Activity

Into the battle!

Characters:

Artemisia of Halicarnassus (Artemisia I of Caria)

Theme: The Second Persian invasion of Greece

Competencies

Competence in Linguistic Communication

Personal, social and learning to learn competence

Competence in cultural awareness and expressions

Subjects and year by Educational System

Spain > Classical culture > 4th ESO > Classical roots of today's world. History and socio-political evolution

Enunciation

Artemisia of Halicarnassus was born in the city currently known as Bodrum (Turkey), and was a tyrant of the region of Caria (Asia Minor). She commanded a small fleet of five ships with which she joined the Persian army of the Great King Xerxes I in his expedition against the Greeks in the Second Persian invasion of Greece. She fought at the head of her troops and led them in the battles of Artemisium and Salamis.&nbsp; &nbsp; Read the two texts and answer the questions.&nbsp;
TEXT 1
Artemisia also fought in Salamis &ndash;in addition to Artemisium&ndash; with all her ships, showing admirable cold blood and lack of scruples.&nbsp;
At one point in the battle, as she saw herself harassed by an Athenian ship, she violently rammed a Persian &ndash;and therefore her ally&ndash; ship, sinking it in order to escape the Greek harassment. She intended to make her pursuers believe that she was ramming a ship of the Persian fleet because she was an ally of the Greeks. This is how an important historian narrates this incident: &nbsp;
&hellip;Just as the king's forces were in complete confusion, Artemisia's ship found itself harassed by another from Attica; since she could not escape (as there were several ally ships in front of her and it so happened that hers was the one closest to the enemy), she successfully decided to do the following: seeing herself harassed by the ship from Attica, she violently rammed an ally ship, manned by Calyndeans, aboard which was the king of Calynda, Damasithymus. Now, I cannot tell whether she had had some controversy with him while they were still in the Hellespont, nor whether she did it deliberately, or whether Calynda's ship collided with hers because they had accidentally crossed its path. Be that as it may, after having rammed her, causing her to sink, Artemisia had the fortune to reap a double benefit: the trierarch of the Attic ship, seeing that she rammed a barbarian ship, believed that Artemisia's ship was Greek or that it was deserting the barbarian fleet to support the Greeks, so he ordered a change of course and went against other ships. &nbsp;
This was how Artemisia was able to escape, avoiding death (&hellip;). Xerxes -they add- asked if the feat was really due to Artemisia, to which the attendees answered affirmatively, since they knew the emblem of their ship perfectly and believed that the destroyed ship was an enemy (to the series of favorable circumstances that, as I said, happened to her, there was the addition of the fact that no crew member of Calynda's ship who could accuse her was saved). According to what is said, in the face of that assertion, Xerxes stated: Men have become women to me; and women, men. This is what Xerxes is said to have commented on (Historia, VIII, 87-89).&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Comment what you think the Great King meant with those words.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
TEXT 2
Another historian tells that, in that same naval battle, Artemisia changed her ensign several times, using the one that best suited her according to the moment and the situation in which she found herself. That is, using Greek or Persian ensigns indistinctly throughout the course of the battle (Polieno, Estratagemas, VIII, 53, 1, 3):
When Artemisia was commander of a long ship, she had not only the ensign of the barbarians, but also that of the Greeks. If she was chasing a Greek ship, she would hoist the barbarian ensign, but if she was chased by a Greek ship, she would hoist the Greek one, so her pursuers would turn away from her, thinking it was a Greek ship.&nbsp; &nbsp; Xerxes saw the maneuver of Artemisia against Damasithymus and thought he was the enemy. &nbsp;
<ul>
<li>What strategy did Artemisia follow so that it would not seem that she betrayed Xerxes?&nbsp;</li>
<li>Answer to this KAHOOT: <a href="https://play.kahoot.it/v2/?quizId=555ac485-326c-4e0c-abbe-2395cb89c884">https://play.kahoot.it/v2/?quizId=555ac485-326c-4e0c-abbe-2395cb89c884</a></li>
</ul>

Observations and context

Other famous rulers were Artemisia II (4th century BC), who, when widowed by her husband Mausolus of Caria (377 – 353 BC), ordered the construction of a grandiose and spectacular funerary monument in her honor, considered one of the seven wonders of Antiquity: the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus; Cleopatra Philopator (1st century BC), queen of Egypt, or Zenobia of Palmyra (3rd century AD). Of these, Cleopatra and Zenobia also commanded their armies, in this case against the Romans, and they were joined by others, such as Boudica, queen of the Iceni, who led several British tribes against the Romans.

The activity could also be done in 1st and 3rd ESO, in the same content block or in the Classical Roots of Today's World block. Everyday life.

Description

Two texts by two different authors are proposed, narrating the actions carried out by Artemisia in the battle of Salamina, and demonstrating her courage and lack of scruples, as well as her authority over the fleet she commanded. All of these are attitudes that have historically been attributed to men. Students are expected to reflect on this.

Reading of fragments, data collection, reflection, search for information.

Answer

Documents

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