Dido and Aeneas Dido and Aeneas Dido and Aeneas (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncertain. It was composed no later than July 1688, and had been performed at Josias Priest's girls' school in London by the end of 1689. Some scholars argue for a date of composition as early as 1683. The story is based on Book IV of Virgil's "Aeneid". It recounts the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for
Aeneas is identical to Thor. This tale resemble some episodes of the Aeneid . Continuations of Trojan matter in the Middle Ages had their effects on the character of Aeneas as well. The 12th-century French "Roman d'Enéas" addresses Aeneas's sexuality. Though Virgil appears to deflect all homoeroticism onto Nisus and Euryalus, making his Aeneas a purely heterosexual character, in the Middle Ages there was at least a suspicion of homoeroticism in Aeneas. The "Roman d'Enéas" addresses that charge, when Queen Amata opposes Aeneas's marrying Lavinia, claiming that Aeneas loved boys. Medieval interpretations of Aeneas were greatly influenced by both Virgil and