tullius, the Roman king
* Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the 1st century BC Roman jurist
See ...
in his commentary on Virgil's ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...
'' gives ''Sicharbas'' as the name of Dido's husband in early tradition.
Historicity and dating
![Affresco romano - Enea e di](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Affresco_romano_-_Enea_e_di.jpg)
The oxhide story which explains the name of the hill is most likely of Greek origin since ''Byrsa'' means "oxhide" in Greek, not in
Punic
The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of t ...
. The name of the hill in Punic was probably just a derivation from
Semitic ''brt'' "fortified place". But that does not prevent other details in the story from being Carthaginian, albeit still not necessarily historical.
Michael Grant in ''Roman Myths'' (1973) claims that "Dido-Elissa was originally a goddess", and that she was converted from a goddess into a mortal (if still legendary) queen sometime in the later fifth century BCE by a Greek writer.
Others conjecture that Dido was indeed historical, as described in the following accounts. It is unknown who first combined the story of Dido with the tradition that connected Aeneas either with Rome or with earlier settlements from which Rome traced its origin. A fragment of an epic poem by
Gnaeus Naevius who died at Utica in 201 BC includes a passage which might or might not be part of a conversation between Aeneas and Dido.
Servius Servius is the name of:
* Servius (praenomen), the personal name
* Maurus Servius Honoratus, a late fourth-century and early fifth-century grammarian
* Servius Tullius, the Roman king
* Servius Sulpicius Rufus, the 1st century BC Roman jurist
See ...
in his commentary (4.682; 5.4) cites
Varro
Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...
(1st century BC ) for a version in which Dido's sister Anna killed herself for love of Aeneas.
Evidence for the historicity of Dido (which is a question independent of whether or not she ever met Aeneas) can be associated with evidence for the historicity of others in her family, such as her brother Pygmalion and their grandfather Balazeros. Both of these kings are mentioned, as well as Dido, in the list of Tyrian kings given in
Menander of Ephesus Menander of Ephesus ( grc-gre, Μένανδρος; fl. c. early 2nd century BC) was the historian whose lost work on the history of Tyre was used by Josephus, who quotes Menander's list of kings of Tyre in his apologia for the Jews, ''Against Ap ...
's list of the kings of Tyre, as preserved in
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for ''The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly d ...
's ''
Against Apion
''Against Apion'' ( el, Φλαΐου Ἰωσήπου περὶ ἀρχαιότητος Ἰουδαίων λόγος α and ; Latin ''Contra Apionem'' or ''In Apionem'') is a polemical work written by Flavius Josephus as a defense of Judaism as a ...
'', i.18. Josephus ends his quotation of Menander with the sentence "Now, in the seventh year of his
ygmalion'sreign, his sister fled away from him and built the city of Carthage in Libya."
The
Nora Stone, found on Sardinia, has been interpreted by
Frank Moore Cross
Frank Moore Cross Jr. (1921–2012) was the Hancock Professor of Hebrew and Other Oriental Languages Emeritus at Harvard University, notable for his work in the interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls, his 1973 ''magnum opus'' ''Canaanite Myth and ...
as naming Pygmalion as the king of the general who was using the stone to record his victory over the local populace. On paleographic grounds, the stone is dated to the 9th century BC. (Cross's translation, with a longer discussion of the Nora stone, is found in the Pygmalion article). If Cross's interpretation is correct, this presents inscriptional evidence substantiating the existence of a 9th-century-BC king of Tyre named (in Greek) Pygmalion.
Several scholars have identified Baa‘li-maanzer, the king of Tyre who gave tribute to
Shalmaneser III
Shalmaneser III (''Šulmānu-ašarēdu'', "the god Shulmanu is pre-eminent") was king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Ashurnasirpal II in 859 BC to his own death in 824 BC.
His long reign was a constant series of campai ...
in 841 BC, with ''Ba‘al-'azor'' (Phoenician form of the name) or ''
Baal-Eser/Balazeros'' (Greek form of the name), Dido's grandfather.
