Cy sensuit histoire de dido autrement apelle ellisse laquelle su royne de cartage · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Cy sensuit histoire de dido autrement apelle ellisse laquelle su royne de cartage
Period: 1400-1450;
Geographic: North Africa; Carthage
Description: Dido (also called Elissa), the founder and queen of Carthage, is illustrated within the city walls in the centre of the image stabbing herself with a knife. After her husband, Acerbas, had been killed by her brother, she fled to Africa and founded Carthage and vowed to remain chaste in honour of her husband. When a foreign king asked for Dido’s hand in marriage and threatened to sack the city if she denied, she stabbed herself to protect her chastity. The city of Carthage is in the background of the image. There are three citizens standing beside Queen Dido.
Image Creator: Master of Boethius (Illuminator)
Type: Text; Illumination
Identifier: mta:19938
Language: frm
Source Name: Des cleres et nobles femmes, De claris mulieribus in an anonymous French translation
Parent Collection: 1410 Paris; 1410 Paris
Image: mta_19938_OBJ.jpg
Collection: Early Modern Women
Subject: Elissa; Important Women; Important Queens; Famous Women; Chastity; Dido