Semiramis

Semiramis (c. 800 BC) was a legendary Assyrian queen, also known as Semiramide, Semiramida, or Shamiram in Aramaic. A mass of legend has accumulated around her personality. The legends derived by Diodorus Siculus, Justin and others from Ctesias of Cnidus make a picture of her and her relationship to king Ninus. Various efforts have been made to identify her with real persons.

The name Semiramis is a later, Hellenized form of the Akkadian name "Sammur-amat", or "gift of the sea." The initial element "sammur" when translated into Hebrew becomes "Shinar" (the Biblical name for lower Mesopotamia), and has been claimed to be the word from which we derive "Sumer" .

Her traditional biography

The legends ran as follows: Semiramis was the daughter of the fish-goddess Atargatis of Ascalon in Syria, and was miraculously preserved by doves, who fed her until she was found and brought up by Simmas, the royal shepherd. Afterwards she married Onnes or Menones, one of the generals of Ninus, who was so struck by her bravery at the capture of Bactra that he married her, after Onnes had committed suicide. The Jewish historian Josephus relates Ninus to the Biblical hunter-king Nimrod. After Ninus's death she reigned as Queen in her own right, and conquered much of Asia.

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. I. 2). Ultimately every stupendous work of antiquity by the Euphrates or in Iran seems to have been ascribed to her even the Behistun Inscription of Darius (Diod. Sic. ii. 3). Of this we already have evidence in Herodotus, who ascribes to her the banks that confined the Euphrates (i. 184) and knows her name as borne by a gate of Babylon (iii. 155). 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. In the 20th century, the poet Nairi Zarian retold the story of Ara the Beautiful and Shamiram, considered a masterpiece of Armenian literary drama.

According to the legend, Semiramis had heard about the fame of the handsome Armenian king Ara, and lusted after his image. She asked Ara to marry her, but he refused; upon hearing this, she gathered the armies of Assyria and marched against Armenia. The battle was supposed to have taken place in the Ararat valley, during which Ara was slain. In order to avoid continuous warfare with the Armenians, Semiramis prayed to the gods to revive Ara from the dead. Dog-like creatures called Aralez ("lickers of Ara") descended from the skies and licked his wounds, after which he came back to life.

The Historical Semiramis?

Although the legendary Semiramis is often considered a purely mythical figure, evidence in Assyrian records suggests that she may, in fact, be a dim reflection of Sammur-amat, the Babylonian wife of Shamshi-Adad V. After her husband's death, she appears to have served as regent for at least five years for her son, Adad-nirari III. But this identification is disputed.

In later literature

In the Divine Comedy Dante sees Semiramis among the souls of the lustful in the second circle of Hell.

The Protestant mythographer Alexander Hislop elevated Semiramis to a cosmic feature; in his book The Two Babylons, Hislop attempts 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. This mythography is supposed to demonstrate that Roman Catholicism is in fact paganism. Few accept Hislop's fanciful mythography today, but his version of the story continues to be recirculated in Jack Chick's tracts and comic books.

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. She has also appeared in several sword and sandal films.

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