The king of Babylon may have seen with satisfaction the humiliation of his immediate neighbors and rivals, and may have felt that their subjugation rather improved than weakened his own position.

At any rate it tended to place him before the nation as their only hope and champion--the sole barrier which protected their country from a return of the old servitude.
Nabonassar held the throne of Babylon for fourteen years, from B.C.

747 to B.C.733.

It has generally been supposed that this period is the same with that regarded by Herodotus as constituting the reign of Semiramis.
As the wife or as the mother of Nabonassar, that lady (according to many) directed the affairs of the Babylonian state on behalf of her husband or her son.

The theory is not devoid of a certain plausibility, and it is no doubt possible that it may be true; but at present it is a mere conjecture, wholly unconfirmed by the native records; and we may question whether on the whole it is not more probable that the Semiramis of Herodotus is misplaced.