Sometimes known as "Elissa" or "Alashiya," Dido was the first ruler of Carthage in Greco-Roman legend — but her life ended with suicide.

According to Greco-Roman legend, Dido founded the ancient city of Carthage in modern-day Tunisia by requesting a seemingly small amount of land from a local chieftain — only as much as an ox-hide could cover. Dido then cleverly cut that ox-hide into tiny strips and laid them out in a circle, claiming a much larger space than expected.

Encompassing an entire hillside, Carthage quickly transformed into a bustling metropolis, and Dido became famous not only as the founder of the city, but also its first queen. However, as ancient myths tell it, her power and influence couldn’t protect her from meeting a tragic fate.

In Virgil’s Aeneid , Queen Dido fell

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