This lends credibility to the account in Josephus/Menander that names the kings of Tyre from
Abibaal
Abibaal ( phn, 𐤀𐤁𐤉𐤁𐤏𐤋, ʾabībaʿl, ''"My father is Baal"'') was a king of Tyre in the 10th century BC, father of the famous Hiram I. The only information known about him is derived from two passages in Josephus's ''Against Apion ...
and
Hiram I
Hiram I ( Phoenician: 𐤇𐤓𐤌 ''Ḥirōm'' "my brother is exalted"; Hebrew: ''Ḥīrām'', Modern Arabic: حيرام, also called ''Hirom'' or ''Huram'')
was the Phoenician king of Tyre according to the Hebrew Bible. His regnal years have b ...
down to the time of Pygmalion and Dido.
Another possible reference to Balazeros is found in the ''Aeneid''. It was a common ancient practice of using the
hypocoristicon
A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek: (), from (), 'to call by pet names', sometimes also ''hypocoristic'') or pet name is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for I ...
or shortened form of the name that included only the divine element, so that the "Belus" that Virgil names as the father of Dido in the ''Aeneid'' may be a reference to her grandfather, Baal-Eser II/Balazeros.
Classicist
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
T. T. Duke suggests that instead it is a hypocoristicon of
Mattan I
Mattan, Matan, or Mittin ruled Tyre from 840 to 832 BC, succeeding his father Baal-Eser II.
He was the father of Pygmalion, king of Tyre from 831 to 785 BC, and of Dido, the legendary queen of Carthage.
The primary information related to Mat ...
, who was also known as (, 'Gift of the Lord').
Even more important than the inscriptional and literary references supporting the historicity of Pygmalion and Dido are chronological considerations that give something of a mathematical demonstration of the veracity of the major feature of the Pygmalion/Dido saga, namely the flight of Dido from Tyre in Pygmalion's seventh year, and her eventual founding of the city of Carthage. Classical authors give two dates for the founding of Carthage. The first is that of
Pompeius Trogus
Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus also anglicized as was a Gallo-Roman historian from the Celtic Vocontii tribe in Narbonese Gaul who lived during the reign of the emperor Augustus. He was nearly contemporary with Livy.
Life
Pompeius Trogus's grandfat ...
, mentioned above, that says this took place 72 years before the foundation of Rome. At least as early as the 1st century BC, and then later, the date most commonly used by Roman writers for the founding of Rome was 753 BC. This would place Dido's flight in 753 + 72 = 825 BC. Another tradition, that of the Greek historian
Timaeus Timaeus (or Timaios) is a Greek name. It may refer to:
* ''Timaeus'' (dialogue), a Socratic dialogue by Plato
*Timaeus of Locri, 5th-century BC Pythagorean philosopher, appearing in Plato's dialogue
*Timaeus (historian) (c. 345 BC-c. 250 BC), Greek ...
(c. 345–260 BC), gives 814 BC for the founding of Carthage. Traditionally most modern scholars have preferred the 814 date. However, the publication of the Shalmaneser text mentioning tribute from Baal-Eser II of Tyre in 841 BC caused a re-examination of this question, since the best texts of Menander/Josephus only allow 22 years from the accession of Baal-Eser/Balazeros until the seventh year of Pygmalion, and measuring back from 814 BC would not allow any overlap of Balazeros with the 841 tribute to Shalmaneser. With the 825 date for the seventh year of Pygmalion, however, Balazeros's last year would coincide with 841 BC, the year of the tribute. Additional evidence in favor of the 825 date is found in the statement of Menander, repeated by Josephus as corroborated from Tyrian court records (''
Against Apion
''Against Apion'' ( el, Φλαΐου Ἰωσήπου περὶ ἀρχαιότητος Ἰουδαίων λόγος α and ; Latin ''Contra Apionem'' or ''In Apionem'') is a polemical work written by Flavius Josephus as a defense of Judaism as a ...
