History Atlas

How The Past Is Known
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Historical Figure

Artemisia I of Caria

Monarchs and Rulers

Artemisia I of Caria (fl. 480 BCE) was queen of the Greek city-state of Halicarnassus, in present-day Bodrum, Turkey, and of the nearby islands of Kos, Nisyros and Kalymnos, ruling as a vassal within the Achaemenid Persian Empire. She personally commanded a contingent of ships allied with the Persian king Xerxes I during his invasion of Greece in 480 BCE, fighting at the naval battles of Artemisium and Salamis, where the Greek historian Herodotus, himself a native of her city, records that she distinguished herself for tactical skill and courage and won Xerxes's particular respect. She remains one of the few women known to have commanded warships in a major ancient naval battle.

Facts
Open Questions
Death Place
Not recorded by any surviving historical source 1
Only a legend, recorded some 13 centuries later by Photius, describes her death; no historical source states where or how she actually died.
Role
Queen of Halicarnassus, Kos, Nisyros, and Kalymnos 1
Birthplace
Halicarnassus (modern-day Bodrum, Turkey) 1
Classification
Gender
Female 1
Role
Role (category)
Monarch / Royalty 1
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Artemisia I of Caria
Wikipedia
  • Lead paragraph
    was a queen of the ancient Greek city-state of Halicarnassus, which is now in Bodrum, Turkey
  • Body text, legend account
    A legend, quoted by Photius, some 13 centuries later, claims that Artemisia fell in love with a man from Abydos named Dardanus, and when he ignored her, she blinded him while he was sleeping, but her love for him increased.
  • Infobox, Title field
    Queen of Halicarnassus, Kos, Nisyros, and Kalymnos
  • Wikipedia biography, pronouns/title in lead section (w-bbfill-history3-0927)
View the Source
Wikidata: Artemisia I of Caria
Wikidata Q232128, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source

Take a Related Quiz

Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.