Pop Culture References of Wizard101: Zafaria – Queen Elissa

Queen Elissa – Dido, founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage
https://www.wizard101central.com/wiki/NPC:Queen_Elissa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dido

Queen Elissa is the spirit of the first queen of the Elephants. She needs help cleansing the sacred Elephant Graveyard of evil. Morganthe and her agents have disturbed Queen Elissa’s rest and have profaned the Elephant Graveyard.

Dido, also known as Elissa, was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in modern Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (today in Lebanon) who fled tyranny to found her own city in northwest Africa. Known only through ancient Greek and Roman sources, all of which were written well after Carthage’s founding, her historicity remains uncertain. The oldest references to Dido are attributed to Timaeus, who was active around 300 BC, or about five centuries after the date given for the foundation of Carthage.

Details about Dido’s character, life, and role in the founding of Carthage are best known from the account given in Virgil’s epic poem, the Aeneid, written around 20 BC, which tells the legendary story of the Trojan hero Aeneas. Dido is described as a clever and enterprising woman who flees her ruthless and autocratic brother, Pygmalion, after discovering that he was responsible for her husband’s death. Through her wisdom and leadership, the city of Carthage is founded and made prosperous.

Dido remains an enduring figure in Western culture and arts since the early Renaissance and into the 21st century. In the early 20th century, she was also chosen as a national symbol in Tunisian nationalism and so Tunisian women can be poetically referred to “Daughters of Dido”.

The current list of all the (known) Zafaria references are located here.

Although I am well versed in Pop Culture references, I do not claim to have caught them all. Let me know your favorites in the comments and if I’ve missed one you caught, let me know so I can add it to the list.

Text for this article is excerpted from the linked wiki pages.

Queen Elissa image is from Wizard101, and is copyright of KingsIsle Entertainment.

Queen Dido painting is borrowed from Wikipedia. It is in the public domain.

Image usage qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.