'' i.17,18), that Dido's flight (or the founding of Carthage) occurred 143 years and eight months after
Hiram of Tyre sent assistance to
Solomon
Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...
for the building of the Temple. Using the 825 date, this Tyrian record would then date the start of Temple construction in 969 or 968 BC, in agreement with the statement in 1 Kings 6:1 that Temple construction began in Solomon's fourth regnal year. Solomon's fourth year can be calculated as starting in the fall of 968 BC when using the widely accepted date of 931/930 BC for the division of the kingdom after the death of Solomon. These chronological considerations therefore definitely favor the 825 date over the 814 date for Dido's departure from Tyre. More than that, the agreement of this date with the timing of the tribute to Shalmaneser and the year when construction of the First Temple began provide evidence for the essential historicity of at least the existence of Pygmalion and Dido as well as their rift in 825 BC that eventually led to the founding of Carthage.
According to J. M. Peñuela, the difference in the two dates for the foundation of Carthage has an explanation if we understand that Dido fled Tyre in 825 BC, but eleven years elapsed before she was given permission by the original inhabitants to build a city on the mainland, years marked by conflict in which the Tyrians first built a small city on an island in the harbor. Additional information about Dido's activities after leaving Tyre are found in the Pygmalion article, along with a summary of later scholars who have accepted Peñuela's thesis.
If chronological considerations thus help to establish the basic historicity of Dido, they also serve to refute the idea that she could have had any liaison with
Aeneas
In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...
. Aeneas fought in the
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has ...
, which is conventionally dated anywhere from the 14th to the 12th centuries BC, far too early for Aeneas to have been alive in the time of Dido. Even with the date of 864 BC that historical revisionist
David Rohl
The New Chronology is an alternative chronology of the ancient Near East developed by English Egyptologist David Rohl and other researchers beginning with ''A Test of Time: The Bible - from Myth to History'' in 1995. It contradicts mainstream ...
gives for the end of the Trojan War, Aeneas would have been about 77 years old when Dido fled Tyre in 825 BC and 88 when she began to build Carthage in 814 (following Peñuela's reconstruction), hardly consistent with the romantic intrigues between Dido and Aeneas imagined by
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...
in the ''Aeneid''.
Virgil's ''Aeneid''
![Dido throne MAN Napoli Inv8898](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Dido_throne_MAN_Napoli_Inv8898.jpg)
Virgil's references in the ''Aeneid'' generally agree with what Justin's epitome of Trogus recorded. Virgil names Belus as Dido's father, this Belus sometimes being called
Belus II Belus was a legendary king of Tyre in Virgil's ''Aeneid'' and other Latin works. He was said to have been the father of Dido of Carthage, Pygmalion of Tyre, and Anna.Virgil. ''Aeneid'' Book 1, Line 729. The historical father of these figures was t ...
by later commentators to distinguish him from
Belus son of
Poseidon
Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ch ...
and
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
in earlier
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
. Classicist T. T. Duke suggests that this is a
hypocoristicon
A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek: (), from (), 'to call by pet names', sometimes also ''hypocoristic'') or pet name is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for I ...
of the historical father of Pygmalion and Dido,
Mattan I
Mattan, Matan, or Mittin ruled Tyre from 840 to 832 BC, succeeding his father Baal-Eser II.
He was the father of Pygmalion, king of Tyre from 831 to 785 BC, and of Dido, the legendary queen of Carthage.
The primary information related to Mat ...
, also known as (, 'Gift of the Lord').
Virgil (1.343f) adds that the marriage between Dido and
Sychaeus, as Virgil calls Dido's husband, occurred while her father was still alive. Pygmalion slew Sychaeus secretly due to his wealth and Sychaeus appeared to Dido in a dream in which he told the truth about his death, urged her to flee the country, and revealed to her where his gold was buried. She left with those who hated or feared Pygmalion. None of these details contradicts Justin's epitome, but Virgil very much changes the import and many details of the story when he brings Aeneas and his followers to Carthage.
(1.657f) Dido and Aeneas fall in love by the management of
Juno
Juno commonly refers to:
*Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods
*Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007
Juno may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters
*Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno''
*Ju ...
and
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...
