Elisha the Female Savior

Elisha the Female Savior

Elisha means 'God His Salvation'. This was the name applied to Dido,
the founder of Carthage. This is also the name of Elijah's disciple
who surpasses his teacher, and performs all the miracles Jesus
performs. Elijah is known for attacking the worship of Melqart and
Astarte on the high places, but, he never eradicated this whorship
as Emperor Vespasian visted a shrine to Melqart.

John and Jesus are asked if they are Elijah, but why not Elisha? I
have often wondered if Elisha was a female prophet of Melqart and
Astarte, and indeed Elijah did battle with her - in a fictional
manner, as Elijah appears to be a myth, the creation of Torah
writers who had a habbit of fighting a mythical war of words so as
to consume foreign worship within their own. Paul the Pharisee and
Roman citizen employed the same tactic against Melqart/Horus who
were seen as the same deity. That Elisha is attached to Elija, who
is attached to John the Baptist, who is attached to Jesus, is to
capture the truth and minimize it till it no longer exists.

Dido/Elisha founded Carthage around the same time that Athaliah the
Phoenician usurper was disposed of as the Queen of Jeruslem. Were
Athaliah and Elisha the same person, she manging to flee to the new
colony of Carthage that was founded in the alliance of Hiram and
Solomon?

Elisha is said to have destroyed herself on a pyre when Aeneas the
Trojan refugee and the founder of Rome, left her. But she is
undergoing the ritual of Melqart as seen in the birth of Samson,
where she arises from the burning bushel and ascends to heaven as
the Phoenix.

Brutus another refugee from Troy and companion of Aeneas, came to
Britian and defeated McGog. Is there a connection between Britania,
Mars, and Elisha?

Jon Presco


http://www.wordiq.com/definition/%60Ashtart

http://www.2eden.net/pantheon.htm

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Dido


Definition of Dido


For other uses, see Dido (disambiguation).
In Greek and Roman sources Elissa or Dido appears as the founder and
first Queen of Carthage in Tunisia. She is best known from the
account given by the Roman poet Virgil in his Aeneid.
Contents [hide]

1 Early accounts
2 Virgil's Aeneid
3 Later Roman tradition
4 Continuing tradition
5 An alternative viewpoint
6 Selected bibliography
7 External links

