"Dido Building Carthage" (1815) Joseph Mallord William Turner
Meanwhile, Queen Dido, herself a refugee from her homeland in Phoenician Tyre, is building an impressive new city of her own, Carthage on the northern coast of Africa. Aeneas in his wanderings eventually reaches Carthage and is quite taken with the city and with its queen. Dido is stricken with passion for Aeneas, thanks to the influence of his divine mother, Venus (a.k.a. Aphrodite).