The Battle of Salamis
The only one of his commanders to be female, Artemisia counselled the Persian king Xerxes to coordinate a joint land-sea offensive. She wanted the Persian army to march to the Isthmus of Corinth and attack the Greek coalition that was fortifying there, while moving the fleet to attack the Greek triremes. In this, Artemisia hoped that the Greek ships would scatter to their city-states, leaving them vulnerable to an intact Persian fleet. Xerxes refused this plan, instead moving to attack the assembled Greek fleet at Salamis. Artemisia participated in the Battle of Salamis in September, 480 BC as a Persian ally commanding five ships.
Artemisia convinced Xerxes to retreat back to Asia Minor after the defeat at Salamis, contrary to the advice of Mardonius, who wanted Xerxes to stay. Xerxes then sent her to Ephesus to take care of his sons. In return, Artemisia's lands did well by their alliance with the Persians.
Read more about this topic: Artemisia I Of Caria
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“It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea: a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to standing upon the vantage ground of truth ... and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below.”
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