Editing Semiramis (section)

== The Two Babylons ==
{{main|The Two Babylons}}
Despite a lack of supporting evidence in the Bible, the book ''[[The Two Babylons]]'' (1853), by the Christian minister [[Alexander Hislop]], was particularly influential in characterizing Semiramis as the [[Whore of Babylon]].<ref name="AE2014"/> Hislop claimed that Semiramis invented [[polytheism]] and, with it, [[mother goddess|goddess worship]].<ref>{{cite web |first=Alexander |last=Hislop |url=http://philologos.org/__eb-ttb/default.htm |title=The Two Babylons |publisher=Philologos.org |access-date=2013-01-04 |archive-date=2014-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328052108/http://philologos.org/__eb-ttb/default.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> He claimed that the head of the [[Catholic Church]] inherited and continued to propagate a millennia-old secret [[New World Order (conspiracy)|conspiracy]], founded by Semiramis and the Biblical king [[Nimrod]], to propagate the [[pagan]] religion of ancient [[Babylon]].<ref name="Grabbe">{{cite book |last=Grabbe |first=Lester L. |author-link=Lester L. Grabbe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K2hIY_E_ngYC&pg=PA28 |title=Can a 'History of Israel' Be Written? |date=1997 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn=978-0567043207 |editor1-last=Mein |editor1-first=Andrew |location=London, England |pages=27–28 |editor2-last=Camp |editor2-first=Claudia V.}}</ref>

Hislop asserted that Semiramis was a [[queen consort]] and the mother of [[Nimrod]], builder of the Bible's [[Tower of Babel]]. He claimed that Semiramis and Nimrod's incestuous male offspring was the Akkadian deity [[Tammuz (deity)|Tammuz]] and that all divine pairings in religions were retellings of this story.<ref name="Grabbe"/> These claims are still circulated among some evangelical Protestants,<ref name="Grabbe"/> in the form of [[Jack Chick]] [[Religious tracts|tracts]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/5023/5023_01.asp |title=Man in Black ©2003 by Jack T. Chick LLC |publisher=Chick.com |access-date=2014-08-11}}</ref> [[comic book]]s, and related media.

[[Lester L. Grabbe]] has claimed that Hislop's argument, particularly his identification of Ninus with [[Nimrod]], is based on a misunderstanding of historical Babylon and its religion. Grabbe criticized Hislop for portraying Semiramis as Nimrod's consort, despite that she has not been found in a single text associated with him, and for portraying her as the "mother of harlots", even though this is not how she is depicted in any of the historical texts where she is mentioned.<ref name="Grabbe" /><ref name="Mcllhenny">{{cite book |last=McIlhenny |first=Albert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KymmAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 |title=This Is the Sun?: Zeitgeist and Religion (Volume I: Comparative Religion) |publisher=Lulu.com |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-105-33967-7 |page=7}}</ref> [[Ralph Woodrow]] also has been critical of this interpretation and has stated that Alexander Hislop "picked, chose and mixed" portions of various myths from different cultures.<ref>Ralph Woodrow "''THE TWO BABYLONS'': A Case Study in Poor Methodology", in ''Christian Research Journal'' volume 22, number 2 (2000) of the  (Article DC187)</ref>