A modello for the composition known in two prime versions in the Escorial and at Capodimonte, both of 1687-9, O. Ferrari and G. Scavizzi, op. cit., nos. A460 and A462c, figs. 590 and pl. LXXXI. The Escorial picture is from a series commissioned by the wife of King Charles II, Marie Louise, of which Giordano completed fourteen of the canvases, before her death in 1689. The numbers on this drawing, presumably colour notes, suggest that it was used as a guide by Giordano's assistants for the largely studio versions at Capodimonte and in the Harrach Collection, Rohrau.

Semiramis (circa 800 B.C.) was a famous Assyrian Princess, round whose personality a mass of legend has accumulated. She was the daughter of the fish-goddess Atargatis of Ascalon in Syria, and was miraculously fed by doves until she was found and brought up by Simmas, the royal shepherd. She later married Onnes, one of the generals of Ninus, but after the suicide of her husband she married Ninus, who had been struck by her bravery at the capture of Bactra. After the death of Ninus she inherited his empire which, in her 42 year reign, she enlarged by military conquest, only failing in her invasion of India. She passed the empire to her son Ninyas, and according to the legend was turned into a dove