Introduction
Wars throughout history are so often portrayed as a man’s world. Although, while the men were fighting, leading and making the decisions the women had to be doing something, right? Well, women were doing the same in their own respect during the Persian Wars. Throughout the following page you will learn about ten stories of women who lived through the Persian Wars, some in the throes of battle and some remaining closer to home. We will also dive into some background information on the Persian Wars along with the authors of the primary sources used in this research and on the roles of women in Ancient Greece and Persia.
Sadly, there are no sources from the time written by women. Therefore all of the stories and information you will read are told from the mans perspective and so it is best to keep that in mind while reading.
Historical background
The Persian war
It should be noted that, due to the lack of the Persian perspective in the written record, it is probable that the story of the Greco-Persian war is clouded by biases and exaggerations. In fact, the Greeks wrote that their “victories were inevitable and foreordained,” (Balcer, 1989, p.127) and Herodotus consistently exaggerated “the magnitude of the Persian forces in order to heighten the military powers of what would appear … meager yet super heroic Greeks” (Balcer, 1989, p.127). This exaggeration is largely assumed by some historians’ due to calculations on the Persians demand for grain and fresh water which came to be about equal to the Greeks and so it is possible that their forces were equal to the Greeks. Other historians have said that Greco Roman writers often minimized their causalities and the total number of troops but exaggerated their opponents’ to magnify their achievements,(Keenan-Jones & Duncan, 2019, p.61). The extent of forces and casualties on either side of the war will most likely never be known as there was no tally kept of the dead and the largely propaganda figures are “so remote from reality that no conclusions about the actual losses [or total army sizes] are possible,” (Keenan-Jones & Duncan, 2019, p.61).
The Greco-Persian Wars or, simply, the Persian Wars raged between the Greeks and Persians spanning around twenty years, from 499 BC to 479 BC (Lateiner, 2004, p.1). The Persian Wars were composed of four major battles: the Battle of Plataea, Salamis, Marathon, and Thermopylae along with other minor battles, as detailed by Herodotus in the Histories. Although it’s unclear exactly why they happened, the responsibility for the start of the war may rest on the shoulders of Croesus, the king of Lydia, who as stated by Herodotus was the first to undertake “criminal acts of aggression against the Greeks,” when he began a campaign against Cyrus in 547 BCE (Hdt. 5.1.5). This led to Darius and his son Xerxes, the successors of Cyrus, going to war against the Greeks with Darius launching an expedition against the Athenians because they had aided Ionia in their revolt against Persia. The war happened during a time when the Persian Empire was at its peak. Yet, the Greeks were the ultimate victors by the war’s end, beating the Persians in the last battle at Plataea in 379 BC under the command of the Spartan general Pausanias (Vasunia, 2009, p.1834). Even though the Greeks beat the Persians in the Greco Persian war the Persian empire still lasted until 330 BC (Kuhrt, 2007, p.1), 149 years after their defeat at Plataea.
Primary sources on the Persian War
Herodotus
One primary source on the Persian Wars is The Histories by Herodotus which was first published between 449 BCE and 447 BCE (Lateiner, 2005, p.1). Even though Herodotus’s The Histories is embellished by fiction and legend and biases towards the Greeks, it is the only roughly contemporary account of the Persian war that has survived.
Herodotus has been given the title the “Father of History” (Lateiner, 2005, p.1), or the “Father of Anthropology” (Redfield, 1985, p.97) because he is thought to be the first to document what we now classify as history. While little is known about the man, we do know that he was born around 484 BC in Halicarnassos, a Carian town in modern-day Turkey which, at the time, was a Greek city state under the rule of the Persian Empire. It is said that he came from a prominent family, which afforded him a good education to develop his writing and the ability to travel frequently and far for much of his life (Rawlinson, 2018, p.24). In 457 BC Herodotus left his home for the Ionian Island of Samos after an uprising against the Persians that Herodotus himself may have been involved in (Lateiner, 2005, p.1). Herodotus traveled widely, during which time he collected his stories and information predominantly from firsthand accounts and his own observations of places, monuments, and art; these would become the books of the Histories (Lateiner, 2005, p.1). In 414 BC Herodotus passed away in Thurii (Lateiner, 2005. p1), where he seemed to have settled after slowing down his travelling when he reached middle age (Rawlinson, 2018, p. 24). Herodotus was thought to be around 60 years old at his time of death leaving behind his unfinished work (Rawlinson, 2018, p. 26).
