Origins & Early Life

Artemisia I of Caria (Ancient Greek: Ἀρτεμισία, transl. Ártemisía; fl. 480 BC) was a queen of the ancient Greek city-state of Halicarnassus, which is now in Bodrum, Turkey. She was also queen of the nearby islands of Kos, Nisyros and Kalymnos, within the Achaemenid satrapy of Caria, in about 480 BC.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

She was of Carian-Greek ethnicity by her father Lygdamis I, and Greek Cretan by her mother. She fought as an ally of Xerxes I, King of Persia against the independent Greek city states during the second Persian invasion of Greece. She personally commanded ships at the naval battle of Artemisium and at the naval Battle of Salamis in 480 BC. She is mostly known through the writings of Herodotus, himself a native of Halicarnassus, who praises her courage and relates the respect in which she was held by Xerxes. Artemisia's father was the satrap of Halicarnassus, Lygdamis I (Λύγδαμις Α') and her mother was from the island of Crete.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

She took the throne after the death of her husband, as she had a son, named Pisindelis (Πισίνδηλις), who was still a youth. Artemisia's grandson, Lygdamis II (Λύγδαμις Β'), was the satrap of Halicarnassus when Herodotus was exiled from there and the poet...

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