Ancient Greek warrior women: the extraordinary female figures who shaped the Greco-Persian Wars

Darius disregarded Atossa’s advice. Little did he know, however, that he would one day be forced to do precisely what she’d suggested. Following a revolt of city-states, the Persians went into battle with the Greeks, triggering the outbreak of the Greco-Persian Wars.

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The wars between the two powers in the first half of the fifth century BC were some of the most destructive in classical history. Fought across land and sea, the Greco-Persian Wars changed the landscape of the two mighty empires. They resulted in victory for the Greek city-states, though at a considerable cost. While the historical narrative of these events is populated by the men who led the various battles, women played important roles, which have too often been overlooked.

What follows is an account of the wars foregrounded, as far as is possible, by the women who were there.

Power and persuasion

The story of the Greco-Persian Wars through the eyes of women begins with Atossa. Like many eastern kings, her husband Darius was polygamous, but of the six principal women in his harem, Atossa was the most politically engaged. According to Herodotus, the premier historian of the wars and a citizen of Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum in Turkey), Atossa had “the totality of power” at court. This might have been an exaggeration, but she was certainly involved in her husband’s political work and would credibly have offered him advice on foreign affairs.

Atossa held additional authority as the daughter of the founding king of the first Persian empire, a leader who had conquered swathes of Asia Minor, including Media and Croesus’s famously wealthy kingdom of Lydia, and extended his reach from the Aegean coast to modern Afghanistan and Pakistan. His downfall was Queen Tomyris, to whom he had initially proposed marriage. Believing he wanted little more than her land, she turned him down. Cyrus responded to the rebuff by launching his invasion, engaging in what Herodotus described as “the hardest of all the battles ever fought by non-Greeks”. The mighty Massagetae massacred the Persian forces and Tomyris fulfilled her earlier threat to give Cyrus his fill of blood.

Atossa had 'the totality of power' at court and was certainly involved with her husband’s political work

It may certainly be argued that Cyrus’s tragedy shaped Atossa’s decision to discourage her husband from pursuing the nomads. Herodotus’s claim that her advice to Darius was prompted by her desire to add female slaves from Sparta, Corinth, Argos and Athens to her household could hardly have been her real motivation. As if the experience of her father was not deterrent enough, there was more to be gained from launching an expedition against the Greeks than from pursuing elusive tribesmen – and women – across an unforgiving landscape.

Eventually, Atossa was able to persuade her husband to send a small detachment into Greek territory, but according to Herodotus, this was done on the initiative of her doctor.

Atossa had summoned her medic to examine her after noticing an alarming swelling on her breast. The doctor said that he could cure her, but that he wanted something in return, namely to lead a command against the Greeks. Atossa had little choice but to speak to Darius on her doctor’s behalf in exchange for a prescription for an ointment. The ointment miraculously worked (she was perhaps suffering from inflammatory mastitis), Atossa recovered, and her doctor was permitted to lead a detachment of 15 Persians to reconnoitre Greek territory. Unfortunately for Atossa, whose own
persuasions Herodotus dramatically underplayed in his account, the Greek enterprise proved unpromising, so Darius left, as planned, for the land of the Scythians. He would score merely a hollow victory over them.

It is frequently forgotten that the case for invading Greek territory was first made by Atossa. This is largely because more than 20 years passed before she finally secured her Greek invasion. Rather than launch a pre-emptive strike, as he might have done earlier, Darius now had to begin on the back foot. The Persians were sucked into conflict with the Greeks as a result of the so-called Ionian Revolt. Its roots stretched back to when Cyrus the Great had forced the coastal cities of the Greek territory of Ionia to submit and pay tribute to Persia. Demoralised by their situation and the authority of their Persian satraps (governors), the people of Ionia had now begun to make a bid for freedom, which naturally threatened Darius’s authority.

One of the most intriguing witnesses to these events was a princess of Sparta named Gorgo. She was only eight or nine years old, but she allegedly sat in on the negotiations held between her father, Cleomenes I of Sparta, and Aristagoras, tyrant of Miletus, and cautioned against Sparta’s involvement in the rebellion. Aristagoras prevailed upon Athens and Eretria for support instead and secured a number of ships. The Ionians were successful enough to infiltrate the Persian city of Sardis and burn down its hallowed temple of the mother goddess Cybele.

