Artemisia I.

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Artemisia, Queen of Halicarnassus and commander of the Carian contingent, shot arrows at the Greeks at the Battle of Salamis. Painting by Wilhelm von Kaulbach

Artemisia was a dynastine of Halicarnassus in the 5th century BC. As the leader of a fleet contingent on the side of the Persian King Xerxes I, she took part in 480 BC. In its invasion of Greece .

Life

Artemisia was a daughter of Lygdamis of Halicarnassus , who was probably also a dynast . On the mother's side she was of Cretan descent. She took over after the death of her husband, whose name is unknown, before 480 BC. BC - as guardian of her little son Pisindelis - the government over Halicarnassus, Kos , Nisyros and Kalydna . It was under the sovereignty of the Persian king.

The extremely daring Artemisia 480 BC took part without any external compulsion. On the campaign of Xerxes I against Greece and during the expedition was in charge of the five ships she contributed, which according to the historian Herodotus (7, 99) were "the most excellent in the whole fleet after Sidon ". Herodotus rightly praises her determination and cleverness as well as her influence on the great king, but some of the features of her deeds are anecdotal or even invented.

First Artemisia fought in the sea ​​battle at Cape Artemision on the Greek island of Evia . According to Herodotus, she was the only one to have advised Xerxes not to attack the Greeks in the strait between Attica and Salamis , where the Greek fleet had retreated. All other councils of war and allies of Xerxes, on the other hand, advocated carrying out the sea ​​battle of Salamis . To justify their attitude Artemisia stated that the Greek fleet was superior to the Persian; Moreover, the entire Persian army would suffer if the navy were destroyed by the enemy. Instead, Xerxes should move quickly with his land army to the Peloponnese ; the Greeks, who already lack provisions on Salamis, would then disperse, abandon Athens and return to their hometowns. Apparently Herodotus is not reproducing an authentic speech by Artemisia, but his own assessment of the military situation. According to Herodotus, Xerxes was impressed by Artemisia's speech, but nevertheless decided, against her advice, to venture into the sea battle.

Artemisia then took part in the Battle of Salamis and is said to have accomplished great deeds. According to Plutarch, for example, she was able to recover the body of Xerxes' brother Ariamenes and bring it back to the Great King. The Athenian naval commanders had been ordered to capture Artemisia unconditionally; whoever succeeded in doing so would receive 10,000 drachmas as a reward. The Athenians were outraged that a woman dared to fight them.

In the later course of the battle, which was extremely unfortunate for Xerxes, Artemisia was able to evade pursuit by the Athenian Ameinias by sinking an allied ship, commanded by Damasithymus , king of Kalynda , which blocked her escape route. The latter concluded from Artemisia's actions that the crew of their ship must be either Greeks or Persian deserters, so he turned away and attacked other ships. So Artemisia managed to escape. Xerxes was watching the incident and believed she had sunk an enemy ship. He is said to have noticed that his men behaved like women and his women like men.

Similarly describes Polyainos applied in the naval battle of Salamis List: When the Persians fled before the ships of the Greeks, ordered Artemisia as they were almost caught up to catch their marines, the Persian flags. But she ordered her helmsman to attack a passing Persian ship. As a result, the Greeks believed it was an allied ship, so they turned away and turned to other ships. But Artemisia, having escaped the danger, sailed home quickly.

After the lost battle, Mardonios recommended that the Persian great king attempt a new attack on the Peloponnese. Either he should lead this campaign personally or leave it to him, Mardonios, and retreat himself. Before Xerxes made his decision, however, he asked Artemisia again for advice, who strongly advised the king to return home. While Xerxes marched by land to the Hellespont and then moved on to Sardis , she sailed to Ephesus , having several illegitimate sons of the king on board.

The further fate of Artemisia is not known. A marble statue of her stood in the so-called Persian Hall of the Agora of Sparta , which was built from the spoils of the Persian Wars.

The story told by Ptolemy Chennos that Artemisia gouged out the eyes of her lover Dardanos from Abydos , who had spurned her, is quite fictional, and then because of this unhappy love she plunged from the Leucadian rock into the Aegean Sea . Her son Pisindelis followed her in government.

Trivia

Artemisia is portrayed by Eva Green in 300: Rise of an Empire , the sequel to the comic book version 300 . However, the film character is only a free interpretation of the historical person and conflicts with him at several points in the film. For example, Artemisia was not - as staged in the film - killed during the Battle of Salamis.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Herodotus , Historien 7, 99, 1 f. (English / ancient Greek)
  2. ↑ Herodotus, Historien Herodots Historien , 7, 99, 2f. (English / ancient Greek)
  3. ↑ Walther Judeich : Artemisia 2 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 2, Stuttgart 1896, Col. 1441.
  4. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 8, 68 ; Plutarch , De Herodoti malignitate 38.
  5. ^ Rüdiger Schmitt: Artemisia , in: Encyclopædia Iranica
  6. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 8, 69 (English / Ancient Greek)
  7. ↑ a b Pausanias , Description of Greece 3, 11, 3.
  8. ↑ Plutarch, Themistocles 14, 4.
  9. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 8, 93, 2 (English / Ancient Greek)
  10. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 8, 87 f. (English / ancient Greek)
  11. ↑ Polyainos, Strategemata Stratagems. 8, 53, 1 (English)
  12. ↑ Herodotus, Historien 8, 101-103 (English / ancient Greek)
  13. ↑ Ptolemy Chennos at Photios , Libraries , Codex 190 p. 153, 25 ff. Ed. Bekker
  14. ↑ Suda , p. Herodotus
personal data
SURNAME Artemisia I.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ruler of Halicarnassus
DATE OF BIRTH 6th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 5th century BC Chr.