Early accounts
The person of Elissa can be traced back at least to lost writings of
the historian Timaeus of Tauromenium in Sicily (c. 356?260 BCE) as
referred to and used by later sources. Timaeus dated the foundation
of Carthage to 814 BCE (or 813 BCE) but he also placed the founding
of Rome in the same year which suggests legend had been at work.
Other historians gave other dates, both for the foundation of
Carthage and the foundation of Rome. Appian in the beginning of his
Punic Wars claims that Carthage was founded by a certain Zorus and
Carchedon (but Zorus looks like an alternate transliteration of the
city name Tyre and Charchedon is just the Greek form of Carthage.)
Timaeus made his Elissa the sister of King Pygmalion of Tyre and
modern scholars still put Pygmalion (Pumayyaton) on the throne at
that time so Timaeus' date usually appears in modern chronologies as
the normal dubious and legendary date for the founding of Carthage.
Yet archaelogy has yet to find any evidence of settlement on the
site of Carthage before the last quarter of the 8th century BCE. So
the whole story might be legendary or the synchronism between Elissa
and Pygmalion might be legendary or archaelogists may have as yet
missed important evidence for earlier settlement.
That the city is named Qart-hadasht 'New City' at least indicates it
was a colony. (There is another Qart-hadasht in Cyprus). The name
Elissa is probably a Greek rendering of Phoenician Elishat.
The only full account that has survives before Virgil's treatment is
that of Virgil's contemporary Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus in his
Philippic histories as rendered in a digest or eptome made by Justin
two hundred years later.
According to Justin (18.4?6), a king of Tyre whom Justin does not
name made his very beautiful daughter Elissa and son Pygmalion his
joint heirs. But on his death the people took Pygmalion alone as
their ruler though Pygmalion was yet still a boy. Elissa married
Acerbas her uncle who as priest of Hercules [that is Melqart] was
second in power to King Pygmalion. Rumor truthfully told how Acerbas
had much wealth secretly buried and King Pygmalion had Acerbas
murdered in hopes of gaining the wealth. Elissa, desiring to escape
Carthage, pretended to wish to move into Pygmalion's palace. But
then Elissa ordered the attendants whom Pgymalion sent to aid in the
move to throw all Acerbas' bags of gold into the sea as an offering
to his spirit, or so it seemed. In fact the bags contained only
sand. Then Elissa persuaded the attendants to join her in flight to
another land rather than face Pygmalion's anger when he discovered
what had supposedly become of Acerbas' wealth. Some senators also
joined her.
The party arrived at Cyprus where the priest of Jupiter joined the
expedition. There the exiles also seized about 80 young women who
were prostituting themselves on the shore in order to provide wives
for the men in the party.
Eventually Elissa and her followers arrived in Libya where Elissa
asked the local inhabitants for a small bit of land for a temporary
refuge until she could continue her journeying, only as much land as
could be encompassed by an oxhide. They agreed. Elissa cut the
oxhide into fine strips so that she had enough to use it to surround
an entire nearby hill, which was therefore aftewards named
Byrsa 'hide'. That would become their new home. Many of the locals
joined the settlement and both locals and envoys from the nearby
Phoenician city of Utica urged the building of a city. In digging
the foundations an ox's head was found, indicating a city that would
be wealthy but subject to others. Accordingly another area of the
hill was dug instead where a horse's head was found, indicating that
the city would be powerful in war.
But when the new city of Carthage had been established and become
prosperous, Hiarbas, a native king of the Maxitani or Mauritani
(mansucripts differ), demanded Elissa become his wife or he would
make war on Carthage. Elissa's envoys, fearing Hiarbas, told Elissa
only that Hiarbas' terms for peace were that someone from Carthage
must dwell permanently with him to teach Phoenician ways and they
added that of course no Carthaginian would agree to dwell with such
savages. Elissa condemned any who would feel that way when they
should indeed give their lives for the city if necessary. Elissa's
envoys then explained that Hiarbas had specifically requested Elissa
as wife. Elissa was trapped by her words. But Elissa preferred to
stay faithful to her first husband and after creating a ceremonial
funeral pyre and sacrficing many victims to his spirit in pretense
that this was a final honoring of her first husband in preparation
for marriage to Hiarbas, Elissa ascended the pyre, announced that
she would go to her husband as they desired, and then slew herself
with her sword. After this self-sacrifice Elissa was deified and was
worshipped as long as Carthage endured. The foundation of Carthage
occurred 72 years before the foundation of Rome.
Servius in his commentary on Virgil's Aeneid gives Sicharbas as the
name of Elissa's husband in early tradition.
The oxhide story which explains the name of the hill must be of
Greek origin since Byrsa means 'oxhide' in Greek, not in Punic. The
name of the hill in Punic was probably just a derivation from
Semitic brt 'fortified place'. But that does not prevent other
details in the story from being Carthaginian tradition though still
not necessarily historical. Michael Grant in Roman Myths (1973)
claims:
That is to say, Dido-Elissa was originally a goddess.
It has been conjectured that she was first converted from a goddess
into a human queen in some Greek work of the later fifth century
B.C.
But others conjecture that Elissa was indeed historical.
The name Dido used mostly by Latin writers seems to be a Phoenician
form meaning 'Wanderer' and was perhaps the name under which Elissa
was most familiarly known in Carthage.
We do not know who first combined the story of Elissa with the
tradition that connected Aeneas either with Rome or with earlier
settlements from which Rome traced its origin.
A fragment of an epic poem by Gnaeus Naevius who died at Utica in
201 BCE includes a passage which might or might not be part of a
conversation between Aeneas and Dido. Servius in his commentary
(4.682; 5.4) cites Varro (1st century BCE) for a version in which
Dido's sister Anna killed herself for love of Aeneas.
Virgil's Aeneid
Virgil's back-references in his Aeneid generally agree with what
Justin recorded. Virgil names Dido's father as Belus, this Belus
sometimes being called Belus II by later commentators to distinguish
him from Belus son of Poseidon and Libya in earlier Greek mythology.
If the story of Elissa/Dido has a factual basis and is synchronized
properly with history then this Belus stands for Matan I who was
father of the historical Pygmalion.
Virgil (1.746f) adds that the marriage between Dido/Elissa and
Sychaeus, as Virgil calls Dido's husband, occurred while her father
was still alive, that Pygmalion slew Sychaeus secretly and that
Sychaeus appeared in a dream to Dido in which he told the truth
about her death, urged her to flee the country, and revealed to her
where his gold was buried. None of these details contradict Justin's
account. Indeed they clarify it and are likely enough to have been
part of the tale Justin was abridging.
But Virgil very much changes the import and many details of the
story when he brings Aeneas and his followers to Carthage.
(1.657f) Dido and Aeneas fall in love by the management of Juno and
Venus together for different reasons. (4.198f) When the rumour of
the love affair comes to King Iarbas the Gaetulian, "a son of Jupter
Ammon by a raped Garmantian nymph", Iarbas prays to his father,
blaming Dido who has scorned marriage with him yet now takes Aeneas
into the country as her lord. (4.222f) Jupiter dispatches Mercury to
send Aeneas on his way and the pious Aeneas sadly obeys.
(4.450f) Dido can no longer bear to live. (4.474) Dido has her
sister Anna build her a pyre under the pretence of burning all that
reminded her of Aeneas, including weapons and clothes that Aeneas
had left behind and their bridal bed. (4.584f) When Dido sees
Aeneas' fleet leaving she curses him and his Trojans and proclaims
endless hate between Carthage and the descendants of Troy. (4.642)
Dido ascends the pyre, lies again on the couch which she had shared
with Aeneas, and then falls on a sword that Aeneas had given her.
(4.666) Those watching let out a cry; Anna rushes in and embraces
her dying sister; Juno sends Iris from heaven to release Dido's
spirit from her body. (5.1) From their ships, Aeneas and his crew
see the glow of Dido's burning funeral pyre and suspect what has
happened.
(6.450f) During his journey in the underworld Aeneas meets Dido and
tries to excuse himself but Dido does not answer him. Instead she
turns away from Aeneas to a grove where her former husband Sychaeus
waits.
Virgil has included most of the motifs from the original:
Hierbas/Jarbas who desires Dido against her will, a deceitful
explanation for the building of the pyre, and Elissa/Dido's final
suicide. In both versions Elissa/Dido is loyal to her original
husband in the end. But whereas the earlier Elissa remained always
loyal to her husband's memory, Virgil's Dido dies as a tortured and
repentant woman who has fallen away from that loyalty.
Later Roman tradition
Letter 8 of Ovid's Heroides is a letter from Dido to Aeneas written
just before she ascends the pyre. The situation is as in Virgil's
Aeneid except that Ovid's Dido is pregnant by Aeneas. In Ovid's
Fasti (3.545f) Ovid introduced a kind of sequel involving Aeneas and
Dido's sister Anna. See Anna Perenna.
The Barcids, the family to which Hannibal belonged, claimed descent
from a younger brother of Dido according to Silius Italicus in his
Punica (1.71?7).
The Augustan History ("Tyrrani Triginta" 27, 30) claims that Zenobia
queen of Palmyra in the late 3rd century CE was descended from
Cleopatra, Dido and Semiramis.