Watershed moment

Darius now focused on retaliating against the staunchest Ionian rebels. The Persians were successful in putting down the revolt. Encouraged, Darius dispatched a naval taskforce to put Eretria to flame before confronting the Athenians at Marathon, a wide plain near the coast of Euboea, in 490 BC. The battle of Marathon marked a watershed in east-west relations. The Athenians, bolstered by a powerful contingent from Plataea (a city lying south of Thebes in Boeotia), routed a considerably larger Persian force. Darius, shaken by the unexpected defeat, finally vowed to launch a fully-fledged expedition against the Greeks.

In practice, it fell to his son Xerxes to carry out the campaign, for Darius died four years after Marathon. Darius had already had sons when he married Atossa, but chose to make Xerxes, the first of four sons she bore him, his heir. The women of Persia played some part in the war preparations. They would have been employed, for example, in weaving the colourful tapestries and garlands which adorned the Persian soldiers in a magnificent battle procession described by Herodotus. There were also female concubines, bakers and cooks in the Persian entourage.

As the Persians progressed, bridging the Hellespont and subjugating peoples as far as their allies in Macedonia, news of the invasion travelled across the Greek mainland. The most well-documented recipient of the military intelligence was Gorgo, now a young woman. It was said that when some blank writing tablets arrived in Sparta, she alone knew how to interpret them. Writing tablets took the form of wooden supports covered in wax upon which a message could be inscribed. While the men shrugged their shoulders, Gorgo perceived that the tablets might not be blank after all. The wax was removed at her suggestion to reveal a secret message inscribed in the wood beneath. A defector from the Persians had written to inform the Spartans of Xerxes’ movements. Thanks to Gorgo, his information was passed on.

Gorgo consequently earned the admiration of her people as the Spartans came together in an attempt to prevent the Persians from pouring into Greece via the narrow mountain pass of Thermopylae. The princess’s husband, her father’s half-brother Leonidas, led the famous crack force of 300 to defend the site in the summer of 480 BC. The Spartans had little hope of success against the Persian onslaught but put up a brave resistance over the course of three days. Leonidas took the lead in inspiring his men through his own courage. The 300 were mercilessly hacked down, but Gorgo was hailed the wife of a true hero.

Sabotage at sea

It now fell to another young woman to halt the Persian advance. This time the defence would need to be conducted on water, for while Xerxes’ land army stormed to triumph at Thermopylae, his naval forces were preparing to confront the Greeks off the coast of Artemisium in northern Euboea (a large island in Greece). Thanks to the support of the Phoenicians, who possessed the most powerful war vessels known at that time, the Persian navy was without equal. The Persians had every reason to anticipate success. Nothing, however, could have prepared them for the storms stirred up by the winds off Mount Pelion in Thessaly. It was while they were moored here, awaiting battle, that a girl named Hydna arrived on the scene.

For many of the women left behind, these years were characterised by uncertainty and terror

An accomplished swimmer from Scione, a port town on the north Aegean coast, Hydna was said to have swum towards the ships under cover of night with her father. On reaching the Persian ships, the pair surreptitiously began to cut the anchors and ropes beneath, causing the vessels to knock into each other and inflict further damage in the strong winds. An estimated 400 ships were destroyed in the course of the storm. Many had been carrying crucial food supplies. Hydna may in reality have given her fellow Greeks only a small advantage, but she would be remembered for centuries afterwards for her heroism, not least of all by Emperor Nero, who carried a statue of her erected at Delphi away to Rome.
The Greek fleet at Artemisium, to which Corinth, Sparta, Eretria and Athens had contributed ships, was still far smaller than Xerxes’ offering. For three days, the Greeks did their best to resist the Persian onslaught, but their ships were soon so depleted that they had little option but to withdraw from battle. In so doing, they granted Persia a less than satisfying victory.

