Artemisia I

Artemisia
Queen of Halicarnassus, Kos, Nisyros and Kalymnos
Artemisia from Guillaume Rouillé's Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum
Predecessor	Her husband (name unknown)
Successor	Pisindelis (Πισίνδηλις)
Born	5th century BCE Halicarnassus
Died	5th century BCE
Issue	Pisindelis
Greek:	Ἀρτεμισία
Father	Lygdamis (Λύγδαμις)
Mother	Unknown
Religion	Greek polytheism

Artemisia I of Caria (Ancient Greek: Ἀρτεμισία; Persian: آرتمیس‎‎; fl. 480 BCE) was a Greek queen of the ancient Greek city-state of Halicarnassus and of the nearby islands of Kos, Nisyros and Kalymnos, within the Achaemenid satrapy of Caria, in about 480 BCE. 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 her contribution of five ships at the naval battle of Artemisium and in the naval Battle of Salamis in 480 BCE. She is mostly known through the writings of Herodotus, himself a native of Halicarnassus, who praises her courage and the respect in which Xerxes held her.

Artemisia's father was the satrap of Halicarnassus, Lygdamis I (Λύγδαμις Α') and her mother was from the island of Crete. 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 Panyasis (Πανύασις) was sentenced to death, after the unsuccessful uprising against him.