GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Semiramis was a historical Assyrian queen of Babylonian birth, who lived and reigned around 800 B.C.E. By the 18th century the legends associated with her life had eclipsed her actual accomplishments as queen, notably due to the popularity of Voltaire's eponymous play, written in 1748. His version of her life centered on palace intrigue, notably the beautiful queen's affair with Assur, and her plot to have him poison her husband, the king. As he dies, the king implores a trusted friend to take his son, Ninias, away from the palace to save his life.
Although Semiramis ruled Babylon well for fifteen years, during that time she was stricken with guilt over the murder of her husband and the loss of her son. Her lover Assur, however, plots Semiramis' death after she refuses to marry him and install him as king. To foil his plans, she arranges to marry a young warrior, who is in fact her son, whom she mistakenly believes to be dead. Ninias is warned away from this incestuous marriage by his father's ghost, who then demands that his son avenge his murder. Led by the ghost, Ninias stabs and kills a form he believes is Assur, but is, in fact, Semiramis.
Voltaire's play inspired Gioacchino Rossini's 1822 operatic version of the story, Semiramide, long considered among the composer's greatest achievements. William Wetmore Story relied on these dramatized accounts when he created a monumental, marble portrait of the queen in 1872 (1999.117.A-B).
Excerpt from
Eleanor Jones Harvey, DMA Acquisition Proposal (1999.117.A-B), April 1999.
NOTES
Removed TMS tag for 1999.117.A-B as part of the October 2015 revision process.
Removed %rules pending tag because I have written a rule with the constituent ID.
Summer intern 2016 added a 17th century painted depiction of Semiramis to Piction to illustrate this CC. I am removing that image and its UMO tags on this note because it was decided that illustrations should primarily be sourced from DMA object photos or archives. Also removing %Piction MW tag. A detail of WW Story's sculpture could illustrate this CC but there are no details available in Piction.
Deleted- 265934726: UMO. [Caption] Semiramis Receiving Word of the Revolt of Babylon by Guercino, 1624. Source: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Wikipedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giovanni_Francesco_Barbieri,_Semiramis_Receiving_Word_of_the_Revolt_of_Babylon_(1624).jpg
.jpg){kind=link}
This note has been routed and revised. I am removing the routed tag and adding the completed tag as of March 8, 2017. The GDoc has been moved to Queta's files for her review.
ASSOCIATED CONTENT CHUNKS
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
apply to constituents where id equals 107812
apply to objects where id equals 5321726
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
Semiramis was a historical Assyrian queen of Babylonian birth, who lived and reigned around 800 B.C.E. By the 18th century the legends associated with her life had eclipsed her actual accomplishments as queen, notably due to the popularity of Voltaire's eponymous play, written in 1748. His version of her life centered on palace intrigue, notably the beautiful queen's affair with Assur, and her plot to have him poison her husband, the king. As he dies, the king implores a trusted friend to take his son, Ninias, away from the palace to save his life.
Although Semiramis ruled Babylon well for fifteen years, during that time she was stricken with guilt over the murder of her husband and the loss of her son. Her lover Assur, however, plots Semiramis' death after she refuses to marry him and install him as king. To foil his plans, she arranges to marry a young warrior, who is in fact her son, whom she mistakenly believes to be dead. Ninias is warned away from this incestuous marriage by his father's ghost, who then demands that his son avenge his murder. Led by the ghost, Ninias stabs and kills a form he believes is Assur, but is, in fact, Semiramis.
Voltaire's play inspired Gioacchino Rossini's 1822 operatic version of the story, Semiramide, long considered among the composer's greatest achievements. William Wetmore Story relied on these dramatized accounts when he created a monumental, marble portrait of the queen in 1872 (1999.117.A-B).
Excerpt from
Eleanor Jones Harvey, DMA Acquisition Proposal (1999.117.A-B), April 1999.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Removed TMS tag for 1999.117.A-B as part of the October 2015 revision process.
Removed %rules pending tag because I have written a rule with the constituent ID.
Summer intern 2016 added a 17th century painted depiction of Semiramis to Piction to illustrate this CC. I am removing that image and its UMO tags on this note because it was decided that illustrations should primarily be sourced from DMA object photos or archives. Also removing %Piction MW tag. A detail of WW Story's sculpture could illustrate this CC but there are no details available in Piction.
Deleted- 265934726: UMO. [Caption] Semiramis Receiving Word of the Revolt of Babylon by Guercino, 1624. Source: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Wikipedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Giovanni_Francesco_Barbieri,_Semiramis_Receiving_Word_of_the_Revolt_of_Babylon_(1624).jpg
This note has been routed and revised. I am removing the routed tag and adding the completed tag as of March 8, 2017. The GDoc has been moved to Queta's files for her review.
rules
Apply To
Constituents
id
Equals
107812
Apply To
Objects
id
Equals
5321726
source file
historical_figures-0013.xml.nores