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Dido: An alternative viewpoint
An alternative viewpoint, based on Gerhard Herm’s interpretation (
Die Phönizier), supported by qualified classic sources (Virgil, Ovid, Silius Italicus, Trebellius Pollio), and considering notorious weakness of Timaeus’ defamatory story, conducts to a slightly different historiographical outline (main changes on italic, followed by references):
Dido, or Elisha/Elissa, was a Phoenician Queen, founder of Carthage (a. 840–a. 760 B.C.). First-born from King of Tyre, her succession was struggled from the minor brother, Pumayyaton/Pygmalion, who murdered her husband and imposed his tyranny. Probably to avoid a civil war, she left Tyre with a large following, starting a long voyage; main stages were Cyprus
and Malta .
Landing on Libyan coasts, about 814 B.C., she chose a place to found a new capital city for Phoenician people: Carthage. She peacefully obtained the land by an ingenious agreement with the local Lord, today known as "Theorem of Dido". During her widowhood, she was consistently proposed by local kings;
however she married again, probably with a loyal Tyrian follower, from the Barca family .
Dido promoted a significant religious reform (in such way analogous to Christian one, according to G. Herm), and after a long and prosperous reign, she favored the formation of a Republic ; After her death, she was deified by her people with the name of Tanit and like impersonification of Great Goddess Astarte (Roman Juno) .
The great Latin writer, Virgil, introduced her figure in "western" culture, through his "double writing" system (the first, more superficial, writing was intended for a national audience and viewing by Octavius Augustus, while the second one, deeper and hidden, reflecting his personal point of view and his historical reconstruction).
The cult of Tanit survived beyond Carthage's destruction by Romans, and it was introduced to Rome itself by Emperor Septimius Severus, himself born in North Africa. It was extinguished completely with the later barbaric invasions.
Hannibal Barca was probably a direct descendant of Dido, and also Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, 1,000 years later, declared herself descendant and political heir of Dido .
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