sheriffgrahaming:

women in history - artemisia i of caria [fifth century bc]

after the death of her husband, artemisia assumed the throne and was queen of halicarnassus and its neighboring islands, all part of the persian empire ruled by xerxes. when xerxes went to war against greece, artemisia brought five ships and helped him fight the greeks in the battle of salamis. she was such a fearsome force to be reckoned with, the greeks offered a reward of ten thousand drachmas for her capture—yet not one succeeded. artemisia is also credited with persuading xerxes to abandon his invasion of greece. after the war, artemisia fell in love with a younger man named dardanus, but when he didn’t return her love, she blinded him while he was sleeping. even so, artemisia’s love for dardanus only increased and an oracle told her to jump from the top of the rock of leucas—for those who leapt from this rock were said to be cured from the passion of love—but artemisia was killed.

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