OS 156 - The Mythical Semiramis in Ancient History

Oldest Stories

The tale of Semiramis is one of those myths that everyone used to know, and many people used to take quite seriously. It is a tale from the Greek era which purports to tell the whole story of the great and ancient Babylonian and Assyrian empires, ultimately based on a now-lost set of legends that grew around the historical queen Shammu-ramat, wife and Queen of Shamshi-Adad V and mother of Adad-Nirari III. It will be for next episode to see the height of her power in real history, but it is worthwhile to pause and consider what was thought of her and of Mesopotamia throughout much of the late classical and medieval periods. To read from the horse's mouth, a good translation can be found here:

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/2A*.html

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