History of Tunisia for centuries assigned its foundation to a queen of Tyre, Elissa, also called Dido. The Roman historian Pompeius Trogus, a near contemporary of Virgil, describes a sinister web of court intrigue which caused Queen Elissa (Dido) to flee the city of Tyre westward with a fleet of ships. The Roman poet Virgil (70–19 B.C.) portrays Dido as the tragic, admirable heroine of his epic the "Aeneid", which contains many inventions loosely based on legendary history, and includes the story about how the Phoenician queen acquired the Byrsa. By the middle of the sixth century B.C., Carthage had grown into a
HMS Dido (37) Sirte. On 18 August 1942 Captain H. W. U. McCall brought "Dido" to Massawa for major repairs to a bomb-damaged stern. As "Dido" was at that time one-quarter of British surface power in the Eastern Mediterranean it was critical that she be repaired as quickly as possible. The only working drydock in Massawa was not large enough to lift "Dido" entirely so she was partially floated up to clear the stern, leaving the bow low in the water. Six days later "Dido" was undocked to return to battle alongside her three sister ships, "Euryalus", "Cleopatra" and . "Dido" then spent