Dido Dido 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
Dido Shalmaneser III in 841 BC, with "Ba‘al-‘azor" (Phoenician form of the name) or "Baal-Eser/Balazeros" (Greek form of the name), Dido's grandfather. This lends credibility to the account in Josephus/Menander that names the kings of Tyre from Abibaal and Hiram I down to the time of Pygmalion and Dido. Another possible reference to Balazeros is found in the "Aeneid". It was a common ancient practice of using the hypocoristicon or shortened form of the name that included only the divine element, so that the "Belus" that Virgil names as the father of Dido in the "Aeneid" may be a reference to