Miriam is Moses's sister, both in the Bible and in the 1956 film version of The Ten Commandments . She is first seen when Moses' Hebrew mother (played by Martha Scott in the 1956 film) places the infant Moses in a basket and sends him floating down the river so that he may escape being murdered by Rameses I's men according to royal decree. Miriam watches the basket drift to see where it will end up, and is delighted when Moses is rescued by Bithiah, the Pharaoh's daughter, knowing that she will adopt him and keep his Hebrew identity a secret.Years later, as an adult, Miriam accompanies Moses and the other Israelites to the Promised Land.