Continuing tradition
Remembrance of the story of the bull's hide and the foundation of
Carthage is preserved in mathematics in connection with the
Isoperimetric problem which is sometimes called Dido's Problem (and
similarly the Isoperimetric theorem is sometimes called Dido's
Theorem). It is sometimes stated in such discussion that Dido caused
her thong to be placed as a half circle touching the sea coast at
each end (which would add greatly to the perimeter) but the sources
mention the thong only and say nothing about the sea.
Carthage was republican Rome's greatest rival and enemy and Virgil's
Dido in part symbolises this. Even though no Rome existed in her
day, Virgil's Dido curses the future progeny of the Trojans. In
Italy, during the fascist Regime, her figure was demonized, perhaps
not only as an anti-Roman figure but because she represented
together at least three other unpleasant qualities: feminine virtue,
Semitic ethnic origin, and African civilization. Her name and her
memory were very feared.
As an innocuous example: when Mussolini's regime named the streets
of new quarters in Rome with the characters of Virgil's Aeneid, only
the name Dido did not appear.
In tragic compensation (in a sadly curious way), the British Royal
Navy employed Dido-class cruisers against Italian objectives during
the Second World War, seemingly a devastating justification of
fascist fears.
An alternative viewpoint
An alternative viewpoint, based on Gerhard Herm's interpretation
(Die Phönizier), supported by qualified classic sources (Virgil,
Ovid, Silius Italicus, Trebellius Pollio), and considering notorious
weakness of Timaeus' defamatory story, conducts to a slightly
different historiographical outline (main changes on italic,
followed by references):
Dido, or Elisha/Elissa, was a Phoenician Queen, founder of Carthage
(a. 840 - a. 760 B.C.). First-born from King of Tyre, her succession
was struggled from the minor brother, Pummayyaton/Pygmalion, who
murdered her husband and imposed his tyranny. Probably to avoid a
civil war, she left Tyre with a large following, starting a long
voyage; main stages were Cyprus and Malta [Ovid, Fasti 3.567f].
Landing on Libyan coasts, about 814 B.C., she chose a place to found
a new capital city for Phoenician people: Carthage. She peacefully
obtained the land by an ingenious agreement with the local Lord,
today known as "Theorem of Dido". During her widowhood, she was
consistently proposed by local kings; however she married again,
probably with a loyal Tyrian follower, from Barca family [Silius
Italicus, Punica 1.71f, 2.239].
Dido promoted a significant religious reform (in such way analogous
to Christian one, according to G. Herm), and after a long and
prosperous reign, she favored the formation of a Republic [Virgil,
Aeneis 1.426]; After her death, she was deified by her people with
the name of Tanit and like impersonification of Great Goddess
Astarte (Roman Juno) [Virgil, Aeneis 1.446f, Silius Italicus, Punica
1.81f; and among others, G. De Sanctis, Storia dei Romani].
The great Latin writer, Virgil, introduced her figure in "western"
culture, through his "double writing" system (the first, more
superficial, writing was intended for a national audience and
viewing by Octavius Augustus, while the second one, deeper and
hidden, reflecting his personal point of view and his historical
reconstruction).
The cult of Tanit survived beyond Carthage's destruction by Romans,
and it was introduced to Rome itself by Emperor Septimius Severus,
himself born in North Africa. It was extinguished completely with
the later barbaric invasions. Hannibal Barca was probably a direct
descendant of Dido, and also Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, 1.000 years
later, declared herself descendant and political heir of Dido
[Trebellius Pollio, Tyranni Triginta 27.1, 30.2].
Selected bibliography
http://tinyurl.com/3tll8

