foryan
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(2/4/08 6:39 pm)
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Semiramis
“Queen of Shinar: The Mysterious Dove”
Lady Queen Semiramis of Ashkelon (800 B.C.)
Egyptologist extol Queen Hatshepsut, possibly the Sheba that seduced King Solomon. Homer sings of beauteous Helen of Troy, "the face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Ilium.“ Virgil romanticizes Dido, who mourning Aeneas, died for love, and Cleopatra of the Nile weaken the bond of the powerful Roman regime by seducing Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. Marie Antoinette was admired for her beauty, grace and elegance with her tastes setting fashion trends for Europe, while also displaying an open defiance of royal authority with the "Diamond Necklace Affair,” yet none of these royal ladies evoke the magic, strength and mystery of the spectacular Lady Semiramis, (the Mylitta Sumat), Queen of the golden age in the “Land of Shinar.” For it is written that she, unlike the previous, ruled alone on her own authority in a male dominant era; a time when young nations of the Mid-East were very impressionable, violent, volatile and militarily cruel.
Semiramis was breathtakingly beautiful! Having qualities that delight the senses, she was extremely beautiful no doubt, in the nameless beauty that wins, no less than in the lofty beauty that compels. Her form was matchless in symmetry, so that her every gesture, in the royal saddle or on the throne was womanly - dignified and graceful - while each garment she wore, from royal robe and jewel tiara to steel breastplate and golden headpiece, seemed that in which she looked her best. With a woman’s strength of body, she possessed more than a man’s power of mind and force of will.
A shrewd observer would have detected in those bright eyes, despite their thick lashes and loving glance, the genius that can power an army, and maintain an empire. In that delicate, exquisitely chiseled face - the lines that tell of tame-less pride and unbending resolution; in the full curves of her rosy mouth, in the clean-cut jaw and prominence of the beautiful molded chin - marked a cold recklessness that could harden on occasion to pitiless cruelty - stern, impracticable, immovable as fate.
In “The Land of Shinar,” all women are beautiful; but by the side of the Great Queen of Assyria, the fairest of them show like pearls against a diamond. When she turns her eyes on you, it is like the golden luster of noonday; and her smile is brighter and more glorious than sunset in the desert -- sweeter, softer, lovelier than the evening breeze amongst the stars. To look on her face unveiled is to be the Great Queen's slave forevermore!...
The legends derived by Diodorus Siculus, Justin and others from Ctesias of Cnidus were completely disproved, and Semiramis had come to be treated as a purely legendary figure. It was not until 1910 that the researches of Professor Lehmann-Haupt of Berlin restored her to her rightful place in Babylonian-Assyrian history. Immortalized as a the beautiful and alluring personality she came to represent in ancient times…her many wonders in the arid region of the past still enchant us to this day.
Various places in Media bore the name of Semiramis, even in the middle ages, and the old name of Van was Shamiramagerd, Armenian tradition regarding her as its founder according to the writing of Moses of Chorene. These facts are partly to be explained by observing that, according to her legends, in her birth as well as in her disappearance from earth, Semiramis appears as a goddess, and herself connected with the doves of Ishtar (in Armenia, she became connected with their own cultural goddess, Saris). The same association of the dove is found at Hierapolis the great temple at which, according to one legend, was founded by this mysterious Dove of Paradise where her statue was shown with a golden dove on her head. A popular etymology, which connected the name with the Assyrian summat, (dove), seems to have first started the identification of the historical Queen. Even to this day in places like Damascus to Egypt, many popular hotels and exotic inns proudly carry her name.
The irresistible charms of Semiramis, her alluring power and strength (which, however, belong only to the legends), and other features of the legend, all bear out the view that she is primarily a real person only personified as a goddess....and so fittingly conceived as Semiramis (Sammuramat), the real great queen of Assyria who ruled around 800 B.C. Although there is not a trace of any literature found about Sammuramat, a column discovered in 1909 describes her as a woman of importance alongside the royal palace with Shamsi-Adad, King of the World, King of Assyria, King of the Four Quarters of the World and Adad-Nirari was her son. The dedication of this column shows that Semiramis occupied a position of unique influence, lasting probably for more than one reign. Under her rule, Assyrian influence became widespread in such area as the Indo-Germanic Medes, the Chaldaeans, Egypt and Armenia.
At length, after her reign of forty-two years, she delivered up the kingdom to her son Ninyas, and disappeared, or according to what seems to be the original form of the story, was turned into a mysterious dove and was thenceforth worshipped as a deity. The name of Semiramis came to be applied to various monuments in Western Asia, the origin of which were forgotten or unknown yet ultimately every stupendous work of antiquity by the Euphrates or in Iran seems to have been ascribed to her, even the Behistun inscriptions of Darius, and in Irag, the famous "Hanging Gardens" of ancient Babylon. Of this we already have evidence in Herodotus, who ascribes to her name as borne by a gate of Babylon.
The story “Queen of Shinar” taken from much of these ancient writing, and brought to life in form to give an overview of the potential this story of Queen Semiramis has as becoming a great classic in film or on the big screen for many ages to come and enjoy. She was stupendous, she was powerful, she was beautiful, she was mysterious, she was legendary, and she has left a legacy in the Middle-Eastern traditions, only similar to many Biblical legends….and yet, it is amazing that someone with so much notoriety…seems to have never existed? Maybe it is about time to bring this legend to life…?
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