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| - The story of Dido, Queen of Carthage, is, as most legends are, filled with intrigue and deception. Retold through the words of Roman historians and later the esteemed poet Virgil in his epic the Aeneid, Dido's tale begins with her life as the daughter of King Mattan of Tyre. The Kingdom of Tyre was part of the ancient Phoenician civilization, geographically located in what is today modern Lebanon. Dido, who was often referred to as "Elissa" in the ancient historical records, was heir to the throne of Tyre following her father's death, sometime around 800 BC. Named joint-ruler with her brother, Pygmalion, Dido's rule was not widely accepted by the people. Despite her father's intention for her to share the throne with her brother, Pygmalion was recognized as King of Tyre, and Dido was left
- 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 Alyssa the sister of King Pygmalion of Tyre. Archaeological evidence of settlement on the site of Carthage before the last quarter of the 8th century BCE has yet to be found. Paucity of material for this period may be explained by rejection of the Greek Dark Age theory. That the city is named Qart-hadasht, or "New City" at least indicates it was a colony.
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| abstract
| - 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 Alyssa the sister of King Pygmalion of Tyre. Archaeological evidence of settlement on the site of Carthage before the last quarter of the 8th century BCE has yet to be found. Paucity of material for this period may be explained by rejection of the Greek Dark Age 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 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 Alyssa 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. Alyssa 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. Alyssa, 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. Alyssa 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 Alyssa and her followers arrived on the coast of North Africa where Alyssa asked the Berber king Iarbas 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. Alyssa 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 Alyssa for his wife or he would make war on Carthage. Alyssa's envoys, fearing Iarbas, told Alyssa 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. Alyssa condemned any who would feel that way when they should indeed give their lives for the city if necessary. Alyssa's envoys then explained that Iarbas had specifically requested Alyssa as wife. Alyssa was trapped by her words. But Alyssa preferred to stay faithful to her first husband and after creating a ceremonial funeral pyre 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, Alyssa 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 Alyssa was deified and was worshipped as long as Carthage endured. In this account, the foundation of Carthage occurred seventy-two years before the foundation of Rome. Servius in his commentary on Virgil's Aeneid gives Sicharbas as the name of Alyssa's husband in early tradition.
- The story of Dido, Queen of Carthage, is, as most legends are, filled with intrigue and deception. Retold through the words of Roman historians and later the esteemed poet Virgil in his epic the Aeneid, Dido's tale begins with her life as the daughter of King Mattan of Tyre. The Kingdom of Tyre was part of the ancient Phoenician civilization, geographically located in what is today modern Lebanon. Dido, who was often referred to as "Elissa" in the ancient historical records, was heir to the throne of Tyre following her father's death, sometime around 800 BC. Named joint-ruler with her brother, Pygmalion, Dido's rule was not widely accepted by the people. Despite her father's intention for her to share the throne with her brother, Pygmalion was recognized as King of Tyre, and Dido was left with little authority. Not long after, Dido was married to a priest named Acerbas, who, by some accounts may have been her uncle. Acerbas is said to have been possessed of considerable wealth, which he concealed by burying his treasures underground. King Pygmalion, knowing of this wealth, had Acerbas murdered in hopes of claiming the gold that would rightfully go to his sister. Although accounts vary, Dido eventually became aware of her husband's death at the hands of her brother. The ghost of Acerbas himself is said to have appeared before her one night and warned her to flee the kingdom, while at the same time revealing the location of his hidden gold. It was the careful formation of her plan to escape Pygmalion's grasp that provided history's first glimpse of the clever nature for which Dido was best known. In order to keep from arousing her brother's suspicions, Dido told Pygmalion she wished to travel the world, with the intention of sending tribute and gifts back to Tyre. Agreeing to her trip, Pygmalion provided Dido with a small fleet of ships and various servants to help her prepare for the journey. After quietly loading the ships with bags of gold from Acerbas' hoard, Dido set her plan in motion. In order to deceive Pygmalion, Dido ordered the servants to load bags filled with sand on to the upper decks, to be used as decoys. After setting sail, Dido declared the gold to be an offering to the spirit of her dead husband, and had the bags of sand thrown overboard into the sea. Pygmalion, thinking the gold was lost forever, made no attempt to pursue Dido or her party. Now searching for a new home, Dido and her party first stopped on the island of Cyprus, where a group of local stragglers joined her crew. Eventually they made landfall along the coast of northern Africa, and began negotiating a price with the local chieftain for a small piece of land on which to found their new settlement. As the agreement went, Dido could have as much land as she could encompass with a single ox hide, with the local leader believing he was getting quite a deal. The quick-witted Dido conceived of another angle on the proposal; by cutting the ox hide into thin strips, then into even smaller fibers, she created a length of rope long enough to encircle a wide area including a prominent hill nearby. Thus, the city of Carthage was founded, and Dido's legacy as a crafty and capable leader was sealed. Dido ruled Carthage as its first queen, and, as the legend continues, was eventually the object of several suitors, including the Trojan prince Aeneas. In Virgil's account, Aeneas was brought to Carthage through the manipulative workings of the Greek gods. Dido and Aeneas became lovers, and when Aeneas left Dido to continue on his journey, Dido was so distraught that she committed suicide.
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