Semi-legendary Queen of Assyria, the daughter of the goddess Derceto, and wife of Ninus, with whom she is supposed to have founded Babylon. The historical germ of the story seems to be the three years' regency of Sammu-ramat (811808 BC), widow of Shamshi-Adad V, but the details are legendary, derived from Ctesias and the Greek historians, with elements of the Astarte myth.
Semiramis (c. The legends narrated by Diodorus Siculus, Justin and others from Ctesias of Cnidus make a picture of her and her relationship to king Ninus.
The name Semiramis is a later, Hellenized form of the Akkadian name "Sammur-amat", or "gift of the sea."
Biography according to Diodorus Siculus
According to legend, Semiramis was the daughter of the fish-goddess Derketo of Ascalon in Syria and a mortal.
The Jewish historian Josephus relates Ninus to the Biblical hunter-king Nimrod.
The name of Semiramis came to be applied to various monuments in Western Asia, the origin of which was forgotten or unknown (see Strabo xvi. Various places in Media bore the name of Semiramis, but slightly changed, even in the middle ages, and the old name of Van Province was Shamiramagerd, Armenian tradition regarding her as its founder. These facts are partly to be explained by observing that, according to the legends, in her birth as well as in her disappearance from earth, Semiramis appears as a goddess, the daughter of the fish-goddess Atargatis, and herself connected with the doves of Ishtar or Astartë. The same association of the fish and dove is found at Hierapolis (Bambyce, Mabbog), the great temple at which, according to one legend, was founded by Semiramis (Lucian, De dea Syria, 14), where her statue was shown with a golden dove on her head (33, 39).
The irresistible charms of Semiramis, her sexual excesses, and other features of the legend, all bear out the view that she is primarily a form of Astartë, and so fittingly conceived as the great queen of Assyria.
Semiramis in Armenian legend
One of the most popular legends in Armenian tradition involves Semiramis and an Armenian king, Ara the Beautiful.
According to the legend, Semiramis had heard about the fame of the handsome Armenian king Ara, and lusted after his image. In order to avoid continuous warfare with the Armenians, Semiramis prayed to the gods to revive Ara from the dead. Semiramis, reputed to be sorceress, took his body and tried in vain to enliven him. It should be noted that there are many versions to the ending of the legend but it is usually accepted that Ara never came back to life.
Although there are doubts about her historical existence, evidence in Assyrian records suggests that she may be a dim reflection of Shammuramat, the Babylonian wife of Shamshi-Adad V.
In later traditions
In the Divine Comedy Dante sees Semiramis among the souls of the lustful in the second circle of Hell.
Protestant minister Alexander Hislop elevated Semiramis to a cosmic feature; in his book The Two Babylons, Hislop attempted to demonstrate that Semiramis and Nimrod, briefly mentioned in the Book of Genesis as a "mighty hunter before the LORD," are identical to Isis and Osiris, or Astarte and Tammuz. Semiramis goes on to become the Blessed Virgin Mary according to Hislop's version of the tale; most of the world's mythical figures are retellings of the tale of Semiramis and Nimrod.
Semiramis appears in a number of plays and operas, most notably Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, Domenico Cimarosa's opera Semiramide and Gioacchino Rossini's opera, also called Semiramide.
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