Semiramis- Mesopotamian FigureMortal"Queen of Assyria"
Also known as: Sammu-ramat, Shamiram, and Σεμίραμις
Description
Born from the Syrian fish-goddess Derceto and abandoned in the wilderness, the infant Semiramis was fed and warmed by doves until shepherds found her. She rose to become queen of Assyria, conqueror of nations, and builder of Babylon's legendary gardens.
Mythology & Lore
Born of the Fish-Goddess
Semiramis was born from the union of a mortal man with Derceto, the Syrian fish-goddess also known as Atargatis. Ashamed of the affair, Derceto abandoned her infant daughter in the rocky wilderness and threw herself into a lake, taking on the form of a fish. Doves found the child. They fed her with milk stolen from nearby herdsmen's camps and warmed her with their wings until shepherds, puzzled by the thefts, followed the birds and discovered the girl. They named her Semiramis, "she who comes from the doves," and raised her among their flocks.
A young general named Onnes encountered Semiramis and was so struck by her beauty and intelligence that he married her. But it was Ninus, king of Nineveh, who changed her fate. When Semiramis devised the stratagem that captured a besieged city Ninus could not take, the king demanded her for his own wife. Onnes, broken by the loss, killed himself. Semiramis married the king of Assyria.
Queen, Conqueror, Dove
After Ninus died, Semiramis assumed sole rule. In Diodorus's telling, she conquered Egypt and marched an army numbering in the millions to the borders of India. She raised the walls of Babylon and planted its terraced gardens, which later ages counted among the Seven Wonders. The queen who had been nursed by doves built monuments that outlasted every king who followed her.
When her time came, Semiramis did not die. She transformed into a dove and ascended to heaven, completing the circle that had begun with the birds who saved her as an infant. The creature that had given her life gave her immortality.