Editing Semiramis (section)

== Literary references ==
Semiramis appears in many plays, such as [[Voltaire]]'s tragedy ''[[Sémiramis (tragedy)|Sémiramis]]'' and [[Pedro Calderón de la Barca]]'s drama ''La hija del aire'', and in operas by dozens of composers<ref>{{cite book |last=Frassoni |first=Edilio |date=1980 |editor=Ufficio Stampa dell'E.A. |title=L'Opera di Genova. Stagione Lirica 1980–81. Teatro Margherita |publisher=[[Teatro Carlo Felice|E.A. Teatro Comunale dell'Opera di Genova]] |at= p. 101: "Il lungo cammino di Semiramide nel melodramma"|chapter=Imperatrice di molte favelle|language=it}} Professor Frassoni lists 77 settings of the story of Semiramis, from [[Antonio Cesti]]’s ''La Semirami'' (Vienna, 1662), to Costantino Dall’Argine's ballet ''La Semiramide del Nord'' (Milan, [[La Scala]], 1869). To be precise, the list also contains 5 pasticcios. 3 ballets and 6 works by unknown authors, but does not include subsequent revisions and rewrites by the same composer. It does not claim to be exhaustive: for instance, just referring to the 20th century, [[Ottorino Respighi]]’s tragic poem ''[[Semirâma]]'' (Bologna, 1910) and [[Arthur Honegger]]’s ballet-melodrama ''Sémiramis'' mentioned below, are not included.</ref> including [[Antonio Vivaldi]], [[Christoph Willibald Gluck]], [[Domenico Cimarosa]], [[Josef Mysliveček]], [[Giacomo Meyerbeer]], and [[Gioachino Rossini]]. [[Arthur Honegger]] composed music for [[Paul Valéry]]'s 1934 "ballet-pantomime" ''Semiramis'', which was revived in 1992 after many years of neglect. 

In [[Eugène Ionesco]]'s play ''[[The Chairs]]'', the Old Woman character is referred to as Semiramis.

[[File:Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Semiramis Receiving Word of the Revolt of Babylon (1624).jpg|thumb|''Semiramis hearing of the insurrection at Babylon'' by [[Giovanni Francesco Barbieri]], 1624, [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]]]]
Semiramis was mentioned by [[William Shakespeare]] in ''[[Titus Andronicus]]'' (II.1) and ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'' (Ind.2). Portrayal of Semiramis has been used as a metaphor for female rulership. Sometimes she was referenced during political disputes regarding rule by women, both as an unfavorable comparison, for example, against [[Elizabeth I|Elizabeth I of England]], and as an example of a woman who governed well.<ref name="AG2006"/> Powerful female monarchs [[Margaret I of Denmark]] and [[Catherine the Great]] were given the designation [[Semiramis of the North]].<ref>Martin E Malia ''Russia under Western Eyes: From the Bronze Horseman to the Lenin Mausoleum.'' Harvard University Press, Jun 30, 2009 pg. 47</ref><ref>William Russell and Charles Coote ''The History of Modern Europe.'' A. Small, 1822 pg.379</ref>

The mother of the sultan in "[[The Man of Law's Tale]]" in [[Geoffrey Chaucer]]'s ''[[The Canterbury Tales|Canterbury Tales]]'' is compared to Semiramis, with the intention of suggesting that the mother of the sultan is an evil woman just like Semiramis.

In the twentieth century, Semiramis has appeared in several [[sword and sandal]] films. She was portrayed by [[Rhonda Fleming]] in ''[[Queen of Babylon]]'' (1954) and by [[Yvonne Furneaux]] in ''[[I am Semiramis]]'' (1963).