What is the truth of the myth of Dido and Aeneas?
“The original myth of Dido is a foundation story. Elissa, sister of Pygmalion, the king of Tyre fled her brother’s kingdom after he murdered her husband. Taking her dead husband’s fortune and a band of followers, she went first to Cyprus before arriving at the coast of Tunisia. Thereafter, Elissa became know as ‘Dido’ meaning ‘the wanderer.’ Declining to join the existing settlers ruled over by the local king, Iarbus, Dido and her people instead wished to found their own city. Iarbus agreed to grant them as much land as could be covered by the hide of a bull. Dido ordered the largest of their bulls to be killed and its hide cut into the thinnest possible strips. In this way, the bull’s hide was stretched all around the hill that became the initial site of the new city. The hill became known as the Byrsa, from the Greek for hide. The city, reputably founded in 814BC was known as Kart Hadasht or ‘new capital’, later known as Carthage. However, Iarbus was not to be beaten and to gain cont
