ARTEMISIA, daughter of Lygdamis, succeeded her husband in the kingdom of Halicarnassus, which was a dependency of the Persian empire. She took part in person in the expedition of Xerxes against the Greeks, and fitted out five ships, with which she distinguished herself in the sea-fight near Salamis, 480 B.C. When closely pursued by the Athenians she escaped by the stratagem of attacking one of the Persian vessels, whereupon the Athenians concluded that she was an ally, and gave up the pursuit. By her advice Xerxes did not attempt another battle, but at once retired from Greece. A story of her, in all probability entirely without foundation, is preserved by Photius. She is said to have loved a young man named Dardanus, of Abydos, and, enraged at his neglect of her, to have put out his eyes while he was asleep. The gods, as a punishment for this, ordered her, by an oracle, to take the famous but rather mythical lover's leap from the Leucadian promontory.