two sides. The Greeks were left in control of the wreckage and the dead, but, after what they had gone through, and with half of the Athenian ships damaged, they thought about retreating south themselves. THEMISTOCLES got the Greeks to light fires that night, to convince the Persians that they were not retreating, but this was to cover their withdrawal. It may be that Artemisium had taught him that the Greeks needed to fight in rather narrower waters.
News then came, from the Athenian ABRONICHUS, who was with LEONIDAS for the purpose, of the fate of the Spartans at Thermopylae, and the Greeks immediately retreated south through the Euripus. As he left, Themistocles wrote INSCRIPTIONS, at the watering‐places which the IONIANS in Xerxes’ fleet would visit, encouraging the Ionians to remember their consanguinity with the Athenians and either to come over to him or to make little effort in subsequent battles (the Ionians in fact always fought hard for the Persians). The Greeks had been roughly handled, but must have taken some encouragement from their performance, and the Spartan bravery at Thermopylae offered inspiration. PINDAR said of Artemisium (in a dithyramb for the Athenians) that it was “where the Athenians laid the shining foundation‐stone of liberty” (F77 S‐M); scant fragments of an elegiac poem on it by SIMONIDES remain (FF 1‐4 West, IEG 2 ).
The account of Artemisium illustrates a general feature of Herodotus’ battle narratives: they are linked together by structural similarities. He says that Artemisium and Thermopylae were fought on the same three days, the defense of the pass being equivalent to the defense of the Euripus channel (8.15.2), but the parallelisms go further. In each location there is a similar pattern of two inconclusive battles followed by a conclusive one; in each episode, the Peloponnesians wish to retreat; the Persians carry out a “flanking maneuver,” at Thermopylae successfully taking the Greeks by surprise, but at Artemisium having less success; and the exiled Spartan king, DEMARATUS, features in an episode before each battle. Later, SALAMIS is also linked to Artemisium, both of which feature crucial secretive actions by Themistocles: at Artemisium, he treats secretly with EURYBIADES, ADEIMANTUS, and the Euboeans; and at Salamis, with MNESIPHILUS (8.57) and Xerxes (8.75), while Eurybiades and Adeimantus (8.59, 61) are again prominent. There are again more detailed links: Salamis is prefigured at Artemisium by a gift of land there to a deserter from the Persians, ANTIDORUS, and the capture of PHILAON, the brother of the king of Cypriot SALAMIS (8.11); ARTEMISIA, the Carian queen who plays a major role in events before, during, and after Salamis (8.68–69, 87–88, 101–3), evokes the earlier battle by her name.
SEE ALSO: Naval Warfare; Persian Wars; Ships and Sailing; Trireme
FURTHER READING
1 Bowen, Anthony J. 1998. “The Place that Beached a Thousand Ships.” CQ 48.2: 345–64.
2 Hammond, N. G. L. 1988. “Thermopylae and Artemisium.” In CAH2 IV, 546–63.
3 Hignett, Charles. 1963. Xerxes’ Invasion of Greece, 149–92. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
4 Lazenby, J. F. 1993. The Defence of Greece 490–479 B.C., 117–50. Warminster: Aris & Phillips.
5 Morrison, J. S., J. F. Coates, and N. B. Rankov. 2000. The Athenian Trireme: The History and Reconstruction of an Ancient Greek Warship, 50–55. 2nd edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ARTESCUS RIVER (ὁ Ἀρτησκὸς ποταμός)
ALISON LANSKI
University of Notre Dame
A river in the territory of the ODRYSAE, a Thracian tribe; exact location and identification unknown (see Müller II, 788, who suggests the Teke Dere). Herodotus’ story of the hills of stones along the Artescus created by the soldiers of DARIUS I’s Scythian campaign (4.92) may be a local etiological tale (Corcella in ALC, 646–47).
SEE ALSO: Monuments; Rivers; Tearus; Thrace
FURTHER READING
1 Archibald, Z. H. 1998. The Odrysian Kingdom of Thrace: Orpheus Unmasked, 82. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
ARTOBAZANES (Ἀρτοβαζάνης, ὁ)
HENRY P. COLBURN
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Artobazanes (or Arta‐) was the son of DARIUS I and an unnamed daughter of Gobryas (one of Darius’ co‐conspirators in overthrowing the “false” SMERDIS). He was the eldest of all of Darius’ sons, and thus sought to be made his successor; but he lost out to XERXES, since Artobazanes had been born prior to Darius’ accession—a detail which DEMARATUS uses as an argument in favor of Xerxes (7.2–3). Artobazanes is not attested elsewhere.
SEE ALSO: Gobryas father of Mardonius; Monarchy
FURTHER READING
1 Balcer, Jack Martin. 1993. A Prosopographical Study of the Ancient Persians Royal and Noble c. 550–450 b.c., 109–10. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.
Schmitt, IPGL, 121–22 (no. 81).
ARTOCHMES (Ἀρτόχμης, ὁ)
PIETRO VANNICELLI
Università di Roma–La Sapienza
Son‐in‐law of DARIUS I and brother‐in‐law of XERXES, Artochmes led the infantry contingents of the PHRYGIANS and of the ARMENIANS (“colonists of the Phrygians,” according to Herodotus) during Xerxes’ march against Greece in 480 BCE (7.73).
SEE ALSO: Armies; Persian Wars
FURTHER READING
Schmitt, IPGL, 126–27 (no. 87).
ARTONTES (Ἀρτόντης, ὁ) father of Bagaeus
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Patronymic, father of BAGAEUS who was sent by the Persian king DARIUS I to assassinate the satrap OROETES (3.128.1). Nothing more is known of him.
SEE ALSO: Artontes son of Mardonius; Mardontes
ARTONTES (Ἀρτόντης, ὁ) son of Mardonius
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Son of the Persian general MARDONIUS. Herodotus relates that Mardonius’ corpse disappeared the day after the Battle of PLATAEA; while he cannot say what happened to it, he does know that many people claim to have buried the body and to have received a reward from Artontes for doing so (9.84). The Roman‐era author Pausanias (9.2.2) locates Mardonius’ tomb along the road between Plataea and HYSIAE.
SEE ALSO: Burial Customs; Dionysophanes; Knowledge
FURTHER READING
1 Flower,