Pausanias
Another primary source that touches on the Persian War is Pausanias’ Periegesis Hellados, which translated to Tour Around Greece or Description of Greece (Pretzler, 2018, p.271). The Periegesis Hellados is a ten-book account of mainland Greece only documenting the most noteworthy of Greece’s cities (Hutton, 2019). For what little information there is on Herodotus, there is even less for Pausanias. This lack of information comes from the fact that the writer wrote little about himself in his works and so most information comes from what historians and readers can gleam from the through the thoughts and opinions that he chose to divulge (Pretzler, 2018, p.273). What is known is that Pausanias was born in 115 CE and was a Roman traveler of Greek heritage from Western Asia Minor; most likely from Magnesia and Sipylum (Alcock et al., 2001, p. 33), which was under the rule of the roman empire at the time. He was a geographer (Elsner, 1992, p. 3). His standing in social taxonomy is not known but it is believed that he may have been a pilgrim (Jones, 2003, p. 3) which is why he was travelling through Greece. The Description of Greece is regarded as a tourist guide written between 150 CE and 180 CE (Pretzler, 2004, p. 200), hundreds of years after the Persian war. Pausanias wrote complex discussions on the geography, memorial landscape, traditions, and monuments of Greece through a variety of genres including: history, ethnography, geography and mythography (Pretzler, 2018, p.271). The geographer combined local narrative, ekphrasis (meaning the use of detailed description of a work of visual art as a literary device), rhetoric and scientific writing into his transcribing on his Tour of Greece (Pretzler, 2018, p.271). It is thought that Pausanias was a thoughtful and reliable witness and guide to what he saw on his travels. Pausanias passed away in 180 CE (Hutton, 2019. Intro.) but that is all that is known of the writers later life.
Women’s roles outside war
Ancient Greece
Women in Ancient Greece were both less respected (Katz, 1992, p. 77) and largely restricted in their movements and lives. These restrictions were not so much law but rather custom or tradition (Katz, 1992, p. 74). Greek women were largely excluded from the public sphere, self-governance, and politics (Katz, 1992, p. 72). Instead, they spent most of their time confined to the oikos (the home) where the family was the central aspect of women’s social lives (Katz, 1992, p. 517) and there was a particular push in the production of textiles. As stated by the author Xenophon, ‘the gods have made one gender (women) fit only for a “seated” way of life but too weak for activities outdoors, while the other gender (the men) were less suited for domestic work but strong enough for labour that required motion,” (Oik. 1.1344.3-6) and “the woman should be responsible for all work indoors, and the man would take charge of the outdoor activities,” (Oik. 7.22)
They were under the influence of a male guardian whether that be a Father or a Husband (Katz, 1992, p. 73) and while they did not have the same access to education that a male would have girls still had a form of education in the domestic arts and “womanly wisdom’ which was entrusted to their mothers until marriage (Katz, 1992, p. 74). When a woman was married, she was recognized through the moral worth of a wife and her ability to provide children.
While the average woman in ancient Greece may have been confined to the home and expected to only birth and care for children, it is likely that some women in rural areas worked in agriculture (Scheidel, 1995, p. 207), considering most available sources come from the upper classes the role of lower-class Greek women is largely erased (Scheidel, 1995, p. 205).
Ancient Persia
In contrast, women in Ancient Persia enjoyed more freedom, respect, and power than Greek women. Persian women were seen outside the home in social and political activities, running parts of production and trade or commanding the kingdom or the government (Afshan, 2014, p.1291). Persian women were able to be present at banquets with men unlike their greek counterparts who “were barred from attending symposia and from mingling with men who were not kin,” (Pomeroy, 1997, p.790)
Women in the Persian War
Within Herodotus’s Histories there are 375 passages that involve women. These women range from Queens and Priestesses to Prostitutes, Nurses, Bakers and family women (Wives, Mothers and Daughters) (Dewald, 1980, p. 13). Sadly, many of these women are unnamed, simply identified as a man’s wife or daughter.
While The Histories begin with a series of possible rapes and is filled with misogynistic remarks such as the possible victim blaming of the statement; “when a woman puts off her tunic, she puts off her modesty also,” (Hdt. 1.8) or the fact that as Herodotus put it “It is the greatest of all insults in Persia to be called worse than a woman,” (Hdt. 9.107) that may make the reader think the 375 passages in which women are present in the book are all to be about women victimized and used by men or women who have no control over their lives during the Persian Wars but in truth out of the 375 passages, 212 times women are portrayed as actors who themselves determine the outcome of events (Dewald, 1981, p. 95). They were not passive figures standing in the background of history but instead are active participants in the narrative and fight. Herodotus describes these women as rational, analytical, moral, and politically adept who “succeed in their objectives more often and more efficiently than the men,” (Dewald, 1980, p. 13).
The following is ten stories of women who lived through the Persian Wars and the roles they played.
