recitations of his mighty exploits elevated his
status to superhuman proportions, and the rapidly expanding society at his
feet finally began not only to honor him as their king, but to worship him
as their god.
Nimrod's arrogance was ultimately surpassed only by that of his wife,
Semiramis. Notoriously beautiful and cunning beyond imagination, she wielded
her own power with an iron hand. Nimrod and Semiramis in their terrible
strength and beauty were exalted as the sun and moon in human form.
Though historical accounts of Nimrod's actual death are vague, it is certain
that he left Semiramis with a large dominion and an equally large dilemma.
How was she to maintain her hold on the empire he had built? There was but
one solution, and she pursued it with diabolical zeal. Nimrod's spirit had
ascended into the sun itself, she claimed. With breathtaking eloquence she
described to the people his new and elevated role as their benefactor and
protector. Each morning he would rise, bringing light and life to the land
as he traveled across the sky. In the evening he would plunge below the edge
of the earth to
battle the subterranean evil spirits and demons that would otherwise crawl
over and annihilate mankind.
One spring not many years following Nimrod's death, the voluptuous Semiramis
was found to be with child. Calling the scribes of Babylon together, she
issued a most remarkable press release. Nimrod had impregnated her, she
claimed, through the lively rays of the sun.