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) Kola Inlet to lay mines. "Dido"s last mission in the war was to go to Copenhagen, firing the last naval shot in the war in Europe on the way, for the surrender of the German "Kriegsmarine" which was signed aboard "Dido". After the signing, "Dido" escorted the German cruisers and to Wilhelmshaven. In July 1945, "Dido" took King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to the Isle of Man. In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, where she was flagship of the Reserve Fleet. She was subsequently decommissioned and sold for