The Assyrian queen Semiramis (Armenian Shamiram) of the Khorenatsi tradition — antagonist of the Ara the Beautiful legend, one of the most-famous narratives of Movses Khorenatsi (1.15) and a recurring motif in modern Armenian literature, painting, and theater. Captivated by Ara's beauty she proposed marriage; when he refused, out of faithfulness to his wife Nuard, she invaded Armenia, where Ara was killed despite her order to take him alive, and the aralez-spirit resurrection failed. Khorenatsi 1.16 makes her the builder of the city, gardens, and canal on Lake Van (the Shamiramakert), an Armenian etiology for the visible Urartian works there. A semi-historical conflation of multiple Assyrian-period queens, the regent Sammu-ramat (c.