Belus was a legendary king of
Tyre in
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...
's ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...
'' and other Latin works. He was said to have been the father of
Dido of Carthage,
Pygmalion of Tyre
Pygmalion (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) was king of Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre from 831 to 785 BCE and a son of King Mattan I (840–832 BC).
During Pygmalion's reign, Tyre seems to have shifted the heart of its trading empire from the Middle East to the ...
, and
Anna.
[Virgil. '']Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...
'' Book 1, Line 729. The historical father of these figures was the 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 ...
(reigned 840 BC – 832 BCE), also known as (, 'Gift of the Lord'), which
classicist
Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek literature, Ancient Greek and Roman literature and ...
T. T. Duke suggests was made into the name Belus as a
hypocorism
A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek ; sometimes also ''hypocoristic''), or pet name, is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for Isabel or ''Bob (given name), Bob'' fo ...
.
See also
*
Other people and places named Belus
*
King of Tyre
The King of Tyre is Lucifer the ruler of Tyre (Lebanon), Tyre, the ancient Phoenician city in what is now Lebanon. The traditional list of 12 kings, with reigns dated to 990–785 BC, is derived from the Lost literary work, lost history of Menander ...
, list of historical kings of Tyre
*
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 ...
, Baal of Tyre
*
Baal-Eser II, identified by some to be Balazeros (grandfather of Pygmalion according to
Menander of Ephesus
Menander of Ephesus (; fl. c. early 2nd century BC) was the historian whose lost work on the history of Tyre was used by Josephus, who quotes Menander's list of kings of Tyre in his apologia for the Jews, '' Against Apion'' (1.18).
"This Menan ...
)
References
820s BC deaths
Phoenician characters in the Aeneid
Year of birth unknown
9th-century BC kings of Tyre
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