In 480 BC, before the advance of the Persian king Xerxes towards Greece, the Athenian general Themistocles He proposed that the Greek alliance block the passage of the Persian army in the narrow gorge of Thermopylae and, at the same time, immobilize the enemy fleet in the Strait of Artemis. In this way, land and naval access to Attica and the Peloponnese were protected. Throughout three days of fighting, the Greeks held out against a much larger Persian fleet, suffering heavy casualties. However, when Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans fell—history has forgotten the seven hundred Thespians and four hundred Thebans who fell in that battle—Themistocles decided to withdraw. With the land route to Athens free, it was no use continuing to sacrifice the Hellenic fleet. In that Persian triumph, due to the withdrawal of her opponent, Artemisia I of Caria stood out , the only female captain of the Persian fleet.
Artemisia I of Caria
Although she was a Greek — she was born in Halicarnassus and was the regent of Caria (a region located in the southwest of present-day Turkey) — she fought alongside the Persians. This woman would have something so that, even betraying her own and allying herself with Xerxes, even her countryman, her Herodotus, would praise her for her cunning and skill. Had he followed her advice, the story would have been different. After razing Athens, not the Athenians because they had been evacuated, the Persians headed for Salamis Island, where the allied fleet had taken refuge. Although Xerxes' bloodshot eyes already foreshadowed the decision he was going to make, all the captains advised the Persian sovereign to attack now... except Artemis, who recommended caution. No one paid any attention to him and what had to happen happened. The Persians fell into Themistocles' trap and the allied Greek fleet inflicted a severe defeat on the Persians.
In Salamina, Artemisa, in command of five ships, had to use ingenuity to get out of a critical situation. In the heat of the battle, her ship was blocked by several Persian ships and, at the same time, a Greek ship headed for her ship to ram them; so the captain ordered to change her flag, hoist the Greek flag and ram a Persian ship. The Greek ship thought that she was one of theirs and changed course in search of another enemy ship, a moment that the captain took advantage of to recover the Persian flag and continue fighting.
In the battle of Salamina there was also a protagonist who has been forgotten by history:Hydna de Scione . Hydna was the daughter of Scyllis of Scione , a kind of diving instructor. In Scyllis's house the saying "in the blacksmith's house, a wooden knife" was not fulfilled, because soon her daughter surpassed her father in the art of diving. Let us remember that years later, in Ancient Rome, the first body of professional divers in history appeared:the urinatores , a body within the legions that, in addition to the rigorous tests and normal training for combat, received specific training for their aquatic and underwater operations. Among their tasks in times of war, sabotage operations stood out (cutting the anchor or moorings, running ships aground by placing underwater obstacles...), transporting small objects, espionage and even as couriers. Well, Hydna and Scyllis already acted as urinators because, according to the Greek historian and geographer Pausanias, before the Persian fleet headed for Salamis, while they were deciding what to do, in the middle of a storm father and daughter dived to the enemy ships and cut the moorings and the anchor ropes, causing them to Several ships ran aground and others were damaged by colliding with each other. For such a feat, they erected statues of both of them at Delphi.
Hydna Scione
After the defeat, an enraged Xerxes, and in reference to the value of Artemis, exclaimed:
My men have behaved like women, while the women have fought like real men.
The Persian king, now, decided to follow the advice of his captain and withdrew, leaving a large part of his army under the command of general Mardonius with orders to complete the conquest of Greece. However, the following year they were defeated at the battle of Plataea and the Persian army at the battle of Micala, next to the island of Samos. It would be the last time the Persians tried to take over Greece.