in this eighteenth century Italian illustration.]]Semiramis was a legendary Assyrian queen, also known as Semiramide, Semiramida, or Shamiram in Aramaic. Many legends have accumulated around her personality. The legends narrated by Diodorus Siculus, Justin and others from Ctesias of Cnidus make a picture of her and her relationship to king Ninus. Various efforts have been made to identify her with real persons.She is sometimes identified with Shammuramat, the Babylonian wife of Shamshi-Adad V (ruled 811 BC?808 BC).
Biography according to Diodorus Siculus
According to legend, Semiramis was the daughter of the fish-goddess Derketo of Ascalon in Syria and a mortal. Derketo abandoned her at birth and drowned herself. The child was fed by doves until she was found and brought up by Simmas, the royal shepherd. Afterwards she married Onnes or Menones, one of the generals of Ninus. Ninus was so struck by her bravery at the capture of Bactra that he married her, forcing Onnes to commit suic