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40 Things About The Outlandish Math Cult Leader, and Other Unusual Facts From the Ancient World

Khalid Elhassan May 22, 2020 33 min

Democritus and Protagoras - Odysseus and Nausicaa (Ulysses and Nausicaa) — 'Pythagoras and the Fishermen', by Salvatore Rosa. Wikimedia

29. The Real Semiramis

Semiramis. National Geographic History Magazine

The mythical Semiramis is based on the real-life Sammu-Ramat, wife of Assyrian king Shamshi Adad V (reigned 824 – 811 BC). She took control of the kingdom following her husband’s death, and ruled for five years as queen regent for her underage son Adad Nirari III, until he was old enough to rule in his own right.

Steles from that period record Sammu-Ramat as negotiating alliances on behalf of her son, and as a generous patroness of religious temples. She seems to have ruled well enough to become a revered figure in Assyria. Between that, and the fact that rule by a woman was such an extraordinary event in Assyrian history, the story of Sammu-Ramat grew over the years, until she emerged centuries later as a full-blown mythological figure, the legendary Queen Semiramis.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.