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It is probably difficult to understand the complications and mysteries surrounding the history of Elissar, this great woman, without first looking into her origin and background, and the circumstances that led her to change the course of old history itself.

She was Phoenician, and Phoenicia was the name given to the Mediterranean coastland stretching from Mount Carmel in the South to Mount Casius in the North. The Phoenicians history is that of their cities, each of which maintained independence under a ruler of its own. They did not seek political power but commercial successes. They were mostly masons, carpenters, ship builders, weavers, dyers, glass blowers, workers in metal, merchants, navigators and discoverers. They are mostly renowned for inventing the alphabet, and improving the art of writing; and their system has been adopted and used by almost the whole civilized world. Phoenicians had risen to power in the area of Tyre in the 11th century BC when the Hittite empire to the north relaxed its grip on the eastern Mediterranean Canaanite areas. 

   Tyre was quite outstanding among Phoenician cities, as it was queen of the seas, an island city of fascinating splendor. Its origins are somehow lost. According to Herodotus, the city was already 2300 years old when he wrote his history, which dates it back to approximately 2750 BC, and the original founders are believed to have come from Sidon to establish a new city port.

Under the 18th (Egyptian) dynasty, Tyre fell under the rule of the pharaohs, and like the other Phoenician cities of Sidon , Byblos and Ugarit , paid tribute to their Egyptian masters until after the reign of Ramses II. During this period (17th to 13th centuries BC), Tyre benefited from the protection of Egypt and prospered commercially.

   But it was Tyre`s purple-dyed textiles, worn throughout the ancient world as a mark of royal rank, that bought fame and fortune to the city. One gram of pure purple dye was worth ten or twenty grams of gold, so it is not surprising that some of the beautiful sarcophagi of the necropolis belonged to wealthy purple dye manufactures of Tyre . The ancient Tyrians extracted the dye from the Murex, a marine snail that still lives along Tyre`s shores deep among the rocks and sunken archaeological remains. Dye extraction is no longer a viable commercial venture, but scientists have documented the process for historical purposes.

   Our heroine, a Tyrian princess, who married her uncle Sychaeus, co-ruled the city with her brother after her father’s death. It was a powerful marriage that posed real threat to Pygmalion, the co-king of Tyre and her brother, who consequently took the initiative and made of his sister an unhappy widow.  Soon after, the ghost of Sychaeus visited her in dream and told her the identity of his murderer and asked her to leave Tyre before she herself was killed.  Elissar gathered her possessions and loyal Tyrian citizens who were fed up with Pygmalion’s rule and together left Tyre, sailed to the island of Cyprus and then to the north African coast, where they established Carthage.

   Mythology says that, upon her arrival to the North African Coast , Elissar made a deal with a local tribe to purchase all the land that an ox hide could encompass.  She cut up the ox hide into very thin strips and tied them end-to-end.  This area would become the Carthaginian citadel.  As Carthage grew in importance, a local King named Iarbus forced some Phoenician nobles to help persuade Elissar to marry him.  Acting for the good of her city and as a model for fidelity, Elissar accepted the offer, but requested that a pyre be built for her to make a sacrifice in honor of the marriage. But instead, Elissar threw herself on the burning pyre, keeping the honor of her husband Sychaeus.

   Within a few decades, the new port  city turned into a real empire that eventually threatened the existence of Rome itself.  

   The rise of Carthage gradually saw the corresponding fall in Tyre`s fortunes. Weakened as a power, the Tyrians sued for peace when the Assyrians conquered the Levant . The Tyrians paid tribute to Assyrian Kings consisting of gold, silver, wood, ivory and purple-dyed linen. When the Assyrians lost some of their power, Tyre ceased to pay tribute or recognize their authority.

   Tyre went through many wars, including thirteen years of siege by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnessar, in the early 6th century B.C. The inhabitants stood firm behind the high walls of the island - city and the siege failed. In the 4th century BC Tyre was not so lucky, this time the conqueror was Alexander the Great. In order to storm the city, Alexander the Great built a mole to join it to the mainland. After a six-month siege, the city was taken, burnt, and partly destroyed. The town’s 30,000 residents were massacred or sold into slavery.

   Before Vergil, the famous poet-historian and author of the Aeneid, Elissar depicts a faithful, brave and honorable woman.   She chooses death over infidelity, even though her husband is deceased.  Vergil turned her into a heroine of passion.  Under Vergil, she indirectly unleashed the fury that led to the hatred and rivalry between Rome and Carthage .  Before Vergil, she never fell in love with, married nor killed herself because of the Trojan prince Aeneas.  She was a hero to the Carthaginians for founding their city.  Interestingly enough, she was also a model for human sacrifice. 

