Not far away from the Syrian Ascalon, there is a large and deep lake swarming with fish. On its shore there was a place sacred to the Syrian goddess Derceto, who had the upper portion of a woman and the lower part of her body was that of fish. The goddess of love, Aphrodite, bore a grudge against her and in revenge made Derceto fall in love with a hadsome priest in her own temple. A daughter was born from their relationship, of whom Derceto was ashamed. So she exposed her baby, did away with her father, threw herself into the lake and turned into a fish. In the place where the baby was exposed doves had their nests and they brought up the girl. Some of them would warm her with their wings, others would bring milk in their beaks. When the child was one year old and needed more food, the doves would steal bits of cheese from the nearby shepards. The latter were curious about this and before long they found the reason. They discovered the little babe, who was of great beauty, and took her to the chief of the royal herds who was childless. He gave her the name Semiramis, which means in Syrian the ” doves “.