Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Dido Doomed Queen of Carthage by Ingrid de Haas The Story of Dido, Queen of Ancient Carthage. Dido (pronounced Die-doh) is known best as the mythical queen of Carthage who died for love of Aeneas, according to "The Aeneid" of the Roman poet Vergil (Virgil). Dido was the daughter of the king of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre, and her Phoenician name was Elissa, but she was later given the name Dido, meaning "wanderer." Dido was also the name of a Phoenician deity named Astarte. Who Wrote About Dido? The earliest known person to have written about Dido was the Greek historian Timaeus of Taormina (c. 350–260 BCE). While Timaeus's writing did not survive, he is referenced by later writers. According to Timaeus, Dido founded Carthage in either 814 or 813 BCE. A later source is the first-century historian Josephus whose writings mention an Elissa who founded Carthage during the rule of Menandros of Ephesus. Most people, however, know about the story of Dido from its telling in Viergil’s Aeneid . The Legend. Dido was the daughter of the Tyrian king Mutto (also known as Belus or Agenor), and she was the sister of Pygmalion, who succeeded to the throne of Tyre when his father died. Dido married Acerbas (or Sychaeus), who was a priest of Hercules and a man of immense wealth; Pygmalion, jealous of his treasures, murdered him. The ghost of Sychaeus revealed to Dido what had happened to him and told her where he had hidden his treasure. Dido, knowing how dangerous Tyre was with her brother still alive, took the treasure, and secretly sailed from Tyre accompanied by some noble Tyrians who were dissatisfied with Pygmalion's rule. Dido landed in Cyprus, where she carried off 80 maidens to provide the Tyrians with brides, and then crossed the Mediterranean to Carthage, in what is now modern Tunisia. Dido bartered with the locals, offering a substantial amount of wealth in exchange for what she could contain within the skin of a bull. After they had agreed to what seemed an exchange greatly to their advantage, Dido showed how clever she really was. She cut the hide into strips and laid it out in a semi-circle around a strategically placed hill with the sea forming the other side. There, Dido founded the city of Carthage and ruled it as queen. According to the "Aeneid," the Trojan prince Aeneas met Dido on his way from Troy to Lavinium. He stumbled on the beginnings of the city where he had expected to find only a desert, including a temple to Juno and an amphitheater, both under construction. He wooed Dido who resisted him until she was struck by an arrow of Cupid. When he left her to fulfill his destiny, Dido was devastated and committed suicide. Aeneas saw her again, in the Underworld in Book VI of the "Aeneid." An earlier ending of Dido's story omits Aeneas and reports that she committed suicide rather than marry a neighboring king. Dido's Legacy. While Dido is a unique and intriguing character, it is unclear whether there was a historical Queen of Carthage. In 1894, a small gold pendant was found in the 6th–7th century Douïmès cemetery at Carthage that was inscribed with a six-line epigraph that mentioned Pygmalion (Pummay) and provided a date of 814 BCE. That suggests that the founding dates listed in historical documents could well be correct. Pygmalion may reference a known king of Tyre (Pummay) in the 9th century BCE, or perhaps a Cypriot god associated with Astarte. But if Dido and Aeneas were real people, they could not have met: he would have been old enough to be her grandfather. Dido's story was engaging enough to become a focus for many later writers including the Romans Ovid (43 BCE–17 CE) and Tertullian (c. 160–c. 240 CE), and medieval writers Petrarch and Chaucer. Later, she became the title character in Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas and Berlioz's Les Troyennes . Dido, Queen of Carthage. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Dido, Queen of Carthage , in full The Tragedy of Dido, Queen of Carthage , play in five acts by Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Nashe, published in 1594. The play is based on the story of Dido and Aeneas as told in the fourth book of Virgil’s Aeneid . In the play, Dido, the queen of Carthage, is in love with Aeneas, who has taken refuge in Carthage after the fall of Troy. He refuses to marry her, however, and as he sails from Carthage, the despairing Dido kills herself. The play adds a significant character from Greek legend to Virgil’s story: Iarbas, a barbarian chieftain who himself wants Dido for his bride. This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper, Senior Editor. Dido (Queen of Carthage) Dido ( / ˈ d aɪ d oʊ / DY -doh ) was, according to ancient Greek and Roman sources, the founder and first Queen of Carthage (in modern-day Tunisia). She is best known from the account given by the Roman poet Virgil in his Aeneid . In some sources she is also known as Elissa ( / iː ˈ l ɪ s ə / ee- LISS -ə ). Contents. Early accounts. The person of Elissa can be traced back to references by Roman historians to lost writings of Timaeus of Tauromenium in Sicily (c. 356–260 BC). Historians gave various dates, both for the foundation of Carthage and the foundation of Rome. Appian 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 and 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 theory. [ 1 ] That the city is named ( Qart-hadasht , or "New City") at least indicates it was a colony. [ citation needed ] The only surviving full account before Virgil's treatment is that of Virgil's contemporary Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus in his Philippic histories as rendered in a digest or epitome made by Junianus Justinus in the 3rd century. Justin quoting or paraphrasing Trogus states (18.4–6), a king of Tyre whom Justin does not name, made his very beautiful daughter Elissa 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. Elissa married Acerbas her uncle who as priest of Hercules— 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. Elissa, 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. Elissa 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 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 Elissa and her followers arrived on the coast of North Africa where Elissa asked the Berber king Iarbas [ 2 ] [ 3 ] 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. Elissa 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" 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 Phoenician 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 Elissa for his wife or he would make war on Carthage. Elissa's envoys, fearing Iarbas, told Elissa only that Iarbas' terms for peace were that someone from Carthage must dwell permanently with him to teach Phoenician ways and they added that of course no Carthaginian would agree to dwell with such savages. Elissa condemned any who would feel that way when they should indeed give their lives for the city if necessary.