Semiramis, Queen of the Assyrians, at Her Toilette

From the Getty Museum record

The ancient queen of the Assyrians, Semiramis, was at her toilette combing and braiding her hair when she received the news that the Babylonians were going to defect from the empire that she had recently consolidated after the death of her husband Ninus. In Étienne Colaud’s depiction of the queen, she holds a fine-tooth comb with one hand and reaches for the incoming missive with the other, her hair braided in a plait on one side and falling in loose tresses on the other. According to the text, the queen did not waste any time and led her army to victory, one braid completed, one in disarray. To honor her valor, a sculpture was erected in Babylon with one side of her hair tightly bound and the other hanging loose.