События в третьем столетии четвертого тысячелетия

Nahor gave birth to Abraham's father Terah in the 79th year of his life, and then also gave birth to other sons and daughters (Gen. 11:24–25). At that time, when the son of Vila Nin, the king of Assyria, died, his wife Semiramis left behind him with a small son, who had his father’s name - Nin, and others call him Ninias, as well as Replacement. Since the boy was too small and could not rule the kingdom, his mother Semiramis took over the royal power, and she was the first wife-king in heaven, but she did not rule the kingdom with a woman’s mind and was therefore a subject of surprise to everyone. For she discovered many glorious things with her courageous courage in wars and spread the Assyrian monarchy more than her husband. If she had not disgraced the last days of her life with carnal intemperance and a shameful death, then she would have been worthy of countless worldly praises. Here we will tell briefly for those who want to know about its beginning, about its reign and about its end. In the Syrian city of Ascalon, a certain girl named Derketa (whom the pagans later began to consider a goddess), having been corrupted by a certain youth, conceived and gave birth to a female child. Ashamed of her fornication, she left the one born in the desert, but the latter (as the Greeks say) was fed by birds until she grew up. In the eighth year, this young woman was found by shepherds who were grazing their cattle in that desert, and she was given to the chief of the shepherds, named Simmu. He, being childless, accepted her instead of his daughter and called her by the name Semiramis, which means bird, since she was raised by birds; and in the Syriac language the bird is called "semiramis". When the girl reached marriageable age, she was very beautiful in face, more beautiful than all the other former maidens there and more intelligent than them. It happened that the commander of a Syrian regiment, named Menon, who was passing by, stopped at Simmov’s house. He, seeing the beautiful maiden Semiramis, fell in love with her, took her as his wife and brought her to Nineveh. At that time, a war began with the Bactrian king Zoroaster, whom King Nin defeated, but, however, when he began to take the capital city of Zoroaster, called Baktra, he hesitated for a considerable time, since this city was very strong. Menon, the Assyrian commander, being in the regiments with King Nin, did not want to be separated for a long time from his wife, whom he had recently married, and sent for her to his house so that she would come to him in their regiments. The wife, being prudent, put on such clothing in which she could not be identified as a woman or a man; in this form she went to the regiment, where she stayed with her husband for quite a long time, examined the place and fortress of the city and began to think about how it would be possible to take this city; Semiramis was not of a woman’s mind and heart, but more courageous than even men. And she saw on the other side of the river a city wall, not guarded by guards, for the wall was considered impregnable, because the bank was high and the mountains were steep. The besieged did not expect the adversaries to approach that wall, and therefore did not protect it. Semiramis, who turned her attention to this, took with her men who could climb with her to this impregnable mountain. They went into the river and then rose up so that none of the besieged could hear; Finding themselves on the wall, they shouted, thereby instilling fear in the townspeople, as if the city had already been taken. The citizens who were at the walls, amazed by such an unexpected event, fled from the walls in horror. Meanwhile, the Assyrian force was advancing on the other side, and the city was taken and subjugated to King Nin. The king, having learned that the city was taken under the leadership of his wife, wished to see her, and when he saw her, he began to be amazed at the sense and courage of Semiramis, pleased her with praises and enriched her with gifts. Stung by her beauty, he told her husband Menon to voluntarily give his wife to him (the king) as a wife, and for his part gave his daughter in marriage to Menon. However, Menon did not want to lose his wife. This angered the king, who promised to gouge out Menon's eyes. Fearing the king's wrath, and also regretting his beloved wife, out of much sadness and grief, he went and hanged himself. After this, Semiramis became the wife of King Nin, who was already old, and bore him a son named Ninia, whom historians call the second Nin. After this, the old King Ning died. However, some say that he was killed by his wife Semiramis, as if she, with her feminine flattery, begged her husband to transfer all royal power to her for three days, and having accepted the request, she put her husband to death. After the death of Nina, Semiramis reigned with her little son. She did not want to encroach on another husband, so that no one would possess her, but so that she herself would possess everyone. First of all, she expanded the city of Babylon and fortified it with great stone walls, which reached a height of 200 cubits, a width of 50 cubits, and a length around the city of 480 stadia (about 200 meters), so that these walls were erected by the Greek poets between the seven wonders in heaven. Within these walls were one hundred great copper walls leading into the city. The Euphrates River flowed through the middle of the city. Semiramis decorated the city of Babylon with beautiful buildings, gardens and wonderful helicopter cities, as if hanging in the air, for they were built high on stone pillars. Not content with the expansion of the monarchy achieved by her husband, she gathered a great military force and opened wars against distant countries, not sending anyone else to this matter, but going to the army herself. For she dressed in men's clothes and rode armed on a horse. She fought hard against her enemies, and her courage was great beyond nature and her courage was irresistible. She fought against Ethiopia and Egypt and conquered these countries to her kingdom. In addition, she waged numerous wars against the most distant countries of India. When hostilities ceased, she began to spend her life in carnal voluptuousness without abstinence, attracting