Abstract
Dido’s character, with her tragic fate, seems to echo Medea’s figure of the poetical tradition. Vergil borrowed from Euripides the conception of a woman condemned by her own nature to a painful and troubled existence, torn between reason and love; but he was also inspired by Apollonius’ Medea, analyzing and describing the beginning and the growth of love in Dido. Typically Vergilian is her tragic power and her role in the poem.