*- 
340 On Scriptural and profane Accounts 
Anc. Myth. 11.382. When this learned author proceeds to 
account for the histories of Ninus and Semiramis from the 
conquests of a people called Semarim, he departs from 
probability quite as widely as the common narrative. There 
is not the smallest proof that the Assyrians were ever called 
Semarim. The origin of the name Semiramis is not clear: 
the ancients say it means a dove; but the Semitic lan- 
guages furnish no natural etymology which could give this 
meaning. Some have had recourse to the Sami-Rama of 
the Hindoos, but in the present state of our knowledge of 
their mythology, it is building on a quicksand to argue 
from such resemblances. As Semiramis was evidently ori- 
ginally a goddess of the watery element, perhaps her name 
may have been derived from the words mpm qw. Before 
J quit this part of the subject, I shall observe that the 
whole of the curious story of Combabus, connected with 
the temple of Hierapolis, is a fiction tv account for a name, 
the meaning of which had been lost. Kou8n (see Hesych) 
was a title of Cybele and KouSaPos the name of her priests: 
this accounts at once for the story connected with the sup- 
posed lover of Stratonice. The other story which the 
Pseudo-Lucian relates of Combahus being beloved by Juno’ 
affords a glimpse of the mythological origin of the whole. 
(31) See Atheneus, Lib. 12. ¢. 40. 
Eyw Nuvog wares ror? evyevouny VEU 
exw 8” Exoraoy dain x” wnoor “neve 
x wxooa’ epxcbny. Compara Cic. Tus. Q. v. 35. 
“ Sardanapallus—incidi jussit in busto 
Hec habeo que edi, queque exsaturata libido 
Hausit ; atilla jacent multa ac preclara relicta. 
It may further be remarked here, that some make Semi- 
ramis several generations later, and to have been called 
Atossa (Euseb. Can. Lat.) her father Balochus, however, 
is only Belus with a slight alteration, and her reigning 
