A New System; or, an Analysis of Ancient Mythology. Volume II
By Jacob Bryant
NINUS and SEMIRAMIS.
Having given an account of the mythic heroes of Egypt, I think it necessary to subjoin an history of two others of the like stamp, who have made no less figure in the annals of Babylon and Assyria. The persons, to whom I allude, are Ninus and Semiramis; whose conquests, though they did not extend so far as those above, are yet alike wonderful, and equally groundless. It is said of Ninus, that he was the first king of [911]Assyria: and being a prince of great power, he made war on his neighbours the Babylonians, whom he conquered. He afterwards invaded the Armenians; whose king Barsanes, finding himself much inferior to his adversary, diverted his anger by great presents, and a voluntary [912]submission. The next object of his ambition was Media, which he soon subdued; and getting Phanius, the king of the country, into his hands, together with his wife and seven children, he condemned them all to be crucified. His hopes being greatly raised by this success, he proceeded to reduce all the nations to his obedience between the Tanaïs and the Nile: and in seventeen years he made so great a progress, that, excepting Bactria, all Asia submitted to him as far as the river Indus. In the series of conquered countries Ctesias enumerates Egypt, Phenicia, Coile Syria, Cilicia, Pamphylia, Lycia, Caria, Phrygia, Mysia, Lydia, Cappadocia, and the nations in Pontus, and those near the Tanaïs. To these are added the Dacians, Hyrcanians, Derbicians, Carmanians, Parthians, with all Persis and Susiana, and the numerous nations upon the Caspian sea. After these notable actions he laid the foundation of the great city Nineve: which by mistake is said to have been built upon the banks of the [913]Euphrates. His last expedition was against the Bactrians: at which time he first saw Semiramis, a woman of uncommon endowments, and great personal charms. He had an army which amounted to seven millions of foot, and two millions of horse, with two hundred thousand chariots with scythes. For the possibility of which circumstances Diodorus tries to account in favour of the historian, from whom he borrows. By the conduct of Semiramis the Bactrians are subdued; and Ninus takes the capital of the country: upon which, in return for her services, he makes Semiramis his queen. Not long after he dies, leaving only one son by this princess, who was called Ninyas.
The history of Semiramis is variously related by different authors. Some make her a native of Ascalon; and say that she was exposed in the desert, and nourished by pigeons. She was in this situation discovered by a shepherd named Simma. He bred her up, and married her to Menon; whom she deserted for Ninus. During her son's minority she assumed the regal state: and the first work which she undertook was the interment of her husband. She accordingly buried him with great splendor; and raised over him a mound of earth, no less than a mile and a quarter high, and proportionally wide at bottom: after which she built Babylon. This being finished, she made an expedition into Media; and wherever she came left memorials of her power and munificence. This was effected by erecting vast structures, forming lakes, and laying out gardens of great extent; particularly in Chaonia and Ecbatana. In short, she levelled hills, and raised [914]mounds of an immense height, which retained her name for ages. After this she invaded Egypt, and conquered Ethiopia, with the greater part of Lybia: and having accomplished her wish, and there being no enemy to cope with her, excepting the people of India, she resolved to direct her forces towards that quarter. She had an army of three millions of foot, five hundred thousand horse, and one hundred thousand chariots. For the passing of rivers, and engaging with the enemy by water, she had procured two thousand ships, to be so constructed as to be taken to pieces for the advantage of carriage: which ships were built in Bactria by experienced persons from Phenicia, Syria, and Cyprus. With these she entered into a naval engagement with Strabrobates king of India; and at the first encounter sunk a thousand of his ships. Upon this she built a bridge over the river Indus, and penetrated into the heart of the country. Here Strabrobates engaged her; but being deceived by the numerous appearance of her elephants, at first gave way. For being deficient in those animals, she had procured the hides of three thousand black oxen; which being properly sewed, and stuffed with straw, formed an appearance of so many elephants. All this was done so naturally, that the real animals could not stand the sight. But this stratagem being at last discovered, Semiramis was obliged to retreat, after having lost a great part of her [915]army. Soon after this she resigned the government to her son Ninyas, and died. According to some writers, she was slain by his hand.
The history of Ninus and Semiramis, as here represented, is in great measure founded upon terms, which have been misconstrued; and these fictions have been invented in consequence of the mistakes. Under the character of Semiramis we are certainly to understand a people styled Semarim, a title assumed by the antient Babylonians. They were called Semarim from their insigne, which was a dove, expressed Semaramas, of which I shall speak hereafter more at large. It was used as an object of worship; and esteemed the same as Rhea, the mother of the gods: [916]Σεμιραμιν και την Ῥεαν καλουμενην παρ' Ασσυριοις.
