Queen Sammu-rammat the original of Semiramis—­“Mother-right” among “Mother Worshippers”—­Sammu-rammat compared to Queen Tiy—­Popularity of Goddess Cults—­Temple Worship and Domestic Worship—­Babylonian Cultural Influence in Assyria—­Ethical Tendency in Shamash Worship—­The Nebo Religious Revolt—­Aton Revolt in Egypt—­The Royal Assyrian Library—­Fish Goddess of Babylonia in Assyria—­The Semiramis and Shakuntala Stories—­The Mock King and Queen—­Dove Goddesses of Assyria, Phoenicia, and Cyprus—­Ishtar’s Dove Form—­St. Valentine’s Day beliefs—­Sacred Doves of Cretans, Hittites, and Egyptians—­Pigeon Lore in Great Britain and Ireland—­Deities associated with various Animals—­The Totemic Theory—­Common Element in Ancient Goddess Cults—­Influence of Agricultural Beliefs—­Nebo a form of Ea—­His Spouse Tashmit a Love Goddess and Interceder—­Traditions of Famous Mother Deities—­Adad-nirari IV the “Saviour” of Israel—­Expansion of the Urartian Empire—­Its Famous Kings—­Decline and Fall of Assyria’s Middle Empire Dynasty.

One of the most interesting figures in Mesopotamian history came into prominence during the Assyrian Middle Empire period.  This was the famous Sammu-rammat, the Babylonian wife of an Assyrian ruler.  Like Sargon of Akkad, Alexander the Great, and Dietrich von Bern, she made, by reason of her achievements and influence, a deep impression on the popular imagination, and as these monarchs became identified in tradition with gods of war and fertility, she had attached to her memory the myths associated with the mother goddess of love and battle who presided over the destinies of mankind.  In her character as the legendary Semiramis of Greek literature, the Assyrian queen was reputed to have been the daughter of Derceto, the dove and fish goddess of Askalon, and to have departed from earth in bird form.

It is not quite certain whether Sammu-rammat was the wife of Shamshi-Adad VII or of his son, Adad-nirari IV.  Before the former monarch reduced Babylonia to the status of an Assyrian province, he had signed a treaty of peace with its king, and it is suggested that it was confirmed by a matrimonial alliance.  This treaty was repudiated by King Bau-akh-iddina, who was transported with his palace treasures to Assyria.

As Sammu-rammat was evidently a royal princess of Babylonia, it seems probable that her marriage was arranged with purpose to legitimatize the succession of the Assyrian overlords to the Babylonian throne.  The principle of “mother right” was ever popular in those countries where the worship of the Great Mother was perpetuated if not in official at any rate in domestic religion.  Not a few Egyptian Pharaohs reigned as husbands or as sons of royal ladies.  Succession by the female line was also observed among the Hittites.  When Hattusil II gave his daughter in marriage to Putakhi, king of the Amorites, he inserted a clause in the treaty of alliance “to the effect that the sovereignty over the Amorite should belong to the son and descendants of his daughter for evermore".[464]