A fierce storm broke out at sea, with stormy winds driving the Trojan fleet to Carthage. It was no ordinary storm. Juno, Queen of Heaven, had stirred the winds and sea. Since the time of Judgment of Paris, the goddess hatred for the Trojans hasn't lesser since the death of Paris and the sack of mighty Troy. She was supporter of the Greek army, determined to rid of Troy for being slight in a beauty contest, when Paris awarded the apple of discord to Venus.
In Carthage, the goddess had hoped that its ruler and its kingdom would turn against these strangers, or at least divert Aeneas from fulfilling his destiny in Italy. But this kingdom was ruled by a great queen named Dido.
There are at least two Didos in mythology. Dido was the founder of Carthage hundreds of years before Rome when she fled from Phoenicia after their brother, Pygmalion, had murdered Sychaeus, Dido's husband and uncle. Other Dido is the one who with her sister Anna meet Aeneas.The queen welcomed Aeneas and the Trojans to stay in Carthage, offer her palace to the Trojan royalty, in the hope that Aeneas would in time become her husband.
Venus took action to ensure her son's survival. The love goddess persuaded her son Cupid (Eros), to make the Carthaginian queen fall in love with Aeneas, so the Carthaginian queen did not harm her son. During a hunting trip, the storm scattered the hunting party. Aeneas and Dido took sheltered into this cave, and the next morning, it soon became common knowledge in Carthage that Dido had slept with Aeneas. Though, they were not married, Dido was crazy in love, believing that they were married. Aeneas had a year-long affair with the Carthaginian queen Dido, who proposed that the Trojans settle in her land and that she and Aeneas reign jointly over their peoples. A marriage of sorts was arranged between Dido and Aeneas at the instigation of Juno, who was told that her favorite city would eventually be defeated by the Trojans' descendants. Juno hoped that Aeneas would marry Dido, in the hope that he would forget his destiny in Italy. Venus has the opposite thought to this matter.
Aeneas's mother Venus realized that her son and his company needed a temporary breather to reinforce them for the journey to come and Juno’s trick. However, the messenger god Mercury was sent by Jupiter and Venus to remind Aeneas of his journey and his purpose, compelling him to leave secretly. Aeneas tried to leave Carthage in secret, but Dido found out and tried to dissuade him from leaving. Aeneas told her that he was reluctant to leave, but he was given an order by Jupiter that his home was in Italy. Dido could neither detain nor hurt him; she cursed him that her death would haunt him for the rest of his life. She made further entreaties to Aeneas as the Trojans made preparation for the journey.
When the final preparation was made, Dido had given up. Dido became inconsolable and quite mad over Aeneas abandoning her. Dido asked Anna to order a preparation should be made to sacrifice to Pluto, all the possessions that belonged to Aeneas, such as his sword and clothing, would be burned in the pyre. Dido told her sister it was the only way that she could forget the traitorous Trojan. Anna didn't realize her sister's true intention.
The moment she saw the ships left her harbor, Dido returned to the bed which she had shared with Aeneas. On the bed were Aeneas sword and clothing. With final words to the gods, she falls upon Aeneas' sword.
Upon Dido’s lifeless body; Anna realized the true purpose of the funeral purpose. Rather than wait, Anna had her sister placed upon the funeral pyre and set alight. Anna uttered a curse that would forever pit Carthage against Rome, an enmity that would culminate in the Punic Wars. Aeneas did see the black smoke from a distant, but did not know it was from the fire of Dido's funeral pyre.
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