Graeco-Roman mythological system was one in constant contact, syncretism but also conflict with the mythology and mytho-historical elements of the rest of the Mediterranean world. In the example of Dido/Elissa(or Elisha if we follow the Phoenician name), the heroine of a Phoenician-Carthaginian foundation legend recorded in successive Greek/Hellenistic and Roman versions, the Roman tendency of syncretize and adapt played a significant role as well. The coin from the time of Gordian III, from Tyre, Dido's mytho-historical home city, would fit into this context well.
The coin, minted under Gordian III, bore the image of Gordian III on one side and on the other side depicted a symbolic image of Dido founding Carthage, holding the ruler and sceptre and behind a palm tree with the construction of gates of Carthage ongoing, with Tyre's name as a Roman colonia shown alongside the name of Dido in Greek and Phoenician.
The elements within the coin would evoke the Didonian legend succinctly---the ruler evoking the legend of Dido founding Carthage by cutting cowshed into stripes and then arrange them into a semicircle and thus create the largest land possible, while the scepter showing her queenship in her own right, and the construction process, with the city gate in construction, would show the foundation of a city in a way easily understandable to others.
And how would this legend about a Tyrian princess founding Carthage fit into the context of a Gordian III-era coin?
Like numerous other cities across the Mediterranean, Tyre was raised to colonia status under the Severans, a dynasty of mixed Punic, Roman and Syrian origin, a status commemorated on the coin itself with the Latin inscription. This would necessitate a narrative that would bridge the city’s Roman-ness with the city’s own historical heritage. The Didonian legend, while being about a Tyrian princess fleeing her brother by founding a city abroad, would serve this purpose well---to the Romans who embraced Vergil’s narrative(while for those who didn’t, she was, as shown in the work of Pompeius Trogus as epitomized by Justin, a univira queen who, paradoxically, embodied many of the virtues Romans demanded of women as well in spite of her very un-Roman status of being a ruler), she was the passionate, tragic heroine who was transformed from the univira-queen she was at the beginning of the narrative to the lover of Aeneas by the force of Venus, only prevented from fulfilling such a desire by the destiny of Aeneas to found his city(Morford et al.), and thus someone fully part of the Roman mythos. On the other hand, as a Tyrian princess, she was, ultimately, one of “their own”, and the Greek and Phoenician inscriptions on the coin would show this too well. In such a way, the creators of the coin-design cleverly honored the Tyrian heritage all while anchoring itself fully within the Roman present.
Overall, Didonian legend, as a legend connecting Roman and Phoenician-Carthaginian world, would be inherently an intriguing and often politically useful legend for both Romans proper and those incorporated into the Roman sphere alike. This coin from the time of Gordian III, employing this legend, succinctly connecting its Roman present and its ancient path in a way that would both resonate with Romanitas and local identity.
Sources cited
Iustinus, Marcus Iunianus. M. Juniani Justini epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi. Germany, Akad., 1886.
Morford, Mark, et al. Classical Mythology. Oxford University Press.