, acting in concert, though for different reasons. (4.198f) When the rumour of the love affair comes to King
Iarbas
Iarbas (or Hiarbas) was a Roman mythological character, who has appeared in works by various authors including Ovid and Virgil. The character is possibly based on a historical king of Numidia.
In Roman mythology, Iarbas was the son of Jupiter H ...
the Gaetulian, "a son of Jupiter Ammon by a raped
Garamantian nymph", Iarbas prays to his father, blaming Dido who has scorned marriage with him yet now takes Aeneas into the country as her lord. (4.222f) Jupiter dispatches
Mercury to send Aeneas on his way and the pious Aeneas sadly obeys. Mercury tells Aeneas of all the promising Italian lands and orders Aeneas to get his fleet ready.
(4.450f) Dido can no longer bear to live. (4.474) She has her sister Anna build her a pyre under the pretence of burning all that reminded her of Aeneas, including weapons and clothes that Aeneas had left behind and (what she calls) their bridal bed (though, according to
Aeneas
In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...
, they were never officially married.) (4.584f) When Dido sees Aeneas' fleet leaving she curses him and his Trojans and proclaims endless hate between Carthage and the descendants of
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...
, foreshadowing the
Punic Wars
The Punic Wars were a series of wars between 264 and 146BC fought between Roman Republic, Rome and Ancient Carthage, Carthage. Three conflicts between these states took place on both land and sea across the western Mediterranean region and i ...
. (4.642) Dido ascends the pyre, lies again on the couch which she had shared with Aeneas, and then falls on a sword that Aeneas had given her. (4.666) Those watching let out a cry; Anna rushes in and embraces her dying sister; Juno sends
Iris
Iris most often refers to:
*Iris (anatomy), part of the eye
*Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess
* ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants
* Iris (color), an ambiguous color term
Iris or IRIS may also refer to:
Arts and media
Fictional ent ...
from heaven to release Dido's spirit from her body. (5.1) From their ships, Aeneas and his crew see the glow of Dido's burning funeral pyre and can only guess what has happened. At least two scholars have argued that the inclusion of the pyre as part of Dido's suicide—otherwise unattested in epic and tragedy—alludes to the self-immolation that took the life of Carthage's last queen (or the wife of its general
Hasdrubal the Boetharch
Hasdrubal the Boetharch ( xpu, 𐤏𐤆𐤓𐤁𐤏𐤋 , ''ʿAzrubaʿal'') was a Carthaginian general during the Third Punic War. Little is known about him. "Boetharch" was a Carthaginian office, the exact function of which is unclear, but whic ...
) in 146 BC.
(6.450f) During his journey in the underworld Aeneas meets Dido and tries to excuse himself, but Dido does not deign to look at him. Instead she turns away from Aeneas to a grove where her former husband Sychaeus waits.
Virgil has included most of the motifs from the original: Iarbas who desires Dido against her will, a deceitful explanation for the building of the pyre, and Dido's final suicide. In both versions Dido is loyal to her original husband in the end. But whereas the earlier Elissa remained always loyal to her husband's memory, Virgil's Dido dies as a tortured and repentant woman who has fallen away from that loyalty.
Virgil consistently uses the form ''Dido'' as nominative, but derivates of ''Elissa'' for the
oblique case
In grammar, an oblique (abbreviated ; from la, casus obliquus) or objective case (abbr. ) is a nominal case other than the nominative case, and sometimes, the vocative.
A noun or pronoun in the oblique case can generally appear in any role exc ...
s.
Later Roman tradition
Letter 7 of
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
's ''Heroides'' is a feigned letter from Dido to Aeneas written just before she ascends the pyre. The situation is as in Virgil's ''Aeneid''. In Ovid's ''Fasti'' (3.545f) Ovid introduced a kind of sequel involving Aeneas and Dido's sister Anna. See
Anna Perenna.