many lovers to her lust. So she who was insurmountable in battle, terrible, conquering everyone, was subsequently overcome by her lusts and added more and more iniquities to lawlessness. For with whom she enjoyed her lusts, she put them to death, in various ways and unexpectedly destroying them. She was so mired in her vile lusts that she was offended even by her matured son, and she was the first to legislate a law that all people in close kinship should enter into marriage and that parents, if they wish, would unite in marriage with their children. She also began to force her son to interbreed, but he was outraged by such lawlessness and uncleanness of his mother and killed her. So Semiramis died dishonorably. Semiramis began her life in goodness, and ended in evil; she reigned gloriously, but died shamelessly; she was wise, but then she became crazy; and just as before she was an object of surprise for everyone, so at her death she became a reproach for everyone because of her prodigal deeds. Such a life will not make anyone dishonest?! Semiramis was the first to invent that torment for the male sex, which consists of castration. She reigned for 42 years and was buried in a coffin prepared by herself, which she had previously made for herself in the form of a wonderful building. About the coffin of Semiramis it is said that on it there was the following inscription: “If any king demands gold, then let him open my coffin and take as much gold as he wants.” Many years passed and many kings changed. King Darius finally ascended the throne. He, having read the inscription on Semiramis’s tomb and wished for gold, opened the tomb, but found nothing in it except a box on which there was the following inscription: “If you had not been an evil husband, insatiable for gold, then you would not have opened the coffins of dead people.” At the same time, other women appeared who were superior in courage and bravery to men - these are the so-called Amazons, whose origin was as follows. In the Scythian countries, two young men of the royal family, Plinos and Skopif, were expelled from their fatherland. Both of them came to Cappadocia with their wives and people. They took many young men with them and stopped at a river called Thermodon. Being brave, they began to subsist by robbery and predation, attacking surrounding countries. They lived like this for several years. Then the offended surrounding neighbors conspired, insidiously called them to their place as if for peaceful and loving purposes, and unexpectedly killed everyone. Having learned about what had happened, their wives were filled with great rage and, after council, decided to avenge the death of their husbands, not sparing their lives, for they wanted to die gloriously rather than live dishonorably. They armed themselves like men and went out to the killers with the few of their remaining husbands, fought with their enemies and defeated them. And not once, but many times they fought with them, overcoming their enemies and defeating them, and they became more terrible for the surrounding residents than their husbands. In addition, after consulting, they chose a husbandless life, considering marriage to be bondage, when the wife works as a captive for her husband. They said to each other: “O sisters! It is better for us to be free and defend ourselves with weapons, than to live in slavery and captivity under the power of husbands!” Having established themselves among themselves in such a council, they beat up those few husbands who remained alive among them, so that not one of them would be married. After this, they armed themselves again and went against their neighbors, taking revenge on them for their husbands. They took their cities, ravaged their villages, mercilessly killed everyone who was male, and returned to their homes with much booty. Then the surrounding countries began to ask them for peace. When peace took place, the Amazons again gathered for a meeting about how not to belittle themselves and not destroy their family and the glory that they had acquired with their bravery. At the council, they decided to enter into communication with the surrounding men, meeting with them temporarily in order to receive a fetus from them in the womb. So they began to do so. When the male sex was born to them, they immediately destroyed it, and raised the female sex, but even in childhood, the right breast of the young women was dried up either with fire or with some ointments, so that when the girl grew up, it would not interfere with archery; They left the left breast so that they would have something to feed those who were born. That is why they were called Amazons, because they were without breasts, for “Mazon” means breast, and “Amazon” means breastless. They taught the growing girls not spinning and weaving, not sewing, or any other work appropriate for the female sex, but they taught them shooting, wrestling, horse riding, weapon fighting and catching animals. Women's affairs were performed by captive male and female slaves, and the cities and villages they conquered were their tributaries and workers. They themselves constantly practiced military training, not allowing themselves rest and idleness. They had two leaders, Marthesia and Lampedo, who were also called queens. They divided all their forces into two regiments; one regiment with one queen went to war, and another regiment with another queen guarded the borders of their household, and they did this alternately. They spread their power far and conquered many cities in Europe and Asia. The founding of the glorious city of Ephesus is also attributed to them, and in general there are many descriptions of their bravery in stories. Their reign continued even until the time of Alexander the Great, to whom their queen Minothea came, wanting to receive fruit from him, and she stayed with him for 14 days, and was released with honor and great gifts. How the kingdom of the Amazons fell and at what time, there is no exact information about this. It seems that after the death of Alexander the Great, when the Greek monarchy fell apart into many kingdoms, and internecine wars arose, and the countries were subjected to terrible devastation, then the Amazons were defeated by their enemies and ceased to exist. You might be interested in: