Acerbas was a Tyrian priest of

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the ...

(that is, Melqart, the Tyrian Hercules), who married Elissa, the daughter of king

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 ...

, and sister of Pygmalion. He was possessed of considerable wealth, which, knowing the avarice of Pygmalion, who had succeeded his father, he concealed in the earth. But Pygmalion, who heard of these hidden treasures, had Acerbas murdered, in hopes that through his sister he might obtain possession of them. But the prudence of Elissa saved the treasures, and she emigrated from

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 ...

. They landed and settled in North Africa, founding the city 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 cla ...

. In this account Acerbas is the same person as Sychaeus, and Elissa the same as

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (t ...

in Virgil. The names in

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 ...

are undoubtedly more correct than in Virgil; for

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 ...

remarks, that Virgil here, as in other cases, changed a foreign name into one more convenient to him, and that the real name of Sychaeus was Sycharbas, which seems to be identical with Acerbas.

References

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