The
Barcids
The Barcid ( phn, 𐤁𐤓𐤒, baraq) family was a notable family in the ancient city of Carthage; many of its members were fierce enemies of the Roman Republic. "Barcid" is an adjectival form coined by historians (''cf.'' " Ramesside" and "Abb ...
, the family to which
Hannibal
Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...
belonged, claimed descent from a younger brother of Dido according to
Silius Italicus in his ''Punica'' (1.71–7).
The ''
Augustan History
The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the sim ...
'' ("Tyrrani Triginta" 27, 30) claims that
Zenobia
Septimia Zenobia ( Palmyrene Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; AD 240 – c. 274) was a third-century queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria. Many legends surround her ancestry; she was probably not a commoner and she married the ruler of the city ...
queen of
Palmyra
Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early secon ...
in the late third century was descended from
Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...
, Dido and
Semiramis
''Samīrāmīs'', hy, Շամիրամ ''Šamiram'') was the semi-legendary Lydian- Babylonian wife of Onnes and Ninus, who succeeded the latter to the throne of Assyria, according to Movses Khorenatsi. Legends narrated by Diodorus Siculus, who dr ...
.
Continuing tradition
![10_TND_-_2005_-_obverse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/10_TND_-_2005_-_obverse.jpg)
In the ''
Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...
,'' Dante puts the shade of Dido in the second circle of Hell, where she is condemned (on account of her consuming lust) to be blasted for eternity in a fierce whirlwind.
This legend inspired the Renaissance drama ''
Dido, Queen of Carthage'' by
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (; baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the ...
.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
refers to Dido twelve times in his plays: four times in ''
The Tempest'', albeit all in one dialogue, twice in ''
Titus Andronicus
''Titus Andronicus'' is a tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593, probably in collaboration with George Peele. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen as his attempt to emul ...
'', and also in ''
Henry VI Part 2'', ''
Antony and Cleopatra'', ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
'', ''
Romeo and Juliet
''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
, A Midsummer Night's Dream,'' and most famously in ''
The Merchant of Venice
''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock.
Although classified as ...
'', in Lorenzo's and Jessica's mutual wooing:
The story of Dido and Aeneas remained popular throughout the post-Renaissance era and was the basis for many operas, with the libretto by
Metastasio
Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi (3 January 1698 – 12 April 1782), better known by his pseudonym of Pietro Metastasio (), was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of ''opera seria'' libretti.
Early life
Me ...
, ''Didone abbandonata'', proving especially popular with composers throughout the eighteenth century and beyond:
* 1641: ''
La Didone'' by
Francesco Cavalli
Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Republic of Venice, Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque music, Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverd ...
* 1656: ''La Didone'' by Andrea Mattioli
* 1689: ''
Dido and Aeneas
''Dido and Aeneas'' (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncertain. It was com ...
'' by
Henry Purcell
* 1693: ''
Didon'' by
Henry Desmarets
* 1707: ''Dido, Königin von Carthago'' by
Christoph Graupner
* 1724: ''Didone abbandonata'' by
Domenico Sarro
Domenico Natale Sarro, also Sarri (24 December 1679 – 25 January 1744) was an Italian composer.
Born in Trani, Apulia, he studied at the Neapolitan conservatory of S. Onofrio. He composed extensively in the early 18th century. His opera '' Di ...
* 1726: ''Didone abbandonata'' by Leonardo Vinci
* 1740: ''Didone abbandonata'' by Baldassare Galuppi
* 1742: ''Didone abbandonata'' by Johann Adolph Hasse
* 1747: ''Didone abbandonata'' by Niccolò Jommelli
* 1762: ''Didone abbandonata (Sarti), Didone abbandonata'' by Giuseppe Sarti
* 1770: ''Didone abbandonata'' by Niccolò Piccinni
* 1783: ''Didon (Piccinni), Didon'' by Niccolò Piccinni
* 1823: ''Didone abbandonata'' by Saverio Mercadante
* 1860: ''Les Troyens'' by Hector Berlioz
* 2007: ''Aeneas and Dido'' by James Rolfe (composer)
Also from the 17th century is a ballad inspired by the relationship between Dido and Aeneas. The ballad, often printed on a broadside (music), broadside, is called "The Wandering Prince of Troy", and it alters the end of the relationship between the two lovers, rethinking Dido's final sentiment for Aeneas and rewriting Aeneas's visit to the underworld as Dido's choice to haunt him.
