Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1878-08-06
Semiramis, the Mother of Babylon.
DN DIR. LOUIS LEGRAND.

fiction, in the records of remote eras,
that many writer's and readers relegate
all ancient history to the region of ira
dition. But this is manifestly greater
error than an:implicit belief in whatever
story has fioated down to us through
time History is written in the lives of
men of might and action, and that their
deeds should be variously construed or
estimated is only human. 1t was so In
centuries past, it is so to-day, and will
be so as long as men are mortal.
OF the brief, brilliant career of Zenobla
we have not ipuch authentic data; while
of Cleopatra, her iptiHGte association
with Cesaa and his immediate successors
makes her story familiar and minute.
But going back beyond Roman civiliza
ton to the age when Babylon rose to
greatness, we enter the period Of myth,
tradition and monumental records /; and,
singular as it may seem, in the ruins Of
slowly exhuming the truth, and resolv-
ing both myth and tradition into the
order of fact or fiction. Hgt we have
not yet ascertained definitely the exact
period of the reign of Semiramis, the
Mother Of Babylon, that magnificent
city of the Eaphrates, which for so
many generations was one Of the Won
ders Of the world. She is supposed,
however. to have flourished, about one
Thousand yeafa after Noah, or cotempo-
raneous with Gideon, Judge Of Israel,
and of Theseus, King Of Athens.
Semiramie WAS born at Ascalon in
Syria. of protested descent from the
gods. In one of the deciphcred inscrip-
lions of Babylon she traces her lineage
back through seven generations of
Ogyges-her father being Jupiter Be-
las. She was, however, a founding.
and was brought Up by q shepherd
Her great beauty conimepqed her to
Menoneg (Afedon}, one of the Generals
of Minus, King OF Assyria and founder
of a vast empire, of which Nineva was
the capital. Ola daring disposition, she
shared the seventies of war with her
husband, as well as participating in the
pleasure ana excitement of the chase
At the siege OF Bactria she won distinc
ton by her wise advice and saga6ity In
pressing the siege, and finally obtained
great honor by her conduct In leading a
select body of troops by night against
point in the walls. With her men she
scaled the walls, and thus opened the
way into the city.
The act brought her to Ninusis atten-
ton, and, charmed by her wisdom,
beauty and courage the '.conqueror of
Asia" demanded her from Menones in
marriage offering his genera. his
daughter, the Princess Sosana, In ex-
change. This Menones refused. He
was fondly attached to his young wife.
Whereupon the king threatened him
with the loss of his eyes unless he COM
piled with the loyal request. The SOL
der, in despair, slew himself, and his
widow soon welded the CID King
Seniiramis SO developed her power to
rule and her ambition for conquest, that
Minus gave her full sway. A sou was
born to them and then Minus died, hav-
ing first bequeathed to the still youthful
wife the government during their sons,
Ninias', minority. Tradition, however,
we may add, gives another aud snure
romantic version of her accession to
power. 1t is related that the king, to
crafty his gneen, gave her one day in
which to rule absolutely She was
seated on the throne. given the sigDet-
ring and all officers of army, state and
the household were commanded to obey
her sole authority. Thus secure in her
own sovereignty, her first order was the
Imprisonment and immediate strangu-
lation of the aged king, and hencefoIth
she ruled imperially. This story is dis
credited. although still retained in poet
nv and satire. The fact that Semiramis,
after she had chosen Babylon for her
capital, there built for her husbands
body magnificent mau.oleunI, would
seem to prove her innocence of his muir
der.
Abandoning Einevch IS the capital.
for reasons not apparent, she ohcae the
site of Babylon, which then was mark
ed by the ruins of the Tower of Babel,
and on the plaius surrounding, in the
course of a few years. erected a city of
beauty and splendor, the
while her conauests were extending her
her resources and her glory,
until upon one of her temples she was
able to inscribe:
mature bestowed on me the form Of
a woman my actions have surpassed
those of the most valient Of men. /
ruled the empire of Minus. which
stretched eastward as far as the river
southwark to the land OF in
cense and myrrh, and northward to the
country of the Scythians and the Sogo
lians. Before me no Assyrian had seen
the great sea. I beheld with my own
eyes four seas, and their shores &C
my power constrained
the mighty rivers to flow according to
my will and led their waters to fertil-rl
ize lands that had been before barren
and without inhabitants. 1 raised i'm
towers; I constructed paved
roads in ways hitherto untrodden but
by the beasts of the forest. and in the
midst of these mighty works 1 found |
time for pleasure and friendship.
A boast that seems fully to have been
Justified. For proof she could point to
5he new Babylon. whose marvellous
beauty and stupendous structures SEC
,eeding generations only emulated but
lid not surpass-to the deserts of Syria
md Arabia that she made to become
ertile and populous-to the conquered
Medes, Peropians, who. as prisoners
md bondsmen, supplied the hands that
,uilt her city, her Notifications, her
her canals, and enriched
ler own people with their labor. into