Dido. Queen of Carthage; loved, but left by Aeneas.
Dido was, according to ancient Greek and Roman sources, the founder and first queen of Carthage. She is primarily known from the account given by the Roman poet Virgil in his epic Aeneid.
In some sources she is also known as Elissa. Many names in the legend of Dido are of Punic 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 as David, which means Beloved. Others state Didô means the wanderer.
According to Marie-Pierre Noël, Elishat/Elisha is a name repeatedly attested on Punic votives. This understanding of the chronology related to Dido and her company resulted in the following dates for Dido and her immediate relations, as derived from F. M. Cross and Wm. H. Barnes: Baal-Eser II 846-841 BC. Mattan I 840-832 BC. 839 BC: Dido was born in Tyre. 831 BC: Pygmalion begins to reign. 825 BC: Dido flees Tyre in 7th year of Pygmalion, after the death of Acerbas. 825 BC and possibly some time thereafter: Dido and companions on Cyprus. Between 825 BC and 814 BC: Tyrians build settlement on island of Cothon. 814 BC: Dido founds Carthage on mainland. 785 BC: Death of Pygmalion. 759 BC: Dido died in Carthage. The person of Dido can be traced to references by Roman historians to lost writings of Timaeus of Tauromenium
Dido was, according to ancient Greek and Roman sources, the founder and first queen of Carthage. She is primarily known from the account given by the Roman poet Virgil in his epic Aeneid.
In some sources she is also known as Elissa. Many names in the legend of Dido are of Punic 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 as David, which means Beloved. Others state Didô means the wanderer.
According to Marie-Pierre Noël, Elishat/Elisha is a name repeatedly attested on Punic votives. This understanding of the chronology related to Dido and her company resulted in the following dates for Dido and her immediate relations, as derived from F. M. Cross and Wm. H. Barnes: Baal-Eser II 846-841 BC. Mattan I 840-832 BC. 839 BC: Dido was born in Tyre. 831 BC: Pygmalion begins to reign. 825 BC: Dido flees Tyre in 7th year of Pygmalion, after the death of Acerbas. 825 BC and possibly some time thereafter: Dido and companions on Cyprus. Between 825 BC and 814 BC: Tyrians build settlement on island of Cothon. 814 BC: Dido founds Carthage on mainland. 785 BC: Death of Pygmalion. 759 BC: Dido died in Carthage. The person of Dido can be traced to references by Roman historians to lost writings of Timaeus of Tauromenium
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