In 1794 Germany, Charlotte von Stein wrote her own drama named ''Dido'', with an autobiographical element—as von Stein had been forsaken by her own lover, the famous Goethe, in a manner which she found reminiscent of
Aeneas
In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...
.
Will Adams' 2014 Thriller (genre), thriller ''The City of the Lost''
[Will Adams,''The City of the Lost'', HarperCollins, London, 2014, ISBN 978-0-00-742427-6] assumes that Dido fled only as far as
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
and founded a city on the site of modern Famagusta, that she died there and that Carthage was founded later, when Dido's followers fled further west after a vengeful expedition arrived from Tyre. In this interpretation, the two flights - from Tyre to Cyprus and from Cyprus to Carthage - were combined in later historical memory and all attributed to Dido. In Adams' account, the startling discovery of Dido's hideout and her well-preserved body happens accidentally during an attempted Coup D'etat by Turkish Army officers based in Cyprus.
In another modern interpretation, Dido appears in Sid Meier's strategy games ''Civilization II'' and ''Civilization V'', as the leader of the Carthaginian civilization, although she appears alongside Hannibal in the former. In Civilization V, she speaks Phoenician, with a modern Israeli accent. In 2019, Dido was made the leader of
Phoenicia
Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...
in ''Civilization VI: Gathering Storm'', with Tyre as its capital and Carthage as an available name for subsequent cities.
In honor of Dido, the asteroid 209 Dido, discovered in 1879, was named after her. Another dedication of Queen Dido is the Mount Dido in Antarctica.
Remembrance of the story of the bull's hide and the foundation of Carthage is preserved in mathematics in connection with the Isoperimetry, Isoperimetric problem which is sometimes called Dido's Problem (and similarly the Isoperimetric theorem is sometimes called Dido's Theorem). It is sometimes stated in such discussion that Dido caused her thong to be placed as a half circle touching the sea coast at each end (which would add greatly to the area) but the sources mention the thong only and say nothing about the sea.
Carthage was the Roman Republic's greatest rival and enemy, and Virgil's Dido in part symbolises this. Even though no Rome existed in her day, Virgil's Dido curses the future progeny of the Trojans. In Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Italy during the Fascist administration of the 1920s to 1940s, she was regarded as a rival and sometimes negative figure, perhaps not only as a symbol of Rome's nemesis, but because she represented together at least three other unpleasant qualities: her reputation for promiscuity, her Semitic people, Semitic race, and for being a symbol of Rome's erstwhile rival Carthage. As an example, when the streets of new quarters in Rome were named after the characters of Virgil's ''Aeneid'', only the name ''Dido'' did not appear.
Notes
Selected bibliography
* H. Akbar Khan, ''"Doctissima Dido": Etymology, Hospitality and the Construction of a Civilized Identity'', 2002.
* Elmer Bagby Atwood, ''Two Alterations of Virgil in Chaucer's Dido'', 1938.
* S. Conte, ''Dido sine veste'', 2005.
* R. S. Conway, ''The Place of Dido in History'', 1920.
* F. Della Corte, ''La Iuno-Astarte virgiliana'', 1983.
* G. De Sanctis, ''Storia dei Romani'', 1916.
*
* M. Fantar, ''Carthage, la prestigieuse cité d'Elissa'', 1970.
* L. Foucher, ''Les Phéniciens à Carthage ou la geste d'Elissa'', 1978.
* Michael Grant, ''Roman Myths'', 1973.
* M. Gras/P. Rouillard/J. Teixidor, ''L'univers phénicien'', 1995.
* H.D. Gray, ''Did Shakespeare write a tragedy of Dido?'', 1920.
* G. Herm, ''Die Phönizier'', 1974.