http://www.ancientroute.com/religion/Godsname/melqart.htm

Melkarth, Milqart
MELQART

THE GOD
Melqart was the primary god of Tyre, a god of the sun and re-
vegetation. Sidon worshipped Eshmun as it's primary god, but both
had similar attributes. The god El was the original supreme god of
the Phoenicians, and Melqart was his son. As Tyre gained supremacy
throughout the Phoenician world, Melqart gained prominence also.
Melqart was exported to Carthage, Tyre's most successful colony, and
the also to Gades, on the south coast of Spain. All other gods slid
back into the shadow of Melqart, until he is the only one spoken of
in the literature of the Hebrews, relative to the Phoenicians.
Melqart was part of the triad of deities worshipped by the
Phoenicians. El, the supreme protector of the universe, Melqart, the
son of El, and Astarte, the mother-goddess. This triad is familiar
in many of the ancient religions of the Middle East, as is, for
example, the Father, Son and Virgin Mary. The concept of the triad
spread to the west as the Phoenicians spread their network of trade
colonies. El did not disappear, but was spoken of less as Melqart
became the more famous. Much as the Christian worships Christ
without forgetting there is still a more supreme being in the
background.
Melqart is often called Baal, as is El also. Baal is the Hebrew word
for Lord, and Baal came to signify the supreme god, and then Baal
was assumed to be the name of the Phoenician and Canaanite god.
Eventually, the name Baal came to signify all the regional gods
abhorred by the Israelite prophets, much like the term `pagan' today
implies non-Christian. Melqart is also called by other names which
indicated his attributes; `the Hunter,' in his role of warrior and
provider; or `the Fire of Heaven', indicating sacred fire and,
perhaps, storm control.
Melqart, originally a sun god, symbolized the annual cycle of
seasons, the dying and regeneration of the vegetation. This concept
was very important to the early civilizations who lived, or died, on
the agricultural bounty of the region. If the crops failed, they
could well starve; at least they could expect severe hardships. So,
Melqart was honored with the festivals, rites, and sacrifices which
would ensure a good harvest season. And as the chief protector of
the city, he was also called upon when the city was in danger. When
the Phoenicians went to sea, Melqart went along, and soon he
acquired attributes related to the sea. He could control the storms,
the ships wellbeing, and the prosperous outcome of the journey.
RITES
The rites of Melqart were attended by barefoot priests wearing caps
and white linen robes, ungirdled. The temple area held a sacred
fire, maintained by lesser religious functionaries. Since Melqart
was a sun god, and in charge of the seasons, fire had much to do
with the rites. Many items are recorded as sacrificed to the god
Melqart; birds and animals, food and drink, even humans at times. A
human was ritually immolated in an annual festival. This practice is
later found to be part of the Druid rites in Britain also. Evidence
of sacrificial rites similar to Moloch, where children are `passed
through the fire', imply that Melqart and Moloch are the same, or
that Melqart took on some of the practices of the Ammonite god,
Moloch.
A religious sanctuary, or sacrificial temenos, has been found at
Motya in Sicily, and at Hadrumentum in North Africa, which supplies
ample evidence of child sacrifice. This area was called
the `topheth' in ancient literature. The victims were usually
infants, although older children and adults are also found.
Depending upon the purpose, the victims could be of either sex, and
the first-born son was considered the most effective. Since the
Arabs held their first-born son in the highest esteem, this
sacrifice was considered the ultimate. While the Israelites
condemned the practice, it was common in the early Jewish religion
of Yahweh also. The difference seems to be in the frequency of the
practice. After the Roman occupation of the Near East began, the
ceremony was detested by all in the Roman Empire and faded out of
practice.
Apparently shaving of facial hair was a religious function, and many
sacred razors are found in Punic tombs. The temple, or sacred area,
did not have a cult image at first, then an unhewn stone sufficed as
a symbolic representation of the god. The temple was also served by
religious prostitutes, both women and young boys. This attribute was
common throughout Phoenicia and was severely criticized by the
Israelite prophets.
The High Priests were often married, occasionally to priestesses,
and the priesthood remained in particular families for many
generations, handed down from father to son. The priests did not
generally hold political offices at the same time, although they
surely had much influence in the political arena. However, there
were times when the priest became king, or the king took on the role
of High Priest. We also know of occasions when the High Priest was
also a leading general [Malchus] in the army at Carthage.
TEMPLES
The Temple of Melqart was similar to that built by Solomon in
Jerusalem. This would be expected as the temple in Jerusalem was
built by craftsmen from Tyre. And since the countries were
neighbors, there was considerable cross-influence of religious
ideas. The temple was surrounded by a sacred area, the `temenos,'
and the main entrance to the sanctuary was flanked by two pillars or
columns, called betyls. While Herodotus describes them as `one made
of gold and the other of emeralds,' one suspects a bit of
imagination present. The temple area of the Phoenician god Melqart
generally was an open area centered around an altar or betyl (rough
hewn stone pillar).
In Phoenicia, Melqart had his `high places,' or sacred areas on
hilltops, where sacrifices and rituals were held. While the city of
Tyre had a formal temple building, these rural `temples' were
simple, open spaces, without idols but with a pile of stones serving
as an altar. A sacred tree was not uncommon, again similar to the
practice of the Druids. These `high places' were common throughout
Phoenicia and Palestine, being used by all for prayers directed to
weather and crops.
A local priest would attend to the altar, and be supported by the
