Semiramis: Semiramis’ legendary empire-building inspires poets to portray female power as mythic force: “She built the walls with hands that bled, / and called them glory, not the dead.”; Poets use her to challenge gendered historiography: “They called her queen, they called her witch— / but none recall the stone she hitched.”; Her ambition becomes poetic metaphor: “She did not wait for men to rise— / she carved the world with her own eyes.”; Semiramis teaches poets that history erases women’s labor: “They wrote her name in flame and fear— / but not the bridges, not the year.”; A poet might write, “She did not conquer with the spear, / but with the will that dared to dare.”; Her legacy: “She did not die to be adored— / she died to be remembered, scored.”