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The Ancient World: Extraordinary People in Extraordinary Societies

Dido

Also known as: Elissa

Flourished: Legendary figure; between c. 1200 bce and the tenth century bce

Related civilizations: Carthage (modern-day Tunisia), Prerepublican Rome

Major role/position: Queen of Carthage

Life: Dido (DI-doh) was the legendary Phoenician queen of ancient Carthage, located on the coast of North Africa across from Italy. Various traditions about her life circulated in the Greco-Roman world. According to the Greek historian Timaeus of Tauromenium in Sicily, her Phoenician name was Elissa. Following her husband’s political murder, she fled to North Africa with a loyal group of followers and founded the city of Carthage. The Libyans called her Dido (“wanderer”). By the third century bce, the Roman historian Gnaeus Naevius had linked her to Aeneas, the Trojan hero who escaped the fall of Troy.

However, it was the epic poet Vergil, who, in Books 1 and 4 of the Aeneid (c. 29-19 bce; English translation, 1553), gave full expression to the most famous (and probably fictional) story of Dido and Aeneas. Vergil relates the voyage of Aeneas after the fall of Troy and his subsequent landing at Carthage to escape a storm. He and his men are offered hospitality by Dido. As Aeneas tells the famous story of Troy’s end, Dido falls desperately in love with him. Aeneas is eager to stay in Carthage and marry Dido until he is reminded of his destiny in Italy. As he sails to Italy, Dido curses Aeneas and then commits suicide on her bed, which she has had placed atop a funeral pyre. Vergil underscores Dido’s tragic situation in Book 6 when Aeneas speaks to her during his visit to the underworld.

Influence: For many Romans, Vergil’s story foreshadowed the wars between Rome and Carthage in the third century bce.

See also: Aeneas; Carthage; Naevius, Gnaeus; Phoenicia; Rome, Prerepublican; Troy; Vergil.

—Steve O’Bryan

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
"Dido." The Ancient World: Extraordinary People in Extraordinary Societies, edited by Shally-Jensen Michael, Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=CWEP_0582.
APA 7th
Dido. The Ancient World: Extraordinary People in Extraordinary Societies, In S. Michael (Ed.), Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=CWEP_0582.
CMOS 17th
"Dido." The Ancient World: Extraordinary People in Extraordinary Societies, Edited by Shally-Jensen Michael. Salem Press, 2016. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=CWEP_0582.