Acerbas was a Tyrian priest of

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

(that is,

Melqart Melqart () was the tutelary god of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre and a major deity in the Phoenician and Punic pantheons. He may have been central to the founding-myths of various Phoenician colonies throughout the Mediterranean, as well ...

, the Tyrian Hercules), who married Elissa, the daughter of king

Mattan I Mattan, Matan, or Mittin ruled Tyre (Lebanon), Tyre from 840 to 832 BC, succeeding his father Baal-Eser II. He was the father of Pygmalion of Tyre, Pygmalion, king of Tyre from 831 to 785 BC, and of Dido (Queen of Carthage), Dido, the legendary q ...

, and sister of Pygmalion. He was possessed of considerable wealth, which, knowing the avarice of Pygmalion, who had succeeded his father, he concealed in the earth. But Pygmalion, who heard of these hidden treasures, had Acerbas murdered, in hopes that through his sister he might obtain possession of them. But the prudence of Elissa saved the treasures, and she emigrated from

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

. They landed and settled in North Africa, founding the city of

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

. The name Acerbas (Sicharbas, Zacherbas) can be equated with the name Zikarbaal, king of Byblos mentioned in the Egyptian ''Tale of Wenamon''. In this account Acerbas is the same person as Sychaeus, and Elissa the same as

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (located ...

in Virgil. The names in

Justin Justin may refer to: People and fictional characters * Justin (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Justin (historian), Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527) ...

are undoubtedly more correct than in Virgil; for

Servius Servius may refer to: * Servius (praenomen), a personal name during the Roman Republic * Servius the Grammarian (fl. 4th/5th century), Roman Latin grammarian * Servius Asinius Celer (died AD 46), Roman senator * Servius Cornelius Cethegus, Roma ...

remarks, that Virgil here, as in other cases, changed a foreign name into one more convenient to him, and that the real name of Sychaeus was Sycharbas, which seems to be identical with Acerbas.

,
ad Aen.
' 1.343

References

Footnotes

Other sources

* Phoenician characters in the Aeneid Melqart People from Tyre, Lebanon Priests {{AncientGreece-royal-stub