You may be familiar with some of the names on this list, specifically; Io, Europa, Medea, and Helen of Troy, from their original myths. But have you heard Herodotus versions; where he turned the mythical women into real women who existed during the Persian Wars? Have you heard of Hydna of Scione or the story of Perianders daughter? If not, you are about to!
Note: the first four women are labeled, by Herodotus, as being the catalysts to the start of the Persian Wars. Not from their own actions mind you but by the actions of men.
Io
In the original myth Io was a young maiden, daughter of Inachus, the river of Argos and the city’s mythical king. One day Zeus saw her walking and captured and raped Io. In order to hide her from Hera, his wife, Zeus turned Io into a heifer (female cow that has not birthed a calf). But Hera could not be fooled and she recognized the cow for what she was and to torment her she sent a gadfly. To escape the gadfly Io was forced to leave her homeland and venture far. After a time, Io came back to the Mediterranean, to the delta of the river Nile where Zeus restored her to her human form and gave her a child Epaphos “who was destined to be Egypt’s first king,” (Gottesman, 2013).
Within Herodotus’s Histories Io was the first woman said to be abducted during the Persian War. She was the daughter of King Inachus of Argos, and the Phoenicians who had come into Argos to trade, kidnapped Io from where she and many other women were “buying the wares that pleased them most” and took her to Egypt (Hdt. 1.1). After Io was carried off by force, it is presumed that she likely was raped by the men who were involved. According to the Persians the Phoenicians were then responsible for the break out of the Persian Wars (Wardman, 1961, p.134). In another version of Io’s story, from the Phoenician perspective, Io had instead become pregnant by the master of a Phoenician ship and, fearful of telling her parents or in respect for her parents and to avoid shaming them (Dewald, 1980, p.14), chose to flee to Egypt (Hdt. 1.5). The Phoenicians thought that Io was too cunning of a woman to have been abducted without her consent.
Europa
In the original myth Europa was a Phoenician princess, daughter to king the king and queen who in different retellings go by different names. One morning, Europa goes with her companions to a meadow by the shore, but once there she soon attracts the attention of the god Zeus. He, immediately, falls in love with her. Zeus then sends a bull to her or transforms into a bull and approaches her. Europa becomes attracted to the bull and climbs onto it. The bull takes off with Europe and travels across the sea to Crete where Zeus transforms back into his godly form and they engage in intercourse. Europa bears three children and Zeus leaves her and their three sons with the king of Crete, Asterios, who marries Europa and raises the boys. When those in Phoenicia learn of Europa’s abduction her father sends his son to search for her threatening them that if they do not find her, they cannot return home. Her brothers never find her and never go back to Phoenicia instead they found cities of their own (Reeves, 2005, p. 27 – 28).
Within Herodotus’s Histories Europa was the next Woman to be taken. She was the Daughter of the king of Tyre in Phoenicia. Herodotus remarks that Europa was taken (and possibly raped) by the Greeks specifically, the Cretans of the Greek city state Crete, to Phoenicia. And so, the Greeks were the “authors of the second wrong” (Hdt. 1.2), in their attempt to avenge the kidnapping of Io, by kidnapping another woman.
Note: The words presumed or possible rapes are used not to diminish the assaults of these women but instead due to conflicting translations of the word for that Herodotus uses when describing these women’s stories. While the word is commonly translated as rape it may actually mean abduction. Going only off of the context of Herodotus’s histories it is not completely obvious if all the women were abducted and raped or just abducted.
Medea
children from the original myth, circa 70 – 79 AD by Timomachus. National Archaeological Museum Naples. Unknown publisher.
In the original legend Medea was a Princess from the barbarian kingdom of Colchis. She was a “sorceress associated with the cult of Hecate, goddess of witchcraft, poisons and ghosts,” (Charlier, 2017). Medea, the King’s daughter, was shot with an arrow from Eros so that she would fall in love with Jason who needed her help in obtaining the golden fleece. Medea was skilled in potions and so after Jason promises to marry her, she provides him with a potion that guarantees he wins against all odds by giving him the strength of heroes like Herakles or Achilles (Tyminski, 2014, p.30). Both of them go into the grove where the fleece is kept, guarded by a dragon which Medea gives a sleeping potion to and takes the fleece. In their escape, Jason kills Medea’s brother and marries Medea out of desperation. They land at Jason’s kingdom in Greece, where Medea rejuvenates a ram by cutting it up and putting it in a cauldron from which it emerges younger. Seeing this rejuvenation influences the king’s daughters to try it on him, but the king is boiled to death. Jason and Medea are then banished from the kingdom and so they seek refuge in Corinth. In Corinth, Jason and Medea have no power or status so Jason decides to marry the king’s daughter to advance himself. In revenge for her humiliation over Jason’s infidelity, she devises a plan. She poisons the princess and murders her own children and then escapes to Athens (Tyminski, 2014, p. 30).
