Shammuramat has long been recognized as the primary inspiration behind the legendary Assyrian warrior-queen and heroine Semiramis, though the Semiramis tradition likely also draws some inspiration from several other real and mythological figures of the
ancient Near East, such as the later Assyrian consorts
Atalia (wife of
Sargon II) and
Naqi'a (wife of
Sennacherib). Though no
cuneiform writings concerning the legend of Semiramis survive or have yet been discovered, it is believed to have originated as a native Assyrian Mesopotamian legend, only later finding its way into first
Persian and then
Greco-Roman literature. The legend is chiefly known today through the writings of Diodorus Siculus and the 5th-century BC historian
Ctesias. According to Ctesias, Semiramis was born in Ashkelon as the daughter of a Levantine mortal and the Greek goddess
Derceto. Supposedly Derceto had been cursed to fall in love with the ordinary Levantine man as a result of angering
Aphrodite. Though she gave birth to a daughter, Derceto was later ashamed of sleeping with the man and thus killed him and abandoned her daughter, throwing herself into a lake. This led her to transform into a mermaid-like creature. According to Ctesias, the inhabitants of Ashkelon and the rest of the Levant thereafter no longer ate fish, instead honoring them as gods. The baby Semiramis was kept alive through the aid of doves, who kept her warm with their wings and fed her until she was eventually found and adopted by a shepherd named Simmas. The connection of Semiramis to Ashkelon and the cult of fish is a perplexing one. In ancient Mesopotamia, the god
Nabu was sometimes connected to fish and mermen and mermaids frequently figured as statues in his temples and as part of his iconography. Given that the temple dedication by Bel-tarṣi-ilumma which mentioned Shammuramat was concerning a temple of Nabu, a spurious connection could perhaps be drawn to the historical queen. It is possible that there was a cult of Nebo (the West Semitic version of the Assyrian-Babylonian Nabu) at Ashkelon but no evidence for this exists. Another inspiration for the tale, in particular Semiramis's connection to doves and Semiramis and her mother killing their lovers, could be
Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess of love and war. The Assyrian and Babylonian queens were strongly connected to Ishtar in iconography. If Shammuramat resigned and became a temple woman it is also possible that this was the inspiration for later traditions designating her as a divine figure. In almost all legends, Semiramis becomes the wife of
Ninus (a purely legendary figure), a legendary founder of
Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire and a figure who in virtually all stories he appeared in was overshadowed by his wife. Ctesias dated the time of Semiramis and the foundation of the Assyrian Empire to 2166 BC. In Ctesias's account, young Semiramis was first married to the Assyrian general
Onnes, with whom she had two children. Onnes is described as fighting alongside Ninus in an attempt to capture the city of
Bactra. When the siege drags on, he sends for his wife, who he misses dearly, a message Semiramis interprets as a call for military assistance. Thus, she equips herself for war and, using clothes and armor, masks her identity as a woman. As part of her equipment, Semiramis invented long-sleeved pants that intentionally masked the gender of the bearer, according to Ctesias the precursor of later pants popular among the
Medes and
Persians. Upon her arrival in Bactra, Semiramis proves to be a skilled warrior and succeeds in capturing the city, securing the admiration and attraction of Ninus. When Ninus threatens to blind Onnes due to Onnes refusing to relinquish his wife to him, Onnes hangs himself. After this, Semiramis becomes Ninus's wife. A king stealing a general's wife has parallels in Assyrian history; a letter of unknown date relates that an official revolted against the king due to the official's wife being taken into the royal harem. Though described as fierce women evoking ancient Ishtar in Ctesias's account, both Semiramis and Dercerto were sometimes in later works transformed into almost unrecognizable figures. In the 1st-century BC
Ninus Romance, Ninus and Semiramis are described as two star-crossed lovers who meet at a time when they are too young to marry. In this tale, Derceto, now called Derceia, is a caring mother who wishes to smooth the way for the romance and Semiramis is a tongue-tied, shy and weeping teenager. In the accounts of Ctesias and Diodorus Siculus, Ninus is old at the time of their marriage and dies soon after the birth of their son
Ninyas. The death of Ninus while Ninyas is still young leaves Semiramis to rule the empire. Semiramis erects a huge mound over Ninus's grave, using his bones to embellish Nineveh and turning his grave into a monument of her own strength and power. Later on, she constructs several more mounds to house the remains of generals, officials and her former lovers, sometimes buried alive. To rival Nineveh, founded by her husband, Semiramis is then credited with founding
Babylon. Ctesias credits Semiramis with creating the
Hanging Gardens of Babylon, though Diodorus Siculus attributes them a later king. Other than the baseless speculation that Shammuramat was of Babylonian origin, there is no evidence for any historical connection between Shammuramat and Babylon, nor of any building works being conducted in the city under Adad-nirari (who did not control Babylonia). The Semiramis of legend is also described as leading military campaigns, for instance against both Armenia and India. The tale of Semiramis's conflict with Armenia could perhaps derive from remembrance of the campaigns of Adad-nirari, some of which were directed against
Urartu (a precursor of Armenia). One of Adad-nirari's frequent foes was the Urartian king
Argishti I, whose father
Menua, a contemporary of Shammuramat, constructed a great canal which later on curiously at some point was named after Shammuramat as the
Shamiram Canal. The Indian campaign, perhaps parallelling the
Indian campaign of Alexander the Great, is described by Ctesias as Semiramis's only failure when she is forced to turn back after twice being injured by the Indian king. In several of the legends, including that of Ctesias, Semiramis's life comes to an end when she is killed by her son Ninyas, who is described as a weak man who avoided other men and warlike activities. According to the 2nd-century AD historian
Justin, Ninyas killed Semiramis because she attempted to have sexual relations with him; accusations of sexual voracity were often flung in history on warrior women, due to their unusual position, and on widows. Some other late traditions accused Semiramis of having sex with a horse and committing suicide by burning herself alive. These negative portrayals have little to do with the more ancient versions of the legend, such as that of Ctesias, wherein Semiramis kills her lovers and never remarries out of fear of losing the throne. == Notes ==