Shammuramat

Shammuramat (Akkadian: Sammu-rāmat or Sammu-ramāt), also known as Sammuramat or Shamiram and Semiramis, was a powerful queen of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Beginning her career as the primary consort of the king Shamshi-Adad V (824–811 BC), Shammuramat reached an unusually prominent position in the reign of her son Adad-nirari III (811–783 BC). Though there is dispute in regard to Shammuramat's formal status and position, and if she should be considered a co-regent, it is clear that she was among the most powerful and influential women of the ancient Near East and the Iron Age in general; she is the only known Assyrian queen to have retained her status as queen after the death of her husband and the only known ancient Assyrian or Mesopotamian woman to have partaken in, and perhaps even led, a military campaign.

Shammuramat's origin is not clear; her name could equally likely be of West Semitic or East Semitic Akkadian origin. Proposed regions of origin include Akkadian speaking Assyria itself, the ethnolinguistically indestinguishable Babylonia (also Akkadian speaking), Levant and Phoenicia. If originating as a foreigner, she is typically assumed to have been a princess. Nothing is known of her life or relative influence and power in the reign of her husband. Under Adad-nirari, her role was exceptionally prominent for a woman of the time. Per the Pazarcık Stele she accompanied her son on a campaign against the Hittites Kummuh in Hittite and both she and Adad-nirari are credited with expanding the borders of the empire in all directions into Levant, Anatolia and Ancient Iran. In some inscriptions, local governors made dedications not only to the king (as was customary) but exceptionally also to Shammuramat. All evidence suggests that Shammuramat was among the most renowned figures of her time.