Artemisia I of Caria



Artemisia I of Caria (Ἀρτεμισία; fl. 480 BC) was a queen of the Achaemenid Persian satrapy province of Caria, mostly known through the writings of Herodotus for taking the side of the Persian king Xerxes during the Greco-Persian wars. Her father was the satrap of Halicarnassus Lygdamis I (Λύγδαμις Α') and her mother was from the island of Crete. She took the throne after the death of her husband, as she had a son, named Pisindelis (Πισίνδηλις), who was still a youth.

She was an ally of Xerxes I during the Second Persian invasion of Greece. She fought at the naval Battle of Artemisium and the naval Battle of Salamis at 480 BC as a commander in the Persian navy. She was the only female commander.

Her grandson, Lygdamis II, was the ruler of Halicarnassus when Herodotus left from there.

Herodotus praises her decisiveness and her intelligence and emphasizes her influence on Xerxes.

Family and name
The name Artemisia derives from Artemis (n, f.; Roman equivalent: Diana), itself of unknown origin and etymology although various ones have been proposed; for example according to Jablonski, the name is also Phrygian and could be "compared with the royal appellation Artemas of Xenophon; according to Charles Anthon the primitive root of the name is probably of Persian origin from arta*, art*, arte*,.. all meaning great, excellent, holy,.. thus Artemis "becomes identical with the great mother of Nature, even as she was worshipped at Ephesus"; Anton Goebel "suggests the root στρατ or ῥατ, "to shake," and makes Artemis mean the thrower of the dart or the shooter"; Plato, in Cratylus, had derived the name of the Goddess from the Greek word ἀρτεμής, artemḗs, i.e. "safe", "unharmed", "uninjured", "pure", "the stainless maiden"; Babiniotis while accepting that the etymology is unknown, states that the name is already attested in Mycenean Greek and is possibly of pre-Hellenic origin.

According to Herodotus (Histories, Books 7 and 8), Artemisia was Halicarnassian on her father Lygdamis' side and Cretan on her mother's.

The Battle of Salamis
Before the battle of Salamis, Xerxes gathered all his naval commanders and sent Mardonios to ask them whether he should fight a naval battle. All the commanders advised him to fight a naval battle except Artemisia.

As Herodotus writes, she told: "Mardonios tell the King spare his ships and not do a naval battle because our enemies are much stronger in the sea than us, as men are to women. And why he needs to risk a naval battle? The Athens  for which he did undertake this expedition is his and the rest of the Greece too. No man can stand against him and they who once resisted, were destroyed.

If he didn't hurry to do a naval battle, but kept his ships close to the shore and stayed there or move them towards the Peloponnese, victory will be his. The Greeks can't hold out against you very long, they will leave for their cities, because they don't have food in store on this island, as I have learned, and when our army will march against Peloponnese they who have come from there will get worry and they will not stay here to fight to defend Athens.

But if he hurry to engage I am afraid that if the navy ruined then the land-forces will get harm too. In addition, he should also consider that he has bad servants that he thinks as allies, like the Egyptians (Αἰγύπτιοι), the Cyprians (Κύπριοι), the Kilikians (Κίλικες) and the Pamphylians (Πάμφυλοι), which are completely useless"

Xerxes was very pleased about her advice and while he already had a very good opinion for her now he praised her even more, but he gave orders to follow the advice of the rest of his commanders because he thought that at the naval battle of Artemisium his men were cowards because he wasn't there to watch them but now he will watch the naval battle himself.

Artemisia participated in the Battle of Salamis in September, 480 BC as a Persian ally. She led the forces of Halicarnassos, Cos, Nisyros and Calyndos (Κάλυνδος) (Calyndos was at the southwest coast of Asia Minor across Rhodes), and supplied five ships. The ships she brought had the best reputation in the whole fleet, next to the ones from Sidon.

As Herodotus says, during the battle and while the Persian fleet was facing defeat an Athenian ship pursued the Artemisia's ship and she was not able to escape because in front of her were other ships of her own side. She decided to charge against a friendly ship manned by people of Calyndos and in which the king of the Calyndians Damasithymos (Δαμασίθυμος) was embarked. The Calyndian ship sank. Herodotus also mention that Artemisia had a strife with Damasithymos at the past about the Hellespont.

Polyaenus says that, when she saw that she was near to falling into the hands of the Greeks. She ordered the Persian colours to be taken down, and the master of the ship to bear down upon, and attack a Persian vessel of the Calyndian allies, which was commanded by Damasithymus, that was passing by her.

When the captain of the Athenian ship, Ameinias, saw her charge against a Persian ship, turned away and went after others, supposing that the ship of Artemisia was either a Greek ship or was deserting from the Persians and fighting for the Greeks.

Herodotus believed that Ameinias didn't known that Artemisia was sailing in this ship, because if he knew it he would not have ceased until either he had taken her or had been taken himself because orders had been given to the Athenian captains, and moreover a prize was offered of ten thousand drachmas for the man who should take her alive; since they thought it intolerable that a woman should make an expedition against Athens.

