Editing Semiramis (section)

== Other ancient traditions ==
{{Quote box|fontsize=100%|quote=<poem>
[...]Here are other three
   Whose love was evil: and Semiramis,
[[Byblis]], and [[Myrrha]] are oppressed with shame
For their unlawful and distorted love.”
</poem>|source=&nbsp;—[[Petrarch]]'s ''[[Triumphs]]'', Canto III, lines 75 to 78}}
Legends describing Semiramis have been recorded by approximately 80 ancient writers including [[Plutarch]], [[Eusebius]], [[Polyaenus]], [[Valerius Maximus]], [[Orosius]], and [[Justin (historian)|Justinus]].<ref>for an overview of the sources cf. DROSS-KRÜPE, K. 2020. ''Semiramis, de qua innumerabilia narrantur. Rezeption und Verargumentierung der Königin von Babylon von der Antike bis in die opera seria des Barock'' Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 588-596.</ref> She was associated with [[Ishtar]] and [[Astarte]] since the time before Diodorus.<ref name="AE2014"/> The association of the fish and dove is found at Hierapolis Bambyce ([[Mabbog]], now [[Manbij]]), the great temple that according to one legend, was founded by Semiramis,<ref>[[Lucian]], ''De dea Syria'', 14</ref> where her statue was shown with a golden dove on her head.<ref>Lucian, ''De dea Syria'', 33, 39</ref>

The name of Semiramis came to be applied to various [[monument]]s in Western Asia and Anatolia, the origins of which ancient writers sometimes asserted had been forgotten or unknown.<ref name="See Strabo xvi. I. 2"/> Various places in [[Assyria]] and throughout [[Mesopotamia]] as a whole, [[Medes|Media]], [[Persia]], the [[Levant]], Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, and the [[Caucasus]] bore the name of Semiramis in slightly changed forms, even some named during the [[Middle Ages]]. She is credited with founding the city of [[Van, Turkey|Van]] in Turkey in order to have a summer residence and that city may be found referred to as ''Shamiramagerd'' (city of Semiramis).<ref name="Boettiger"/> 
[[File:Shamiram ara.jpeg|thumb|180px|''Semiramis staring at the corpse of [[Ara the Handsome]]'', 1899, by [[Vardges Sureniants]]]]
[[Herodotus]], an ancient Greek writer, geographer, and historian living from {{circa}} 484 to 425 BC, ascribes to Semiramis the artificial banks that confined the Euphrates<ref name="i. 184"/> and knows her name as borne by a gate of Babylon.<ref name="iii. 155"/> [[Strabo]], a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian who lived in [[Asia Minor]] during 64 or 63 BC to 24 AD, credits her with building earthworks and other structures "throughout almost the whole continent".<ref name="Smith1887">{{cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=W. Robertson|title=Ctesias And the Semiramis Legend|journal=The English Historical Review|volume=II|issue=VI|year=1887|pages=303–317|issn=0013-8266|doi=10.1093/ehr/II.VI.303}}</ref> Nearly every stupendous work of antiquity by the [[Euphrates]] or in Iran seems to have been ascribed to Semiramis, even the [[Behistun Inscription]] of [[Darius I of Persia|Darius]].<ref name="Diodorus Siculus ii. 3"/><ref name="Reade2000">{{cite journal|last1=Reade|first1=Julian|title=Alexander the Great and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon|journal=Iraq|volume=62|year=2000|pages=195–217|issn=0021-0889|doi=10.2307/4200490|jstor=4200490|s2cid=194130782}}</ref>

Roman historian [[Ammianus Marcellinus]] ({{circa|330|400}}), who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquity, credits her as the first person to [[Castration|castrate]] a male youth into [[eunuch]]-hood: "Semiramis, that ancient queen who was the first person to castrate male youths of tender age".<ref>Lib. XIV.</ref>

[[Armenia]]n tradition portrays Semiramis negatively, possibly because of a victorious military campaign she waged against them.<ref name="AE2014"/> One of the most popular legends in Armenian tradition involves Semiramis and an Armenian king, [[Ara the Handsome]]. According to that 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.<ref name="Hacikyan2000"/><ref name="Boettiger"/>

During the battle Semiramis was victorious, but Ara was slain despite her orders to capture him alive. This legend continues that to avoid continuous warfare with the Armenians, Semiramis, who they alleged was a sorceress, took his body and prayed to deities 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 deities had brought Ara back to life, reportedly, convincing the Armenians not to continue the war.<ref name="Hacikyan2000"/><ref name="Boettiger">{{cite book|author=Louis A. Boettiger|title=Studies in the Social Sciences: Armenian Legends and Festivals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=22UiAAAAMAAJ|volume=14|year=1918|publisher=The University of Minnesota|pages=10–11|chapter=2}}</ref>

In one persistent tradition in this vein, the prayers of Semiramis are successful and Ara returns to life.<ref name="Hacikyan2000"/><ref name="Chahin2001">{{cite book|author=M. Chahin|title=The Kingdom of Armenia: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OR_PHoKZ6ycC|year=2001|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-7007-1452-0|pages=74–5}}</ref> During the nineteenth century, it was reported that a village called Lezk, near [[Van, Turkey|Van]] in Turkey, traditionally held that it was the location of the resurrection of Ara.<ref name="Hacikyan2000">{{cite book|author=Agop Jack Hacikyan|title=The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the oral tradition to the Golden Age|url=https://archive.org/details/heritageofarmeni00ajha|url-access=registration|year=2000|publisher=Wayne State University Press|isbn=0-8143-2815-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/heritageofarmeni00ajha/page/37 37]–8}}</ref>