SEMIRAMIS

SEMIRAMIS: translation

(SAMMU-RAMATINassyrian)

Assyrian queen, wife of Shamshi-Adad V (reigned 823–811 B.C.), mother of Adadnirari III. This woman achieved remarkable fame and power in her lifetime and beyond. According to contemporary records, she had considerable influence at the Assyrian court; she was able to erect her own inscribed monuments in the ceremonial center of Assur. She even accompanied her husband on a military campaign, a most unusual undertaking for an Assyrian queen. After the death of ShamshiAdad V, she assumed the office of regent for five years while Adadnirari was a minor. Semiramis became the subject of legendary tales, and Herodotus credits her with building the embankments in Babylon. According to Diodorus Siculus, she was semidivine, nourished as an infant by doves, and of exceptional beauty, and she became the wife of the Assyrian king Ninus. She then had a most extraordinary career, founding Babylon and a world empire that stretched from Egypt to India, returning eventually to Nineveh, where she changed into a dove, having handed her empire to her son Ninyas.