* T. Kailuweit, ''Dido – Didon – Didone. Eine kommentierte Bibliographie zum Dido-Mythos in Literatur und Musik'', 2005.
* R.C. Ketterer, ''The perils of Dido: sorcery and melodrama in Vergil's Aeneid IV and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas'', 1992.
* R.H. Klausen, ''Aeneas und die Penaten'', 1839.
* G. Kowalski, ', 1929.
* A. La Penna, Didone, in Enciclopedia Virgiliana, II, 1985, 48–57
* F.N. Lees, ''Dido Queen of Carthage and The Tempest'', 1964.
* J.-Y. Maleuvre, ''Contre-Enquête sur la mort de Didon'', 2003.
* J.-Y. Maleuvre, ''La mort de Virgile d’après Horace et Ovide'', 1993;
* L. Mangiacapre, ''Didone non è morta'', 1990.
* P.E. McLane, ''The Death of a Queen: Spencer's Dido as Elizabeth'', 1954.
* O. Meltzer, ''Geschichte der Karthager'', 1879.
* A. Michel, ''Virgile et la politique impériale: un courtisan ou un philosophe?'', 1971.
* R.C. Monti, ''The Dido Episode and the Aeneid: Roman Social and Political Values in the Epic'', 1981.
* S. Moscati, ''Chi furono i Fenici. Identità storica e culturale di un popolo protagonista dell'antico mondo mediterraneo'', 1992.
* R. Neuse, ''Book VI as Conclusion to The Faerie Queene'', 1968.
*
*
*
* A. Parry, ''The Two Voices of Virgil's Aeneid'', 1963.
* G.K. Paster, ''Montaigne, Dido and The Tempest: "How Came That Widow In?'', 1984.
* B. Schmitz, ''Ovide, In Ibin: un oiseau impérial'', 2004;
* E. Stampini, ''Alcune osservazioni sulla leggenda di Enea e Didone nella letteratura romana'', 1893;
* A. Ziosi, Didone regina di Cartagine di Christopher Marlowe. Metamorfosi virgiliane nel Cinquecento, 2015;
* A. Ziosi, Didone. La tragedia dell'abbandono. Variazioni sul mito (Virgilio, Ovidio, Boccaccio, Marlowe, Metastasio, Ungaretti, Brodskij), 2017.
Primary sources
*Virgil, ''Aeneid i.338–368''
*Justinus, ''Epitome Historiarum philippicarum Pompei Trogi xviii.4.1–6, 8''
External links
Selected English texts
(''Alternate links found in Wikipedia entries for the respective authors.'')
Forum Romanum: Justin 18.3f(Contains Junianus Justinus, Justin (18.3–6) relating the early story of Elissa in full.)
Translation of Virgil's works including the ''Aeneid''by A. S. Kline
Ovid's imagined letter from Dido to Aeneas, trans. Miceal F. Vaughan(See also
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
.)
Appian, ''The Punic Wars'', chapter 1(See also
Appian
Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Hadr ...
.)
Dido, Queen of Carthage, original text, modernization, and discussion of Chaucer's ''Legend of Dido''
''The Tragedy of Dido, Queen of Carthage'', by Christopher Marlowe (and Thomas Nashe?) (See also
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (; baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the ...
.)
Commentary
Greek Mythology Link: DidoQueen Dido: Didone Liberata(Mostly about a new four-act play by Salvatore Conte; it contains also a confutation of the well-known suicide into a subjective vision of Aeneas and his "comites" – 4.664, followed by Dido's catabasis)
Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (about 900 images related to the Aeneid – Dido appears in Books I and IV)
{{Authority control
9th-century BC Punic people
9th-century BC women rulers
Africa in Roman mythology
Ancient African women
Ancient Greeks in Africa
Ancient queens regnant
Carthaginian mythology
Carthaginian women
Characters in Book VI of the Aeneid
Deified women
Legendary Greek people
Legendary rulers
Monarchs of Carthage
Mythological city founders
Phoenician characters in the Aeneid
Tunisian women
Women rulers in Africa