(fab. hist.), a celebrated queen of Assyria, daughter of the godless Derceto, by a young Assyrian. She was exposed in a desert; but her life was preserved by doves for one whole year, till Simmas, one of the shepherds of Ninus, found her and brought her up as his own child. Semiramis, when grown up, married Menones, the governor of Nineveh, and accompanied him to the siege of Bactria; where, by her advice and prudent directions, she hastened the king's operations, and took the city. These eminent services, together with her uncommon beauty, endeared her to Ninus. The monarch asked her of her husband, and offered him his daughter Sofana in her stead; but Menones, who tenderly loved Semiramis, refused; and when Ninus had added threats to entreaties, he hanged himself. No sooner was Menones dead, than Semiramis, who was of an aspiring soul, married Ninus, by whom she had a son called Ninyas. Ninus was so fond of Semiramis, that at her request he resigned the crown, and commanded her to be proclaimed queen and sole empress of Assyria. Of this, however, he had cause to repent: Semiramis put him to death, the better to establish herself on the throne; and when she had no enemies to fear at home, she began to repair the capital of her empire, and by her means Babylon became the most superb and magnificent city in the world. She visited every part of her dominions, and left everywhere immortal monuments of her greatness and benevolence. To render the roads passable and communication easy, she hollowed mountains and filled up valleys, and water was conveyed at a great expense by large and convenient aqueducts to barren deserts and unfruitful plains. She was not less distinguished as a warrior: Many of the neighbouring nations were conquered; and when Semiramis was once told as she was dressing her hair, that Babylon had revolted, she left her toilette with precipitation, and though only half dressed, she refused to have the rest of her head adorned before the sedition was quelled and tranquillity re-established. Semiramis has been accused of licentiousness; and some authors have observed that she regularly called the strongest and stoutest men in her army to her arms, and afterwards put them to death, that they might not be living witnesses of her incontinence. Her passion for her son was also unnatural; and it was this criminal propensity which induced Ninyas to destroy his mother with his own hands. Some say that Semiramis was changed into a dove after death, and received immortal honours in Assyria. It is supposed that she lived about 11 centuries before the Christian era, and that she died in the 62nd year of her age and the 25th of her reign. Many fabulous reports have been propagated about Semiramis, and some have declared that for some time she disguised herself and passed for her son Ninyas. Lempiere's Bibliotheca Clallica.