The Representation of Dido in Virgil’s Aeneid
Sunday, 15 November 2020, 11:47 PM
by Izzie Isabella Hendricks
Dido is a particularly interesting character in the Aeneid because of her abilities as a great leader and also as a woman. For most female figures in Graeco-Roman mythology, their part is limited to that of the domesticated wife or daughter, a passive and largely meek role – they are usually tools of the male world, being traded, sold or married off for profit. This is of course in exception to the examples we are given of ‘evil’ women like Medea and Clytemnestra, who reject the societal expectations by denying their husbands, and are dealt with accordingly, thereby providing women in the ancient world of an example of what not to do.

Representation of Dido, Queen of Carthage

 

 Instead, Dido is presented as a strong and prosperous woman, who leads a powerful city – one that would later come to be a formidable enemy to Rome in the Punic Wars of the 3rd century BC. This ‘enemy’ would later become one of the largest threats to Rome during the three wars between 264 BC and 146 BC. The hatred and animosity created between the two leaders because of Aeneas’ departure and Dido’s curse – “And you my Tyrians, harry with hatred all his line…No love between our peoples, ever, no pacts of peace! …war between our peoples, all their children, endless war!” – spans generations and is enough, according to this mythology, to cause the Punic Wars many centuries later. This ‘rewriting’ of the historical narrative (by writing Carthage into the tale of Rome’s founding and attempting to legitimise the tenuous links between the two cities) by both Virgil and Augustus can be referred to as ret

The deterioration of Dido’s character is particularly interesting – after being infected with love by Cupid, Dido quickly changes from her previous role as a great leader to instead having the reputation of a woman driven crazy by love. This change is inherent in the descriptions of Carthage itself, where it is first depicted as a prosperous city, particularly because of the great leadership shown by Dido, in comparison to the closing descriptions of Carthage as Dido commits suicide. In Book one, Virgil describes Carthage using a comparison to bees, stating that the city was “as hard at their tasks as  bees in early summer” and that “the hive seethes with life”, which clearly shows the progression and prosperity in the society. Also the epithets used to describe Dido are key indicators of her fate – to begin with, she is referred to as “Queen Dido” but this later changes to “Doomed Dido”.ractatio (the Latin term for retouching, revision).This is a common concept for authors and poets who wrote under the reign and influence of Augustus, where the literature is composed to promote Augustus’ political and social agenda – Elena Giusti focuses on this idea of ‘retractatio’ in her analysis ‘Carthage in the Aeneid’.    

Similarly, to begin with Dido is often compared to the goddess Diana – “Like Diana urging her dancing troupes along the Eurotas’ banks… Like Dido now, now striding triumphant among her people, spurring on the work of their kingdom still to come” – which emphasises not only Dido’s beauty, but also her strength and power. It is particularly interesting that the comparison to the virgin goddess Diana happens before she enters into the ‘marriage’ with Aeneas, though she still has a distinct lack of virginity, due to her previous marriage. This is suggestive that the reason why Dido gets progressively worse is not because of the loss of her virginity, but her virtue (or pudicitia as it was called in Latin), a concept which explained the ideal qualities of chastity, modesty, sexual fidelity and fertility in the Roman Matrona. Lacking this, Dido deteriorates into madness, and the prosperity of her city is halted for some time. Arguably, because of Dido’s suicide, she is returned to the status of a ‘good’ leader, because she did do what was best for her city, but it is also an extremely un- Roman action, which emphasises one of the many reasons why Aeneas and Dido are not compatible.

There are many debates about the nature of Dido and Aeneas’ relationship – can it be described as a marriage? Or does its lack of official ceremony disqualify it? To Dido, at least, it appears to have been more than legitimate – “She no longer thinks to keep the affair a secret, no, she calls it a marriage” – and therefore, its arguable whether she can be blamed for her loss of pudicitia. Aeneas too seemingly accepts this, because of his hanging up of arms in Dido’s bedroom. However, in the eyes of the Roman society, the marriage would be invalid because of Dido’s difference in nationality, and as such she would not have had the right of conubium with him.

Overall, it would seem that Dido’s complex character can most easily be interpreted as an example of how important the customary wedding rites were in ancient Rome, most likely as an attempt by Augustus to legitimise the religious rites that he tried to enforce during his reign.