Dr. Christopher Saladin '17 majored in Classics, history and political science at Augustana. He is an assistant professor of history at Rowan University.
Hill of Dido: Constructing Memory of Carthage's Byrsa Hill
Dr. Christopher Saladin '17 will present a lecture, "Hill of Dido: Constructing Memory of Carthage's Byrsa Hill."
At the heart of ancient Carthage was the fortified citadel of Byrsa Hill. The hill was infamous as the site of two tragic deaths: First, that of the legendary queen Dido and, second, that of the unnamed wife of the Carthaginian leader Hasdrubal, who perished during the Roman siege of Carthage in 146 BCE. For Graeco-Roman authors, the violent deaths of both women served as bookends in Carthage’s own tragic history that began with the death of its founder and ended with the city's utter destruction.
Yet the Byrsa’s story did not end there. When Augustus refounded Carthage as a Roman colony in 28 BCE, the entire city was planned around the old citadel. The Byrsa was transformed into a monumental forum lined with civic buildings that served the Roman provincial administration. The old hill of Dido thus found a new life as the center of imperial power in Roman North Africa. This presentation examines how the memory of the Byrsa hill in Graeco-Roman legend shaped the real hill's redevelopment in colonial Carthage.
Tickets
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