Semiramis

se-mir'a-mis, an Assyrian princess. The Syrian form of the name means "loving doves." In history, Semiramis was the wife of Ninus, the founder of Nineveh. According to an Assyrian myth, she was the daughter of an Assyrian goddess and possessed surpassing wisdom and beauty. Tradition, the source of information of the Greek historians, credited her with the government of Assyria after her husband's death and with the completion of the walls of Babylon, hanging gardens, the temple of Bel, and the bridge over the Euphrates. She is said also to have led the armies of Assyria in Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, and India. Although her portrait appears on Assyrian monuments, being, in fact, the only female face seen there, the cuneiform inscriptions say nothing of the deeds popularly ascribed to her. She lived possibly 811-782 B. C. Margaret, the warlike queen of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden from 1353-1412, has been called the Semiramis of the North. The name was coveted also by Catherine II of Russia.