locals. Some of these 'high areas' became quite popular, and the
number of priests then increased. The Roman Emperor Vespasian
visited one of these 'high places' on Mount Carmel in the 1st
century CE, when he consulted the oracle there. And it was also at
Mount Carmel that Elijah held the contest with 850 priests of
Melqart; Yahweh won, and Elijah stirred up a riot that ended in all
the priests of Melqart being slain. Jezebel was furious and swore
revenge on Elijah.
As the Phoenicians spread to the west, taking their god Melqart to
all parts of the Mediterranean basin, some changes were made. The
sanctuaries were located on low places, partly because they had
become men of the sea, and partly because there were no high spots
near their colonies. These colonies were located on the coast at
first, and often on an island. As the colony became larger and
flourished, a formal temple building was built to honor the god
responsible for their prosperity.
Phoenicia
Several ancient authors mention the temple at Tyre, which was
dedicated to Melqart. It had two pillarsflanking the entrance, one
of gold and the other of emerald, which shown brightly at night. The
coinage minted at Tyre often depicted Melqart riding the
Hippocampus, a mix of seahorse and monster. And the city of Sidon,
who worshipped Eshmun, had it's temple to their own version of city-
god. The city of Tyre, and it's god Melqart, flourished well into
the Christian Era, and eventually Melqart displaced Eshmun at Sidon
as well.
Carthage
By the time Carthage was founded, in the 9th century BCE, Melqart
had already become the primary god of Phoenicia. He was carried to
Carthage, and for many years after an annual homage and tithe was
sent back to the main shrine in Tyre. Many names in Carthage
reflected this importance of Melqart, for example, the names
Hamilcar and Bomilcar. When the Romans came to Carthage they found
the local worship of Melqart flourishing. Soon after, the local gods
of Carthage were assimilated with the Roman gods, and Melqart became
Hercules.
Spain
Temples to Melqart are found at least three sites in Spain; Gades,
Ebusus, and Carthago Nova. Gades was one of the earliest colonies in
Spain, located on a north end of a small island [Sancti Petri] at
the mouth of the Guadalete River. When a mint was finally
established there, Melqart is depicted on the coins of Gades.
Nearby, at the strait of Gibraltar, the mountains on either side
were first known as the pillars of Melqart, then later changed to
the Pillars of Hercules. And across the strait, at the colony of
Lixus, in Morocco, was another temple of Melqart.
The founding of Carthago Nova was much later than Gades, but Melqart
was still the predominant god of the Carthaginians. A temple was
built, and the religion spread to the natives. It is difficult now
to determine when the rites of Melqart were disseminated among the
Celts of Iberia [Spain] and Gaul, but they surely were. The
influence of the Phoenician Melqart with the rites of the Celts are
very pronounced.
British Isles
As mentioned before, the practice of Druidism and the rites of the
Phoenician Melqart have a lot in common. However, the Phoenicians
did not arrive in Britain in any large numbers. The religion of
Melqart was spread to the Iberians and Celts, who then were forced
to flee ahead of the Romans when the Druidic religion was banned by
the Romans. The Druid priests traveled to Britain, carrying their
religious practices with them.
HISTORY
9th century BCE
In the early literature of the Hebrews, our Bible, Melqart, Baal,
and Moloch are often mentioned. The `high places' and asherah
[sacred groves] figure frequently during the time of the kings of
Israel and Judah. The prophets Elijah and Elisha were often at
battle with Melqart for the souls of the citizens of Palestine.
5th century BCE
Many inscriptions from grave stele at Carthage mention infant
sacrifice, and adults are also mentioned, although much rarer. The
practice of immolating one adult each year to Melqart is attested
also. At Himera in 490 BCE, over 3000 captives were sacrificed in
the name of Melqart to expiate the death of Hamilcar in an earlier
battle [480 BCE].
4th century BCE
By the beginning of the 5th century the pair, represented by Melqart
and Astarte was beginning to be replaced by the Greek equivalent
Demeter and Kore. As the land of Phoenicia became Hellenized, so
were their gods. The Greeks thought that Heracles was the founder of
the Macedonian dynasty beginning with Alexander, and had a special
warmth for the god Melqart. In some of the Greek's literature
Melqart and Heracles is mentioned interchangeably, as the Thasian
Heracles and Melqart on the island of Thasos.
1st century CE
By the 1st century even the Jewish author Josephus mentions Melqart
interchangeably with Heracles, the Greek equivalent. Then with the
coming of the Romans, the name was again altered, now to Hercules.
Ashtart in Egypt
`Ashtart's first appears in Egypt beginning with the 18th dynasty
along with other northwest Semitic deities. She was especially
worshipped in her aspect of a war goddess, often paired with the
goddess `Anat. In the Contest Between Horus and Set, these two
goddesses appear as daughters of Re and are given in marriage to the
god Set, here identified with the Semitic god Hadad. `Ashtart was
also identified with the goddess Sekhmet but seemingly more often
conflated, at least in part, with Isis to judge from the many images
found of `Ashtart suckling a small child. Indeed there is statue of
the 6th century BCE in the Cairo museum which would normally be
taken as protraying Isis with her child Horus on her knee and which
in every detail of iconography follows normal Egyptian conventions
but the dedicatory inscription reads: "Gersaphon, son of Azor, son
of Slrt, man of Lydda, for his Lady, for `Ashtart." See G. Daressy,
(1905) pl. LXI (CGC 39291).
Plutarch in his On Isis and Osiris indicates that the king and queen
of Byblos who unknowingly have the Osiris' body in a pillar in their
hall are Melcarthus (that is Melqart and Astarte (though he notes
some instead call the queen Saosis or Nemanûs which Plutarch
interprets as corresponding to the Greek name Athenais).
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/%60Ashtart