While the Xerxes was looking the battle from his throne, which was at the foot of the mount Egaleo, he perceived the incident and he and the rest of the others who were present thought that Artemisia attacked and sank a Greek ship. One of the men who was next to Xerxes said to him: "Master, see Artemisia, how well she is fighting, and how she sank even now a ship of the enemy" and Xerxes then responded: "My men have become women, and my women men.". No one of the crew of the Calyndian ship survived to become her accuser. According to Polyaenus, when Xerxes saw her, he said: "O Zeus, surely you have formed women out of man's materials, and men out of woman's.".

Plutarch in his biography of Themistocles says that it was Artemisia who recognized the body of Ariamenes (Ἀριαμένης) (Herodotus says that his name was Ariabignes), brother of Xerxes and admiral of the Persian navy, floated amongst shipwrecks and brought it back to Xerxes.

Polyaenus in his work Stratagems says that Artemisia had in her ship two different standards. When she chased a Greek ship, she hoisted the Persian colours; but when she was chased by a Greek ship, she hoisted the Greek colours; so that the enemy might mistake her for a Greek, and give up the pursuit.

After the Battle of Salamis
After the battle, according to Polyaenus, Xerxes acknowledged her to have excelled above all the officers in the fleet and sent her a complete suit of Greek armour; and he presented the captain of her ship with a distaff and spindle.

According to Herodotus, after the defeat Xerxes presents Artemisia with two possible courses of action and asks her which she recommends. Either he will lead troops to the Peloponnese himself, or he will withdraw from Greece and leave his general Mardonius in charge. Artemisia suggested him to retreat back to Asia Minor, advocating the suggested plan of Mardonius, who requested 300,000 Persian soldiers with which he would defeat the Greeks in Xerxes' absence.

According to Herodotus she said: "I think that you should retire and leave Mardonius behind with those whom he desires to have. If he succeed the honor will be yours because your slaves performed it. If on the other hand, he failed it will be no great matter as you will be safe and no danger threatens anything that concerns your house. And while you will be safe the Greeks will have to pass through many difficulties for their own existence. In addition, if Mardonius suffer a disaster who cares? He is just your slave and the Greeks will have but a poor triumph. As for yourself, you will be going home with the object for you campaign accomplished, for you have burnt Athens".

Xerxes was very happy with her advice and followed it.

Xerxes then sent her to Ephesus to take care of his illegitimate sons. In return, Artemisia's lands did well by their alliance with the Persians.

Opinions about Artemisia
Herodotus praises her decisiveness and her intelligence and emphasizes her influence on Xerxes.

Polyaenus says that Xerxes praised her gallantry. Polyaenus, also praises her decisiveness and her intelligence as we can see from the two different standards that she had on her ship and with this story: when she wanted to conquer the city of Latmus (Λάτμος), she planted soldiers in ambush near the city; and she, with women, eunuchs and musicians, celebrated a sacrifice at the grove of the Mother of the Gods, which was about seven stades distant from the city. When the inhabitants of Latmus came out to see the magnificent procession, the soldiers entered the city and took possession of it.

On the other hand, Thessalus, a son of Hippocrates, describes her in a speech as a cowardly pirate. In his speech, the King of Persia demanded earth and water from Coans and they refused (493 B.C.) so he gave the island to Artemisia to be wasted. Artemisia led a fleet of ships to the island of Cos to hunt down and slaughter the Coans, but the gods intervened. After Artemisia's ships were destroyed by lightning and she hallucinates visions of great heroes, she fled Cos, but afterwards she conquered the island.

Death and legacy
A legend, quoted by Photius, some 13 centuries later, claims that Artemisia fell in love with a man named Dardanus, and when he ignored her, an oracle told her to jump to her death into the Aegean Sea from the rock of Leucas. In contrast, Herodotus had a favourable opinion of Artemisia, despite her support of Persia, possibly because he too came from Halicarnassus.

An Iranian destroyer (Persian: ناوشکن) built during the Pahlavi dynasty was named Artemis in her honour.

In the municipality of New Halicarnassus in Crete there is a cultural association founded in 1979 which have the name "Artemisia" from the queen Artemisia.

The previous name of the Greek ferryboat, "Panagia Skiadeni", was "Artemisia" (ex-Star A, Orient Star and Ferry Tachibana).

In popular culture

 * Artemisia is included in the 1981 novel Creation by Gore Vidal, depicting the Greek wars.
 * In the 1962 movie The 300 Spartans, Artemisia is portrayed by Anne Wakefield (born May 5, 1931).
 * In the PlayStation 2 Role-playing game Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, Artemisia is the Ultimate Persona of Mitsuru Kirijo, and is of the Empress Arcana.
 * In the 2014 movie 300: Rise of an Empire, a film sequel of 2007's 300, Artemisia is to be portrayed by actress Eva Green.