Pompeius Trogus on Dido

Around the turn of the millennium, c. 2 BCE – 2 CE, Pompeius Trogus completed a remarkable work: the Historiae Philippicae, the only universal history in Latin composed by a non-Christian. Trogus’ work covered the history of the world from the first empire under Ninus, king of Assyria, to the bipolar contemporary world, with Rome and Parthia negotiating an unease peace. His work, therefore, not only sought to encompass all of history, but also the entirety of the known world of the greater ancient Mediterranean.

About Trogus, we know very little. He was a Vocontian Gaul from a military family. His grandfather received Roman citizenship from Pompeius Magnus for service in the war against Sertorius. Trogus’ father served Julius Caesar in the army and as a secretary.

Trogus’ original work is lost, but an Epitome, or abbreviated account, was composed by an otherwise unknown Justin at some point between the second and fourth centuries CE. This includes a digression on how colonists from the Phoenician city of Tyre came to Africa led by Queen Elissa (Dido) and how first flourished but her suicide to avoid remarriage led to a plague and further disastrous consequences for the Carthaginians.