http://www.2eden.net/pantheon.htm

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Definition of Dido


For other uses, see Dido (disambiguation).
In Greek and Roman sources Elissa or Dido appears as the founder and
first Queen of Carthage in Tunisia. She is best known from the
account given by the Roman poet Virgil in his Aeneid.
Contents [hide]

1 Early accounts
2 Virgil's Aeneid
3 Later Roman tradition
4 Continuing tradition
5 An alternative viewpoint
6 Selected bibliography
7 External links

Early accounts
The person of Elissa can be traced back at least to lost writings of
the historian Timaeus of Tauromenium in Sicily (c. 356?260 BCE) as
referred to and used by later sources. Timaeus dated the foundation
of Carthage to 814 BCE (or 813 BCE) but he also placed the founding
of Rome in the same year which suggests legend had been at work.
Other historians gave other dates, both for the foundation of
Carthage and the foundation of Rome. Appian in the beginning of his
Punic Wars claims that Carthage was founded by a certain Zorus and
Carchedon (but Zorus looks like an alternate transliteration of the
city name Tyre and Charchedon is just the Greek form of Carthage.)
Timaeus made his Elissa the sister of King Pygmalion of Tyre and
modern scholars still put Pygmalion (Pumayyaton) on the throne at
that time so Timaeus' date usually appears in modern chronologies as
the normal dubious and legendary date for the founding of Carthage.
Yet archaelogy has yet to find any evidence of settlement on the
site of Carthage before the last quarter of the 8th century BCE. So
the whole story might be legendary or the synchronism between Elissa
and Pygmalion might be legendary or archaelogists may have as yet
missed important evidence for earlier settlement.
That the city is named Qart-hadasht 'New City' at least indicates it
was a colony. (There is another Qart-hadasht in Cyprus). The name
Elissa is probably a Greek rendering of Phoenician Elishat.
The only full account that has survives before Virgil's treatment is
that of Virgil's contemporary Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus in his
Philippic histories as rendered in a digest or eptome made by Justin
two hundred years later.
According to Justin (18.4?6), a king of Tyre whom Justin does not
name made his very beautiful daughter Elissa and son Pygmalion his
joint heirs. But on his death the people took Pygmalion alone as
their ruler though Pygmalion was yet still a boy. Elissa married
Acerbas her uncle who as priest of Hercules [that is Melqart] was
second in power to King Pygmalion. Rumor truthfully told how Acerbas
had much wealth secretly buried and King Pygmalion had Acerbas
murdered in hopes of gaining the wealth. Elissa, desiring to escape
Carthage, pretended to wish to move into Pygmalion's palace. But
then Elissa ordered the attendants whom Pgymalion sent to aid in the
move to throw all Acerbas' bags of gold into the sea as an offering
to his spirit, or so it seemed. In fact the bags contained only
sand. Then Elissa persuaded the attendants to join her in flight to
another land rather than face Pygmalion's anger when he discovered
what had supposedly become of Acerbas' wealth. Some senators also
joined her.
The party arrived at Cyprus where the priest of Jupiter joined the
expedition. There the exiles also seized about 80 young women who
were prostituting themselves on the shore in order to provide wives
for the men in the party.
Eventually Elissa and her followers arrived in Libya where Elissa
asked the local inhabitants for a small bit of land for a temporary
refuge until she could continue her journeying, only as much land as
could be encompassed by an oxhide. They agreed. Elissa cut the
oxhide into fine strips so that she had enough to use it to surround
an entire nearby hill, which was therefore aftewards named
Byrsa 'hide'. That would become their new home. Many of the locals
joined the settlement and both locals and envoys from the nearby
Phoenician city of Utica urged the building of a city. In digging
the foundations an ox's head was found, indicating a city that would
be wealthy but subject to others. Accordingly another area of the
hill was dug instead where a horse's head was found, indicating that
the city would be powerful in war.
But when the new city of Carthage had been established and become
prosperous, Hiarbas, a native king of the Maxitani or Mauritani
(mansucripts differ), demanded Elissa become his wife or he would
make war on Carthage. Elissa's envoys, fearing Hiarbas, told Elissa
only that Hiarbas' terms for peace were that someone from Carthage
must dwell permanently with him to teach Phoenician ways and they
added that of course no Carthaginian would agree to dwell with such
savages. Elissa condemned any who would feel that way when they
should indeed give their lives for the city if necessary. Elissa's
envoys then explained that Hiarbas had specifically requested Elissa
as wife. Elissa was trapped by her words. But Elissa preferred to
stay faithful to her first husband and after creating a ceremonial
funeral pyre and sacrficing many victims to his spirit in pretense
that this was a final honoring of her first husband in preparation
for marriage to Hiarbas, Elissa ascended the pyre, announced that