The nameless women

We must remember that the Greco-Persian Wars consisted of more than a series of battles and skirmishes. For many of the wom- en and children left behind, these years were characterised by deep uncertainty and terror. In the wake of Persia’s successes, many people fled Attica, the territory of which Athens formed a part, and sought refuge on the nearby island of Salamis. Others left Delphi in Phocis for the relative safety of Achaea, western Greece. But not everyone escaped in time. Many were intercepted on their way by Persians returning from the battle of Thermopylae. Herodotus’s Histories record the harrowing detail of women from Phocis being gang-raped to death.

Historians have long celebrated the heroism of Leonidas and the 300. We should never forget the nameless women who fell in their shadow.

Wisdom and honour

Following their victory, the Persians were able to gain control of Attica and the surrounding areas after ravaging and plundering the Acropolis at Athens. Feeling that they had nothing to lose, the Athenians resolved to offer battle at sea once again, off the waters of Salamis. While the Persian military was eager to vanquish them once and for all, Xerxes hesitated, and with good reason. One of his key allies had cautioned against further engagement on water.

Artemisia, queen of Halicarnassus, had come to power following the death of her husband, and held the distinction of being the sole female commander on either side of the Greco-Persian Wars. She had lent Xerxes five superlative ships and now advised that he tread carefully. Spare the ships, she urged his deputy Mardonius, for “[the Greek] men are stronger than yours by sea just as men in general are stronger than women”.

Herodotus, who was accustomed to inventing speeches for his characters, especially women, clearly recognised the wisdom of Artemisia’s advice. Xerxes, too, accepted that it was only too prudent. And yet, he felt fit to disregard it and chose instead to satisfy his men and send ships to Salamis. He quickly regretted this, for the Athenians, pretending to be intent on flight, deceived the Persians into approaching at night and then took them by surprise.

Artemisia was a rare example of a woman who was recognised for her role in confronting men in battle

Artemisia had joined the campaign she had advised against and experienced such chaos on the water that she had to sink an allied ship in order to free herself from danger. According to Herodotus, one of the Persians exclaimed to Xerxes: “Master, do you see Artemisia, how well she fights and has sunk an enemy ship?” It was in response to this that Xerxes was supposed to have uttered his immortal line: “My men have become women, and my women, men.” Although the Persians were worsted in the battle, the king proceeded to reward Artemisia with a set of Greek armour. The ship’s male captain, meanwhile, received a most insulting present of a woman’s distaff and spindle.

The victorious Greeks put a bounty on taking Artemisia alive but found themselves thwarted. Xerxes was able to prevail upon the heroic queen for advice once again as he weighed up leading an attack on the Pelopon- nese or leaving his men to deliver the territory to him while he returned home. Artemisia favoured the latter course and, this time, Xerxes listened. As he prepared to make the journey home, he entrusted some of his illegitimate sons to Artemisia, bidding

her to take them safely to Ephesus in western Asia Minor. To Xerxes’s enduring regret, the Greeks were able to secure a decisive victory over his remaining land forces at Plataea in 479 BC, and later that same year, in a final naval victory off the Asian coast at Mycale.

The Greeks, after a difficult start, had emerged triumphant. They would now concentrate on strengthening their defence against future Persian hostilities by establishing the alliance known as the Delian League.

Liberation and legacy

The Greco-Persian Wars had seen man confront man on the battlefield and at sea. There had been, as ever, a scarcity of women on the frontline. And yet women had played their own part in the conflict, and Hydna and Gorgo are just two whose stories were considered significant enough in antiquity to be recorded. Artemisia was a rare example of a woman who was recognised for her role in confronting men in battle. A statue of her was put up like a trophy in a new marble portico at Sparta paid for out of war spoils. Her name ought to be as famous today as that of Xerxes, who returned to Persia a weakened king, destined to be killed by a member of his own guard.

Many other women contributed to the liberation of the cities of Ionia from Persian control or paid for it with their lives. It is a failure of the historical sources that they remain nameless.

The Greeks would enjoy supremacy until the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC pitched them against each other in the near-equivalent of a world war. Sparta and her allies would ultimately triumph over Athens and her allies after securing the support of Persia. The world map would once again be redrawn and, as before, women would play a considerable role in shaping it.

Daisy Dunn is an author and classicist. Her new book, The Missing Thread: A New History of the Ancient World Through the Women Who Shaped It, is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson