ARTEMISIA
There were two Artemisia both queens and both with a warrior unsurpassable reputation. Her name derives from Artemis (belonging to) being Diana the Roman equivalent. Various etymologists proposed the name as Phrygian and its primitive root is probably of Persian Indo-European origin from arta*, art*, arte*,.. all meaning great, excellent, holy,..Being Artemisia I mother from Crete and given her links to Ephesus and Phrygia we face a relationship with the poles where the Great Goddess Mother Nature was venerated and where historically the Amazons and matriarchal communities were located. It is recalled that Amazons though they considered themselves daughters of Apollo (Artemis brother) were devotees of Artemis the goddess of hunting and nature.
Artemisia I of Caria was queen of the ancient Greek city-state of Halicarnassus and of the nearby islands within the Achaemenid satrapy of Caria. Artemisia's father was the satrap of Halicarnassus, and her mother was from the island of Crete. She took the throne after the death of her husband.
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 where according to Herodotus “she have displayed deeds not inferior to those of others" and in the naval Battle of Salamis in 480 BCE, where she supplied five ships considered the second-best reputation in the whole fleet.
Her greatest achievement occurred during the battle of Salamis, when finding herself trapped between the deadly Greek triremes and the Persian fleet, she determined to break out by calmly and expertly rammed a friendly Persian ship blocking her exit and made her escape. Believing her to be an ally, the Greek trireme dropped its pursuit. King Xerxes from his throne on the shore believing her to have sunk an enemy ship and exasperated at his own side's defeat and incompetence, declared 'My men have become women, and women men'.
Artemisia II also queen of Caria, living about one hundred years later was renowned for her extraordinary grief at the death of her husband (and brother) Mausolus. She is said to have mixed his ashes in her daily drink, and to have gradually pined away during the time she lived and built at Halicarnassus the celebrated Mausoleum, listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and whose name subsequently became the generic term for any splendid sepulchral monument.
She is also known for commanding a fleet and played a role in the military-political affairs of the Aegean Sea after the Athenian naval superiority decline. When Rhodes sent a fleet against Artemisia she hid ships rowers, and marines and allowed the Rhodians to enter the main harbor where her Rhodians citizens at the city walls were inviting them into the city. Soon after the Rhodians began exiting their ships, Artemisia sailed her fleet through an outlet in the sea and into the main harbor. She captured empty Rhodian ships, and the Rhodian men who disembarked were killed in the marketplace. Artemisia then put her men on the Rhodian ships and had them sail back to Rhodes. The men were welcomed in the Rhodian harbor and they took over Rhodes.
As we can see they both held an Amazon character being very strong, bold and tough which in the sexist Greek society of that time was something close to the unimaginable. Not only did they fought as warriors, they demonstrated extraordinary strategic skills in conducting military operations, as well as excelling as lovers.
Interviewing Eva Green the actress who played Artemisia