Page:Herodotus and the Empires of the East.djvu/52

46 duce the cult of her own home into Assyria. Since Ramman-nirari III., as a genealogical inscription shows, came to the throne in his childhood, we may suppose that Sammuramat was the mother of the king, and administered affairs during his minority. In this way we can explain her remarkable influence. With what energy the Assyrian government was conducted during the minority of the king is shown by the fact that from 812 to 800, the first twelve years of the reign, three expeditions were made against Media, two against Manna (between Media and Armenia), two against the land of the Ḫatti (Hittites), and two against the "west land" (Phœnicia and Palestine). Doubtless the energy of this queen regent was equally manifest in the administration of the internal affairs of the government, as is proved by the introduction of the Nebo cult into Assyria.

The statement of Herodotus that the "queen" contributed to the welfare of her subjects by the construction of dikes corresponds very closely to the picture of Semiramis in the cuneiform documents. A regent who displayed such energy and statesmanship must have lived long in the remembrance of the people. Later centuries not only attribute to this ruler many achievements whose authors were forgotten, but also surround her picture with a wreath of legends. Several of these Semiramis legends, as told by the Greeks, are hard to reconcile with the portrait of the Assyrian ruler. Mythological elements of Semitic origin, as it seems, were united through the free play of poetic fancy with the person of the historical Semiramis.

Ctesias narrates that Semiramis was the daughter of a Syrian and the Derceto who threw herself into the sea