If we take the history of Semiramis, as it is given us by Ctesias and others; nothing can be more inconsistent. Some make her the wife of Ninus: others say that she was his [917]daughter: and about the time of her birth they vary beyond measure. She is sometimes made cöeval with the city Nineve: at other times she is brought down within a few centuries of [918]Herodotus. She invades the Babylonians before the city was [919]built, from whence they were denominated: and makes sumptuous gardens at Ecbatana. Hence that city is introduced as coëval with Nineve: though, if the least credit may be given to [920]Herodotus, it was built many ages after by Deïoces the Mede. The city Nineve itself is by Ctesias placed upon the [921]Euphrates; though every other writer agrees, that it lay far to the east, and was situated upon the Tigris. This shews how little credit is to be paid to Ctesias. The whole account of the fleet of ships built in Bactria, and carried upon camels to the Indus, is a childish forgery. How can we suppose, that there were no woods to construct such vessels, but in the most inland regions of Asia? The story of the fictitious elephants, made out of the hides of black oxen, which put to flight the real elephants, is another silly fable. Megasthenes, who wrote of India, would not allow that Semiramis was ever in those [922]parts. Arrian seems to speak of it as a groundless [923]surmise. Her building of Babylon was by [924]Berosus treated as a fable. Herennius Philo maintained, that it was built by a son of Belus the wise, two thousand years before her [925]birth. Suidas says, that she called Nineve [926]Babylon: so uncertain is every circumstance about this Heroine. She is supposed to have sent to Cyprus, and Phenicia, for artists to construct and manage the ships abovementioned; as if there had been people in those parts famous for navigation before the foundation of Nineve. They sometimes give to Semiramis herself the merit of building the [927]first ship; and likewise the invention of weaving cotton: and another invention more extraordinary, which was that of emasculating [928]men, that they might be guardians, and overseers in her service. Yet, it is said of her, that she took a man to her bed every night, whom she put to death in the morning. How can it be imagined, if she was a woman of such unbridled [929]lust, that she would admit such spies upon her actions? We may as well suppose, that a felon would forge his own gyves, and construct his own prison. Claudian thinks, that she did it to conceal her own sex, by having a set of beardless people about her.
[930]Seu prima Semiramis astu
Assyriis mentita virum, ne vocis acutæ
Mollities, levesque genæ se prodere possent,
Hos sibi junxisset socios: seu Parthica ferro
Luxuries nasci vetuit lanuginis umbram;
Servatosque diu puerili flore coegit
Arte retardatam Veneri servire juventam.
In respect to Semiramis I do not see how this expedient could avail. She might just as well have dressed up her maids in mens clothes, and with less trouble. In short the whole of these histories in their common acceptation is to the last degree absurd, and improbable: but if we make use of an expedient, which I have often recommended, and for a person substitute a people, we shall find, when it is stripped of its false colouring, that there is much truth in the narration.
It was a common mode of expression to call a tribe or family by the name of its founder: and a nation by the head of the line. People are often spoken of collectively in the singular under such a patronymic. Hence we read in Scripture, that Israel abode in tents; that Judah was put to the worst in battle; that Dan abode in ships; and Asher remained on the sea-coast. The same manner of speaking undoubtedly prevailed both in Egypt, and in other countries: and Chus must have been often put for the Cuthites, or Cuseans; Amon for the Amonians; and Asur, or the Assyrian, for the people of Assyria. Hence, when it was said, that the Ninevite performed any great action, it has been ascribed to a person Ninus, the supposed founder of Nineve. And as none of the Assyrian conquests were antecedent to Pul, and Assur Adon, writers have been guilty of an unpardonable anticipation, in ascribing those conquests to the first king of the country. A like anticipation, amounting to a great many centuries, is to be found in the annals of the Babylonians. Every thing that was done in later times, has been attributed to Belus, Semiramis, and other, imaginary princes, who are represented as the founders of the kingdom. We may, I think, be assured, that under the character of Ninus, and Ninyas, we are to understand the Ninevites; as by Semiramis is meant a people called Samarim: and the great actions of these two nations are in the histories of these personages recorded. But writers have rendered the account inconsistent by limiting, what was an historical series of many ages, to the life of a single person. The Ninevites and Samarim did perform all that is attributed to Semiramis, and Ninus. They did conquer the Medes, and Bactrians; and extended their dominions westward as far as Phrygia, and the river Tanais, and to the Southward as far as Arabia, and Egypt. But these events were many ages after the foundation of the two kingdoms. They began under Pul of Nineve; and were carried on by Assur Adon, Salmanassur, Sennacherib, and other of his successors. Nineve was at last ruined, and the kingdom of Assyria was united with that of [931]Babylonia. This is probably alluded to in the supposed marriage of Semiramis and Ninus. Then it was, that the Samarim performed the great works attributed to them. For, exclusive of what was performed at Babylon; There are, says [932]Strabo, almost over the face of the whole earth, vast [933]mounds of earth, and walls, and ramparts, attributed to Semiramis; and in these are subterraneous passages of communication, and tanks for water, with staircases of stone. There are also vast canals to divert the course of rivers, and lakes to receive them; together with highways and bridges of a wonderful structure. They built the famous terraces at [934]Babylon; and those beautiful gardens at Egbatana, after that city had fallen into their hands. To them was owing that cruel device of emasculating their slaves, that their numerous wives, and concubines might be more securely guarded: an invention, which cannot consistently be attributed to a woman. They found out the art of weaving cotton: which discovery has by some been assigned to those of their family, who went into Egypt: for there were Samarim here too. In consequence of this, the invention has been attributed to a Semiramis, who is here represented as a man, and a king of the country: at least it is referred to his reign. [935]Επι τε Σεμιραμεως βασιλεως Αιγυπτιων τα βυσσινα ἱματια ἑυρησθαι ἱστορουσιν. The Samarim of Egypt and Babylonia, were of the same family, the sons of Chus. They came and settled among the Mizraim, under the name of the shepherds, of whose history I have often spoken. The reason of their being called Semarim, and Samarim, I shall hereafter disclose, together with the purport of the name, and the history, with which it is attended.