she would go to her husband as they desired, and then slew herself
with her sword. After this self-sacrifice Elissa was deified and was
worshipped as long as Carthage endured. The foundation of Carthage
occurred 72 years before the foundation of Rome.
Servius in his commentary on Virgil's Aeneid gives Sicharbas as the
name of Elissa's husband in early tradition.
The oxhide story which explains the name of the hill must be of
Greek origin since Byrsa means 'oxhide' in Greek, not in Punic. The
name of the hill in Punic was probably just a derivation from
Semitic brt 'fortified place'. But that does not prevent other
details in the story from being Carthaginian tradition though still
not necessarily historical. Michael Grant in Roman Myths (1973)
claims:
That is to say, Dido-Elissa was originally a goddess.
It has been conjectured that she was first converted from a goddess
into a human queen in some Greek work of the later fifth century
B.C.
But others conjecture that Elissa was indeed historical.
The name Dido used mostly by Latin writers seems to be a Phoenician
form meaning 'Wanderer' and was perhaps the name under which Elissa
was most familiarly known in Carthage.
We do not know who first combined the story of Elissa with the
tradition that connected Aeneas either with Rome or with earlier
settlements from which Rome traced its origin.
A fragment of an epic poem by Gnaeus Naevius who died at Utica in
201 BCE includes a passage which might or might not be part of a
conversation between Aeneas and Dido. Servius in his commentary
(4.682; 5.4) cites Varro (1st century BCE) for a version in which
Dido's sister Anna killed herself for love of Aeneas.
Virgil's Aeneid
Virgil's back-references in his Aeneid generally agree with what
Justin recorded. Virgil names Dido's father as Belus, this Belus
sometimes being called Belus II by later commentators to distinguish
him from Belus son of Poseidon and Libya in earlier Greek mythology.
If the story of Elissa/Dido has a factual basis and is synchronized
properly with history then this Belus stands for Matan I who was
father of the historical Pygmalion.
Virgil (1.746f) adds that the marriage between Dido/Elissa and
Sychaeus, as Virgil calls Dido's husband, occurred while her father
was still alive, that Pygmalion slew Sychaeus secretly and that
Sychaeus appeared in a dream to Dido in which he told the truth
about her death, urged her to flee the country, and revealed to her
where his gold was buried. None of these details contradict Justin's
account. Indeed they clarify it and are likely enough to have been
part of the tale Justin was abridging.
But Virgil very much changes the import and many details of the
story when he brings Aeneas and his followers to Carthage.
(1.657f) Dido and Aeneas fall in love by the management of Juno and
Venus together for different reasons. (4.198f) When the rumour of
the love affair comes to King Iarbas the Gaetulian, "a son of Jupter
Ammon by a raped Garmantian nymph", Iarbas prays to his father,
blaming Dido who has scorned marriage with him yet now takes Aeneas
into the country as her lord. (4.222f) Jupiter dispatches Mercury to
send Aeneas on his way and the pious Aeneas sadly obeys.
(4.450f) Dido can no longer bear to live. (4.474) Dido has her
sister Anna build her a pyre under the pretence of burning all that
reminded her of Aeneas, including weapons and clothes that Aeneas
had left behind and their bridal bed. (4.584f) When Dido sees
Aeneas' fleet leaving she curses him and his Trojans and proclaims
endless hate between Carthage and the descendants of Troy. (4.642)
Dido ascends the pyre, lies again on the couch which she had shared
with Aeneas, and then falls on a sword that Aeneas had given her.
(4.666) Those watching let out a cry; Anna rushes in and embraces
her dying sister; Juno sends Iris from heaven to release Dido's
spirit from her body. (5.1) From their ships, Aeneas and his crew
see the glow of Dido's burning funeral pyre and suspect what has
happened.
(6.450f) During his journey in the underworld Aeneas meets Dido and
tries to excuse himself but Dido does not answer him. Instead she
turns away from Aeneas to a grove where her former husband Sychaeus
waits.
Virgil has included most of the motifs from the original:
Hierbas/Jarbas who desires Dido against her will, a deceitful
explanation for the building of the pyre, and Elissa/Dido's final
suicide. In both versions Elissa/Dido is loyal to her original
husband in the end. But whereas the earlier Elissa remained always
loyal to her husband's memory, Virgil's Dido dies as a tortured and
repentant woman who has fallen away from that loyalty.
Later Roman tradition
Letter 8 of Ovid's Heroides is a letter from Dido to Aeneas written
just before she ascends the pyre. The situation is as in Virgil's
Aeneid except that Ovid's Dido is pregnant by Aeneas. In Ovid's
Fasti (3.545f) Ovid introduced a kind of sequel involving Aeneas and
Dido's sister Anna. See Anna Perenna.
The Barcids, the family to which Hannibal belonged, claimed descent
from a younger brother of Dido according to Silius Italicus in his
Punica (1.71?7).
The Augustan History ("Tyrrani Triginta" 27, 30) claims that Zenobia
queen of Palmyra in the late 3rd century CE was descended from
Cleopatra, Dido and Semiramis.

