Acerbas was aTyrian priest ofHercules (that is,Melqart, the Tyrian Hercules), who marriedElissa, the daughter of kingMattan I, and sister ofPygmalion. He was possessed of considerable wealth, which, knowing the avarice of Pygmalion, who had succeeded his father, he concealed in the earth. But Pygmalion, who heard of these hidden treasures, had Acerbas murdered, in hopes that through his sister he might obtain possession of them. But the prudence of Elissa saved the treasures, and she emigrated fromPhoenicia.[1] They landed and settled in North Africa, founding the city ofCarthage.The name Acerbas (Sicharbas, Zacherbas) can be equated with the nameZikarbaal, king of Byblos mentioned in the EgyptianTale of Wenamon.
In this account Acerbas is the same person as Sychaeus, and Elissa the same asDido in Virgil.[2] The names inJustin are undoubtedly more correct than in Virgil; forServius remarks, that Virgil here, as in other cases, changed a foreign name into one more convenient to him, and that the real name of Sychaeus was Sycharbas, which seems to be identical with Acerbas.[3]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Acerbas".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
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