   Elissar, or Elissa – Elisha as she is called be several old fragments of history, was bestowed the name Dido, which means “wanderer”, “feminine warrior or heroine”, “brave maiden, or “lord or god”. She might have had different names, but she was always the founder-queen of Carthage .  In all traditions, she was the sister of Pygmalion, king of Tyre , and the widowed wife of Sychaeus, who was forced to leave her homeland.  Settling in North Africa , she bought enough land to build a citadel and eventually a city

   Such was the state of affairs – according to Virgil - when Aeneas with his Trojans arrived there. Dido received the illustrious exiles with friendliness and hospitality. "Not unacquainted with distress," she said, "I have learned to succor the unfortunate." The queen's hospitality displayed itself in festivities at which games of strength and skill were exhibited. The strangers contended for the palm with her own subjects, on equal terms, the queen declaring that whether the victor were "Trojan or Tyrian should make no difference to her."

   Aeneas had earlier been informed by messengers of the Greek Gods that it was his destiny to establish a new empire in Italy .

   At the feast, which followed the games, Aeneas gave at her request a recital of the closing events of the Trojan history and his own adventures after the fall of the city. Dido was charmed with his discourse and filled with admiration of his exploits. She conceived an ardent passion for him, and he for his part seemed well content to accept the fortunate chance, which appeared to offer him at once a happy kingdom, and a bride. Months rolled away in the enjoyment of a pleasant affair, and it seemed as if the dream of establishing an empire in Italy was forgotten. But the Greek Gods were far from forgetting the prophecy. So they sent some messenger to remind Aeneas of his sacred duty.

   Aeneas parted from Dido, though she tried every allurement and persuasion to detain him. The blow to her affection and her pride was too much for her to endure, and when she found that he was gone, she mounted a funeral pile, which she had caused to be erected, stabbed herself and was consumed with the pile. The flames rising over the city were seen by the departing Trojans, and, though the cause was unknown, gave to Aeneas some intimation of the fatal event.

“But Dido, desperate, beside herself,
with awful undertakings, eyes bloodshot ...
mounts in madness that high pyre, unsheathes
the Dardan sword, a gift not sought for such
an end. And when she saw the Trojan’s clothes
and her familiar bed, she checked her thought
and tears a little, lay upon the couch
and spoke her final words: “O relics, dear
while fate and god allowed, receive my spirit
and free me from these cares; for I have lived
and journeyed through the course assigned by fortune ...
I shall die unavenged, but I shall die,”
she says. “Thus, thus, I gladly go below
to shadows. May the savage Dardan drink
with his own eyes this fire from the deep
and take with him the omen of my death.”
Then Dido’s words were done, and her companions
can see her fallen on the sword; the blade
is foaming with her blood, her hands are bloodstained.”

(Book IV, the Aeneid)

   What happened to Carthage after the tragic death of Elissar? Aeneas went on to the west, and established Rome , which grew quickly to become one of the greatest empires at that time. The two empires, Rome and Carthage , were doomed to face each other as both aspired for the possessions of the other. But they did not engage in a full-scale war until five centuries later.

   The two actually fought 3 three major wars resulting in the subjugation of Carthage and Rome 's acquisition of territories beyond the Italian Peninsula . The first war (264-241 BC) was probably brought on by the desire for military aggrandizement by the Roman nobles. This war fought mainly in Sicily and in the Mediterranean . The Romans built a great fleet, defeated the Carthaginians at the Battle of Mylae (260), and launched an ill-fated invasion of Africa in which the commander, Regulus, was captured (255) by Greek mercenaries. On Sicily , the Carthaginian commander Hamilcar Barca succeeded in thwarting the Romans’ attempt to decisive victory. However, the Roman fleet finally destroyed the Carthaginian fleet in the naval battle of Aegates (241) and thereby forced the Carthaginians to accept peace. Rome gained Carthaginian territories on Sicily . Not long after, Rome also annexed Sardinia and Corsica .

   The second War (218-201 BC) between Rome and Carthage , sparked by the Carthaginians' conquest of Saguntum, a Spanish city loosely associated with Rome . In the years after the first war, Carthage had greatly expanded its holdings in Spain . With the outbreak of war, the great Carthaginian general Hannibal led his forces on the now famous march from Spain , across the Alps , and into north Italy . He won notable victories at Ticinus (218), Trebia (218), Lake Trasimenus (217) and Cannae (216), but failed to take Rome itself. Although Hannibal gained control of much of southern Italy , Carthage failed to provide him needed support. Finally, the Roman invasion of North Africa by Scipio Africanus Major (204) forced Hannibal to return to Carthage . He was defeated at the Battle of Zama (202), and Carthage itself fell (201). Carthage had to give up its navy and its Spanish territories and never again seriously threatened Roman military superiority.

   The third War (149-146 BC) between Rome and Carthage , resulting from Roman fears about a resurgent Carthage and efforts by the Roman, Cato the Elder, to bring about the complete destruction of Carthage . Rome finally declared war and soon after laid siege to Carthage . The Carthaginians refused to surrender, and the Romans, led by Scipio Africanus Minor, were forced to fight in the streets of the city to gain control of it. They then completely destroyed Carthage and organized Carthaginian domains into the Roman province of Africa .