Continuing tradition
Remembrance of the story of the bull's hide and the foundation of
Carthage is preserved in mathematics in connection with the
Isoperimetric problem which is sometimes called Dido's Problem (and
similarly the Isoperimetric theorem is sometimes called Dido's
Theorem). It is sometimes stated in such discussion that Dido caused
her thong to be placed as a half circle touching the sea coast at
each end (which would add greatly to the perimeter) but the sources
mention the thong only and say nothing about the sea.
Carthage was republican Rome's greatest rival and enemy and Virgil's
Dido in part symbolises this. Even though no Rome existed in her
day, Virgil's Dido curses the future progeny of the Trojans. In
Italy, during the fascist Regime, her figure was demonized, perhaps
not only as an anti-Roman figure but because she represented
together at least three other unpleasant qualities: feminine virtue,
Semitic ethnic origin, and African civilization. Her name and her
memory were very feared.
As an innocuous example: when Mussolini's regime named the streets
of new quarters in Rome with the characters of Virgil's Aeneid, only
the name Dido did not appear.
In tragic compensation (in a sadly curious way), the British Royal
Navy employed Dido-class cruisers against Italian objectives during
the Second World War, seemingly a devastating justification of
fascist fears.
An alternative viewpoint
An alternative viewpoint, based on Gerhard Herm's interpretation
(Die Phönizier), supported by qualified classic sources (Virgil,
Ovid, Silius Italicus, Trebellius Pollio), and considering notorious
weakness of Timaeus' defamatory story, conducts to a slightly
different historiographical outline (main changes on italic,
followed by references):
Dido, or Elisha/Elissa, was a Phoenician Queen, founder of Carthage
(a. 840 - a. 760 B.C.). First-born from King of Tyre, her succession
was struggled from the minor brother, Pummayyaton/Pygmalion, who
murdered her husband and imposed his tyranny. Probably to avoid a
civil war, she left Tyre with a large following, starting a long
voyage; main stages were Cyprus and Malta [Ovid, Fasti 3.567f].
Landing on Libyan coasts, about 814 B.C., she chose a place to found
a new capital city for Phoenician people: Carthage. She peacefully
obtained the land by an ingenious agreement with the local Lord,
today known as "Theorem of Dido". During her widowhood, she was
consistently proposed by local kings; however she married again,
probably with a loyal Tyrian follower, from Barca family [Silius
Italicus, Punica 1.71f, 2.239].
Dido promoted a significant religious reform (in such way analogous
to Christian one, according to G. Herm), and after a long and
prosperous reign, she favored the formation of a Republic [Virgil,
Aeneis 1.426]; After her death, she was deified by her people with
the name of Tanit and like impersonification of Great Goddess
Astarte (Roman Juno) [Virgil, Aeneis 1.446f, Silius Italicus, Punica
1.81f; and among others, G. De Sanctis, Storia dei Romani].
The great Latin writer, Virgil, introduced her figure in "western"
culture, through his "double writing" system (the first, more
superficial, writing was intended for a national audience and
viewing by Octavius Augustus, while the second one, deeper and
hidden, reflecting his personal point of view and his historical
reconstruction).
The cult of Tanit survived beyond Carthage's destruction by Romans,
and it was introduced to Rome itself by Emperor Septimius Severus,
himself born in North Africa. It was extinguished completely with
the later barbaric invasions. Hannibal Barca was probably a direct
descendant of Dido, and also Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, 1.000 years
later, declared herself descendant and political heir of Dido
[Trebellius Pollio, Tyranni Triginta 27.1, 30.2].
Selected bibliography





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