In which Dido doesn't die

[chickenfeet]

Cavalli's version of the Dido and Aeneas story ends more or less happily.  It also has some rather good music.  More...

Comments

[kalypso]

As I understand it, Iarbas's role in Dido's story predates that of Aeneas; she originally committed suicide to avoid being forced to marry him. Usually, he's the king she outwits when he offers her as much land as she can cover with an ox-hide (she cuts it into very fine strips in order to outline as big a territory as possible), so, on discovering he now has an unwanted colony on his doorstep, he tries to annex it through marriage. Presumably the Romans added Aeneas to the mix to explain the rivalry of Carthage and Rome.

[chickenfeet]

Makes sense. I remember the ox hide story but the rest I'd forgotten.