[911] Diodorus Sicul. l. 2. p. 90.
[912] Diodorus Sicul. l. 1. p. 91.
[913] Ibid. p. 92.
[914] Ἁυτη μεν απεδεξατο χωματα ανα το πεδιον εοντα αξιοθεητα. Herod. l. 1. c. 184.
Such χωματα were raised by the Amonians in all places where they settled, called ταφοι.
Four such were in Troas. Εισι μεν ουν λοφοι τετταρες, Ολυμπιοι καλουμενοι. Strabo. l. 10. p. 720. There were such also of the Amazons in Mauritania.
[915] She carried back but twenty men, according to Strabo. l. 15. p. 1051.
[916] Chron. Paschale. p. 36. Semiramis was, we find, Rhea: and Rhea was the same as Cybele, the mother of the Gods: την Ῥεαν, Κιβελην, και Κυβην, και Δινδυμηνην. Strabo. l. 10. p. 721.
[917] Cononis narrationes apud Phot. p. 427.
[918] Herodot. l. 1. c. 184. five ages (γενεαι) before Nitocris the mother of Labynitus, whom Cyrus conquered.
It may be worth while to observe the different opinions of authors about the time, when Semiramis is supposed to have lived.
| Years. | |
| According to Syncellus she lived before Christ | 2177 |
| Petavius makes the term | 2060 |
| Helvicus | 2248 |
| Eusebius | 1984 |
| Mr. Jackson | 1964 |
| Abp. Usher | 1215 |
| Philo Biblius from Sanchoniathon (apud Euseb. Præp. Evang. l. 1. p. 31.) about | 1200 |
| Herodotus about | 713 |
What credit can be given to the history of a person, the time of whose life cannot be ascertained within 1535 years? for so great is the difference of the extremes in the numbers before given.
See Dionys. Perieg. Schol. in v. 1006.
[919] Diodorus Sicul. l. 1. p. 90.
[920] Herodotus. l. 1. c. 98.
[921] Diodorus Sicul. l. 1. p. 92.
[922] Strabo. l. 15. p. 1007.
[923] Arrian. Hist. Ind. p. 318.
[924] Josephus cont. Ap. l. 1. c. 19. p. 451.
[925] Steph. Byzant. Βαβυλων.
[926] Suidas: Σεμιραμις.
[927] Pliny. l. 7. p. 417.
[928] Semiramis teneros mares castravit omnium prima. Marcellinus. l. 14. c. 6.
[929] Σεμιραμις λαγνος γυνη, και μιαιφονος. Athenag. Legatio. p. 307.
[930] Claudian. in Eutrop. l. 1. v. 339.
[931] This is the reason that we find these kingdoms so often confounded, and the Babylonians continually spoken of as Assyrians, and sometimes as Persians. Βαβυλων Περσικη πολις. Steph. Byz.
[932] Strabo. l. 16. p. 1071.
[933] These mounds were high altars, upon which they sacrificed to the Sun. By Ctesias they are supposed to have been the tombs of her lovers, whom she buried alive. Syncellus. p. 64.
[934] They built Babylon itself; which by Eupolemus was said to have been the work of Belus, and the Giants. Euseb. Præp. l. 9. c. 17. p. 418. Quint. Curt. l. 5. c. 1. Abydenus apud Euseb. Præp. l. 9. c. 15. Syncellus. p. 44.
[935] Clemens Alexand. Strom. l. 1. p. 364.