her are extracted from classical literature.
13 13 Blanco 2015.
14 14 About this work, vide Couderc 2015, p. 43.
15 15 French author Desfontaines wrote La véritable Sémiramis in 1647 (Desfontaines, 1647). About this work vide Neville 1995.
16 16 Calderón produced La hija del aire in 1653 (Froldi 2003, pp. 319–320; Calderon de la Barca 1999).
17 17 The first tragedies to reach European stages were imbued with a strong political nature, intending to transpose to the scene the idiosyncrasies of the ruling circle. There was an implicit criticism and a reproduction of societal behavior, especially if we consider that some French and Spanish productions coincided with the beginning of the regency of Anne of Austria (Asher-Greve 2007, p. 341) or with the regency of Mariana of Austria (Froldi 2003, p. 319), such as Desfontaines’s and Calderón’s. A somewhat different Semiramis is presented by Gabriel Gilbert in 1647 in Sémiramis (Gilbert 1647). In his opus, the queen is just and courageous and is acclaimed by the people. The work is dedicated to the Duchess of Rohan. Thus, the Assyrian queen could only be presented as a woman of arms and courage (Conroy 2016, p. 84).
18 18 Although in the plays by Manfredi and Desfontaines incest is a consummate act, in Crébillon and Voltaire the same does not happen. The queen’s lusting for her son is introduced as a device to exploit her blindness. She does not recognize her son whom she thought was dead.
19 19 Ramsey 1969, p. 23.
20 20 In Voltaire, the central theme is the return of the son Arzace, the Ninias (using the nomenclature of the tragedy) who was thought missing, and the collusion between Semiramis and Assur, which had led to the death of King Ninus and the rise of the queen. Assur intended to impose himself on the throne by marrying the sovereign, although the latter, unaware of Arzace’s true identity, intended to marry him instead. In the end, the shadow of Ninus intervenes, claiming revenge and precipitating the events that lead to the fall and death of the queen and the rise to the throne of Arzace/Ninias.
21 21 It is possible that in addition to resorting to classical texts, the French author relied on the Armenian tradition about the queen based on the account of the eighth century by Moses Khorenati (Seymour 2014, p. 109 and 166).
22 22 Ramsey 1969, p. 32.
23 23 In the film’s screenplay, the queen is Tamaris (Semiramis), Sennacherib is her husband (Ninus), and the son, who for 15 years remained hidden, is Assur (Ninyas). The lover of Semiramis, who in Voltaire corresponds to Assur is, in this case, Canach.
24 24 Metastasio’s work does not include the late husband or their son as characters of the plot. The queen appears as the greatest authority of the kingdom, ruler of an extensive domain, capable of arbitrating the conflicts of her neighbors. She is presented as a true heroine. The author concludes the story with the verse: “Viva lieta, e sia Reina,/chi sin’ or su nostro Re” (“Let it be queen who has been as our king,” Metastasio 1737, p. 114). Thus, the implicit moral is that despite being disguised in masculine habits, the exercise of power could fit both a man or a woman.
25 25 Neville 1995, p. 117.
26 26 The spread of Metastasio’s work confirms its importance as a remarkable work of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Italy.
27 27 Asher-Greve 2007, p. 345.
28 28 Produced in 1801 under the title La morte di Semiramide (Portugal 1801). Other known operas based on Voltaire include La morte di Semiramide by Nasolini (1790), La morte di Semiramide by Bianchi (1790), La vendetta di Nino by Prati (1786), and La vendetta di Nino by Borghi (1791).
29 29 Neville 1995, p. 120.
30 30 Metastasio 1737, p. 112.
31 31 Rossi [n.d.], p. 24.
32 32 “May secret crimes have the Gods has witnesses;/The greater the culprit, the greater the torment;/Kings tremble on the throne & fear their justice” (1749, p. 74). The French author had in mind a veiled criticism to the powers and the society of his time, whose vices he had surreptitiously exposed. Although he conferred a strong authority on the queen of the Assyrians and praised her good governmental performance, these aspects appeared to be intimately associated with her moral degeneration and the subtraction of power from his right owners.
33 33 Voltaire 1749, pp. 73–74 (“this death is due to me. (…) I forgive you everything”).
34 34 “Remember Adath, try to be worthy of her”.
35 35 Diod. Sic., 2.21. The historian contrasts his inept government with that of his mother who was a fighter by nature.
36 36 1737, p. 62.
37 37 Sardanapalien, Sardanapaliste (and other words) became adjectives for “depravity” or “transgression of gender boundaries” (Dictionnaire de la langue française du dix-seizième siècle apud. Fraser 2003, p. 315 and 329).
38 38 “Sardanapalus, last king of the Assyrians, was the most lascivious monster with an uncontrollable lust that lived in his time” (Maderni 1681, p. 5).
39 39 About this drama, vide Piffaut 2015.
40 40 An example of this are the parodies produced in the United States of America inspired by Byron’s play: Sir Dan O’Pallas, Chief of the Assyrian Jim Jams and Sardine-Apples!, King of Ninnyvah & Astoria, L.I., by Charles Calvert, performed in 1876 (Stauffer 2011, pp. 42–43).
41 41 For instance, Christian Ludwig Boxberg’s (1698) or David Lingelach’s (1699).
42 42 Such as La Mort de Sardanapale by Hector Belioz (1830), Sardanapalo by Rotondi, Sardanapalo by Franz Liszt, an opera composed in 1849, or the ballet composed by Hertel.
43 43 Letter from Byron to his editor John Murray with comments on the character (LJ VIII, 126–27 apud Pomarè 2014, pp. 264–265).