Martwa Dydona
The Dead Dido

Summary/Abstract: The text is an analysis of the story of Dido as shown in Virgil’s Aeneid. The author presents pre-Virgilian sources of the history of the Phoenician queen, recounts the three principal versions of Dido’s biography and sets the Virgil’s narration against the opinions of ancient commentators (Servius, Macrobius) and other Roman writers reminiscing about Dido’s ill-fated past. All the testimonies bring out the uncontestable claim that it was Virgil who first wrote about the tragic love entanglement between Aeneas and Dido, a story which rapidly gained popularity upon the publication of the Aeneid. The article discusses Virgil’s subversive understanding of gender and the conventional traits of national character (Roman and barbaric, as typified in Roman literature).

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