Semiramis
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Semiramis (c. 800 BC) was a legendary Assyrian queen, also known as Semiramide, Semiramida, or Shamiram in Aramaic. Many legends have accumulated around her personality. The legends narrated 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" [citation needed].
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[edit] Biography according to Diodorus Siculus
According to legend, Semiramis was the daughter of the fish-goddess Derketo of Ascalon in Syria and a mortal. Derketo abandoned her at birth and drowned herself. The child was fed by doves until she was found and brought up by Simmas, the royal shepherd. Afterwards she married Onnes or Menones, one of the generals of Ninus. Ninus was so struck by her bravery at the capture of Bactra that he married her, forcing Onnes to commit suicide. After Ninus's death she reigned as Queen in her own right, and conquered much of Asia.
The Jewish historian Josephus relates Ninus to the Biblical hunter-king Nimrod. It is said that even though Nimrod was her son she married him when he grew to be a strong hunter.[citation needed]
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.
[edit] 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. Semiramis, reputed to be sorceress, took his body and tried in vain to enliven him. When Armenians advanced to avenge their leader, she disguised one of her lovers and spread the rumor that Gods brought Ara back to life. As a result, the war was ceased.[1] 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.
[edit] Existence?
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. After her husband's death, she appears to have served as regent for several years for her son, Adad-nirari III. But this identification is disputed.
[edit] 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. 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. John Hagee also preached a sermon in May 2006 about "Counterfeit Christianity: Symbolism over Substance" in which he seemed to accept this account. [2]
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.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
