page_title: Semiramis
section_title: In ancient traditions
hierarchical_section_title: Semiramis / In ancient traditions
context_page_description: Semiramis was the mythological Lydian-Babylonian wife of Onnes and Ninus, succeeding the latter to the throne of Assyria, as in the fables of Movses Khorenatsi.
  The legends narrated by Diodorus Siculus, who drew from the works of Ctesias of Cnidus, describe her and her relationships to Onnes and King Ninus, a mythical king of Assyria not attested in the far older and more comprehensive Assyrian King List. Armenians and the Assyrians of Iraq, northeast Syria, southeast Turkey, and northwest Iran still use the Shamiram as a given name for female children.
  The real and historical Shammuramat was the Assyrian wife of Shamshi-Adad V, ruler of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and its regent for five years until her son Adad-nirari III came of age and took the reins of power. She ruled at a time of political uncertainty, which is one of the possible explanations for why Assyrians may have accepted her rule. It has been speculated that ruling successfully as a woman may have made the Assyrians regard her with particular reverence, and that the achievements of her reign were retold over the generations until she was turned into a mythical figure.
context_section_description: Legends describing Semiramis have been recorded by writers including Plutarch, Eusebius, Polyaenus, and Justinus. She was associated with Ishtar and Astarte since the time before Diodorus. The association of the fish and dove is found at Hierapolis Bambyce (Mabbog, now Manbij), the great temple which, according to one legend, was founded by Semiramis, where her statue was shown with a golden dove on her head.
  The name of Semiramis came to be applied to various monuments in Western Asia and Anatolia, the origin of which was forgotten or unknown. Various places in Assyria and throughout Mesopotamia as a whole, Media, Persia, the Levant, Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Caucasus bore the name of Semiramis, but slightly changed, even in the Middle Ages. She is credited with founding the city of Van in order to have a summer residence, and the city may also be referred to as Shamiramagerd (city of Semiramis). Strabo credits her with building earthworks and other structures "throughout almost the whole continent." Nearly every stupendous work of antiquity by the Euphrates or in Iran seems to have ultimately been ascribed to her, even the Behistun Inscription of Darius. Herodotus ascribes to her the artificial banks that confined the Euphrates and knows her name as borne by a gate of Babylon.
  Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus credits her as the first person to castrate a male youth into eunuch-hood: "Semiramis, that ancient queen who was the first person to castrate male youths of tender age" 
  Armenian tradition portrays Semiramis negatively, possibly because of a victorious military campaign she prosecuted against them. One of the most popular legends in Armenian tradition involves Semiramis and an Armenian king, Ara the Handsome. According to the legend, Semiramis had fallen in love with the handsome Armenian king Ara and asked him to marry her. When he refused, in her passion she gathered the armies of Assyria and marched against Armenia. During the battle Semiramis was victorious, but Ara was slain despite her orders to capture him alive. To avoid continuous warfare with the Armenians, Semiramis, reputed to be a sorceress, took his body and prayed to the gods to raise Ara from the dead. When the Armenians advanced to avenge their leader, she disguised one of her lovers as Ara and spread the rumor that the gods had brought Ara back to life, convincing the Armenians not to continue the war. In one persistent tradition, Semiramis' prayers are successful and Ara returns to life. During the 19th century, it was also reported that a village called Lezk, near Van, traditionally held that it was Ara's place of resurrection.
caption: Semiramis staring at the corpse of Ara the Beautiful, 1899, by Vardges Sureniants
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