Who is artemisia of halicarnassus

Her kingdom included the city of Halicarnassus and the nearby islands of Cos, Calymnos, and Nisyros. She brought five ships of the 70 total sent to battle, and those five ships were forces with a reputation for ferocity and valor.

Herodotus suggests that Xerxes selected Artemisia to lead a squadron to embarrass the Greeks, and indeed, when they heard about it, the Greeks offered a reward of 10, drachmas about three years wages for a workman for capturing Artemisia. No one succeeded in claiming the prize. After winning the battle at Thermopylae in August of BCE, Xerxes sent Mardonius to talk to each of his naval commanders separately about the upcoming battle of Salamis.

Artemisia was the only one who advised against a sea battle, suggesting that Xerxes instead wait offshore for what she saw as the inevitable retreat or attack the Peloponnese on shore. She was quite blunt about their chances against the Greek armada, saying that the rest of the Persian naval commanders—Egyptians, Cypriots, Cilicians, and Pamphylians—were not up to the challenge.

While he was pleased that she provided a separate viewpoint, Xerxes ignored her advice, choosing to follow the majority opinion. During the battle, Artemisia's found her flagship was being chased by an Athenian vessel and had no chance of escape.

She rammed a friendly vessel which was commanded by the Calyndians and their king Damasithymos; the ship sank with all hands. The Athenian, confused by her actions, assumed she was either a Greek ship or a deserter, and left Artemisia's ship to chase others. Had the Greek commander realized who he was chasing, and recalled the price on her head, he would not have changed course. No one from the Calyndian ship survived, and Xerxes was impressed at her nerve and daring, saying "My men have become women, and my women, men.

After the failure at Salamis, Xerxes abandoned his invasion of Greece—and Artemisia is credited with persuading him to make this decision. As a reward, Xerxes sent her to Ephesus to take care of his illegitimate sons. That is all that Herodotus had to say about Artemisia. Other early references to Artemisia include the 5th century CE Greek physician Thessalus who spoke of her as a cowardly pirate; and the Greek playwright Aristophanes , who used her as a symbol of a strong and uppity warrior woman in his comic plays " Lysistrata " and "Thesmophoriazusae," equating her with the Amazons.

Later writers were generally approving, including Polyaenus, the 2nd century CE Macedonian author of "Stratagems in War," and Justin, the 2nd century Roman empire historian. She is said to have accomplished great deeds in this battle Pausanias, 3. It was presumably in a later stage of the battle, in the general confusion of the Persian fleet, that she succeeded in escaping from an Athenian ship pursuing her ship Herodotus, 8. Polyaenus, 8. In Polyaenus 8.

After the disaster of the Persian fleet near Salamis, when Mardonius in Phaleron advised the Great King to retreat, Xerxes consulted Artemisia again, who alone had given him the right advice before that battle Herodotus, 8.

She confirmed him in his resolve to retreat to Asia, where alone he would be secure 8. Plutarch, De Herodoti malignitate About her fate in the following years nothing is known. Artemisia : queen of Halicarnassus in c. Halicarnassus was a Graeco- Carian city that belonged to the empire of the Persian Achaemenids. The Persian authorities liked their cities to be ruled by one man, and not by an uncontrollable oligarchy or democracy, and preferred Lygdamis as king of Halicarnassus.

When he died, he was succeeded by his daughter Artemisia , who is best known to us from the Histories by the Greek researcher Herodotus , also a Halicarnassian.