Editing Semiramis (section)

== Legend according to Diodorus Siculus ==
{{More citations needed section|date=July 2017}}
[[File:Semiramis.jpg|thumb|180px|''The Shepherd finds the Babe Semiramis'' by [[Ernest Wallcousins]], 1915]]
According to [[Diodorus]], a first century BC Greek historian, Semiramis was of noble parents, the daughter of the fish-goddess [[Derketo]] of [[Ascalon]] and of a mortal. He related that Derketo abandoned her at birth and drowned herself. [[Dove]]s fed the child until Simmas, the royal shepherd, found her. Semiramis married [[Onnes (general)|Onnes]] or Menones, a general under King [[Ninus]], and she became an advisor to the king. Her advice led him to great successes. At the Siege of Bactra, she personally led a party of soldiers to seize a key defensive point, leading to the capture of the city.<ref name="AE2014"/><ref>''The Library of History by Diodorus Siculus'', Vol. 1, The Loeb Classical Library, 1933. Retrieved on 2015-03-08 from http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/2A*.html.</ref>

Ninus was so struck that he fell in love with her. He tried to compel Onnes to give her to him as a wife, first offering his own daughter Sonanê in return and eventually threatening to put out his eyes as punishment. Out of fear of the king, and out of doomed passion for his wife, Onnes "fell into a kind of frenzy and madness" and hanged himself. Ninus then married Semiramis.<ref name="AE2014"/><ref>''The Library of History by Diodorus Siculus'', Vol. 1, The Loeb Classical Library, 1933. Retrieved on 2015-03-08 from http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/2A*.html.</ref>

Diodorus relates that after their marriage, Semiramis and Ninus had a son named Ninyas. After King Ninus conquered Asia, including the [[Bactrians]], Ninus was fatally wounded by an arrow. Semiramis disguised herself as her son so the army would follow her instructions, thinking they came from their new ruler. Diodorus writes that her reign lasted for 42 years and that she conquered much of Asia and achieved many feats. She restored ancient [[Babylon]] and protected it with a high brick wall that completely surrounded the city. She built several palaces in Persia, including [[Ecbatana]].<ref>Diod. 2.16.</ref>

She ruled Asia effectively and added [[Libya]] and [[Aethiopia]] to the empire. She went to war with King Stabrobates ([[Supratika]]) of [[India]], having her artisans build an army of [[Military dummy|military dummies]] in the form of false elephants by putting manipulated skins of dark-skinned buffaloes over her camels to deceive the Indians into thinking she had acquired real elephants. This ploy succeeded initially, but she was wounded in the counterattack and her army mainly annihilated, forcing the surviving remnants to re-ford the Indus and retreat to the west.<ref>Diod. 2.16.</ref>

Diodorus mistakenly attributed the [[Behistun Inscription]] to her; it is now known to have been produced by [[Darius the Great]]. Diodorus could be referring to the nearby [[Anubanini rock relief]] which shows the goddess [[Ishtar]] dragging captives towards King [[Anubanini]], he may have mistook Ishtar for Semiramis and Anubanini for Ninus.<ref>Diodorus ''Bibliotheke'' 2.13.2</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Visscher |first1=Marijn |title=Beyond Alexandria : literature and empire in the Seleucid world |date=2020 |location=New York |isbn=9780190059088 |page=73}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last1=Bichler|first1=Reinhold|title=Universale Weltherrschaft und die Monumente an ihren Grenzen.|date=2018-01-02|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvc2rmq3.4|work=Die Sicht auf die Welt zwischen Ost und West (750 v. Chr. - 550 n. Chr.). Looking at the World from the East and the West (750 BCE - 550 CE)|pages=1–30|publisher=Harrassowitz, O|isbn=978-3-447-19363-4|access-date=2021-04-06|last2=Rollinger|first2=Robert|doi=10.2307/j.ctvc2rmq3.4|author2-link=Robert Rollinger|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The writings of Diodorus about Semiramis are strongly influenced by the writings of [[Ctesias of Cnidus]], although his writings about Semiramis do not always follow those by Ctesias.<ref>Sabine Comploi: Die Darstellung der Semiramis bei Diodorus Siculus. In: [[Robert Rollinger]], Christoph Ulf (eds.): Geschlechterrollen und Frauenbild in der Perspektive antiker Autoren. Studien-Verlag, Innsbruck et al. 2000, {{ISBN|3-7065-1409-5}}, pp. 223–244; Kerstin Droß-Krüpe: Semiramis, de qua innumerabilia narrantur. Rezeption und Verargumentierung der Königin von Babylon von der Antike bis in die opera seria des Barock, Wiesbaden 2021, pp. 26–40.</ref>