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0torno — Dido of Carthage
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Published: 2016-06-01 15:40:08 +0000 UTC; Views: 4448; Favourites: 123; Downloads: 0
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Queen Dido of Carthage from Virgil's Aeneid in the style of Alphonse Mucha.© 2016 Antonia Alksnis
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Comments: 40
I really love this. Dido is an amazing character who got the really, really short end of the stick. Book IV is the best. 
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Thanks so much. I love Dido, I should draw more of her!
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Absolutely beautiful; it makes me happy to see art of Dido
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Thank you so much, and for all the faves! I love Dido, there isn't enough art of her in the world.
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It's sad that the story of Dido changed with the Roman telling, the Punic story is much better
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Apparently, the name "Dido" comes from the punic verb to wander, which makes sense, considering how Dido comes to Carthage. She's actually a really smart woman. When she came to Carthage, the surrounding kings gave her the leather of a bull and said she could have whatever she covered with it (or something along those lines, I forget exactly) so Dido, being the smart woman she is, cuts the leather into thin strips and marks out a HUGE swath of territory, which the kings then (begrudgingly) give to her.
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Ooh, I'd never heard the Punic story. Does Dido get to exercise more agency?
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The original Punic (told the same way by the Greeks as well) story for what I remember is almost the same, but there is no Aeneas that she falls in love with and then commits suicide over, that, was added after the destruction of Carthage.
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Ahhh that's great. I've always felt Dido was too strong to end the way she did. Though, one can argue that Vergil explicitly signals a sort of sick wrongness to the way Dido gets divinely manipulated. Or maybe that's just me reading too sympathetically! But yes, the original Punic version sounds much better suited to Dido
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The fact that Dido is smart and knows whats up makes the divine manipulation even stranger... she obviously understands economics and business, because Carthage is doing really well, and (yeah, I know this was something you guys talked about two years ago... I just can't stop myself talking about her!) and she got the land in the beginning. It's just... manipulative. And Aeneas, whiny, blundering Aeneas, just leaves her.
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That's true about the divine manipulation I never thought about it like that. Anyway beautiful work, I'm glad to see Dido's story is still remembered and represented in art
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Me too
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Did you know her former name was Elissa and she changed it to Dido (which means "Woman of will") when she became ruler of Carthage?
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I'd never heard that! "Woman of will" certainly fits, though. Dido is indomitable, regardless of the tragedy she was forced into.
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? I didn't think this picture was especially feminist, could you explain?
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It's nice to see a piece of art focused on her! You've made her so beautiful and so regal.
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Thanks so much, and for the fave! I love Dido, I wish there was more art of her around that didn't just focus on the parts of her story where she's 'weaker'.
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I agree wholeheartedly. There was a lot more to her legend than simply being Aeneas' paramour.
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I love the colors and patterns of her dress!!! 
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