Within Herodotus’s Histories Medea was the third woman to be taken. Medea was from Colchis and was taken by the Greeks unwillingly onto a warship. This second abduction of a woman by the Greeks disturbed the balance as stated by Herodotus “So far, then, the account between them was balanced. But after this, it was the Greeks who were responsible for the second wrong done” (Hdt., 1.2.7). This second wrong refers to the fact that the greeks took two women in a row, Medea being taken for no reason according to the Persians as they had not taken another woman. The King of Colchis, Medea’s father, sent a herald to the land of Hellas and demanded satisfaction for the abduction and the return of his daughter but the Greeks refused to return Medea “on the grounds that no compensation had been paid for Io,” (Hdt. 1.2).
What is interesting about Herodotus’s version of Medea’s story is that, unlike both Io and Europa, Medea in her traditional story left willingly because of her love for Jason but Herodotus never brings this up, instead continuing to paint and minimize Medea as only the victim. Herodotus also removed her powers, her importance in the story of Jason and her rage. These discrepancies between Medeas stories show the liberties that Herodotus, and other male historians, took with women’s stories in order to create his histories.
Helen
The original myth of Helen was that Helen was the daughter of Zeus and wife to Menelaus the king of Sparta. She was taken by or left with Paris to Troy. In the Iliad the Greeks land near troy and dispatch envoys to Priam to demand the return of Helen but this fails and sets in motion the ten-year siege of Troy after Menelaus summoned other Greek chieftains to his aid to recover his wife, she became the cause of the Trojan War (Scherer, 1967, p. 369).
Although Helen is a figure commonly known as being from hundred of years before the Persian Wars Herodotus still includes her as existing during the time of the Persian Wars. Herodotus, unlike historians known in the modern world, would take stories and myths to contextualize the historical events he would write about. In Herodotus Histories Helen is perhaps used as a way in which to show the long history of belligerence between the two states of Persia and Greece, as well as to show a mythical person being a part of the beginnings of the war to add validity to his Histories and his use of other mythical women.
Within Herodotus’s Histories Helen was the final woman described as being a part of the beginnings of the war through her abduction. Helen was from Hellas and was taken (and subsequently raped) by Paris (Wardman, 1961, p.134) otherwise known as Alexander, son of Priam who wanted her for his wife (Hdt 1.3). According to Herodotus, Paris was “assured that he would not be compelled to give any satisfaction for this wrong, inasmuch as the Hellenes gave none for theirs,” (Hdt.1.3). Paris refused to return Helen or provide satisfaction for her rape when the Greeks demanded it on Helen’s behalf.
Artemisia I of Caria/ Artemisia of Halicarnassus
Artemisia was Queen and “Ruler of the men of Halicarnassus and Cos and Nisyros and Calydna.” (Hdt. 7.99.) She was an ally of Xerxes (the Persian Ruler at the time) in his expedition against Greece (Munson, 1988, p. 91). Artemisia is one of the women who Herodotus speaks of with admiration: “Artemisia at whom I marvel most that she joined the expedition against Hellas,” (Hdt. 7.99.1). Artemisia’s husband had died and instead of having the power pass onto her son she held onto the power as Queen. Artemisia was “impelled by high spirit and manly courage,” and went on Xerxes expedition although “no necessity being laid upon her,” (Hdt. 7.99.1). During the expedition to Salamis with Xerxes, Artemisia supplied and commanded five ships (Munson, 1988, p. 92) which were regarded as the greatest, only after the Sidonians fleet (Hdt. 7.99.). Herodotus remarks that of all Xerxes allies, Artemisia was the best council to the King (Hdt. 7.99.).
Although, Artemisia is perhaps the most admired woman by Herodotus – receiving more coverage in the narrative of that expedition than another individual fighting on the Persian side at Salamis after Mardonius, a commander in the Persian military (Munson, 1988, p.92) – this is only because he sees her as possessing “manly courage,” (Hdt. 7.99.1). Artemisias story is a perfect example of how to so many male historians’, women could only be powerful if they could be seen as masculine.
Queen Tomyris
Cyrus, the Persian King, sought to conquer the Massagetae (an Ancient Eastern Iranian Saka people, part of the Scythians, who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia) , who were ruled by the widowed Queen Tomyris. Cyrus at first, attempted to pursue the Queen, but Tomyris recognized his deceit and rejected him. A battle followed in which the Massagetae, commanded by Tomyris’s son, Spargapises, fell victim to a trap set by Cyrus. The Persian Ruler allowed a useless part of his forces to be slain but left banqueting tables spread with food and wine of which the Massagetae availed themselves after the battle and then fell asleep. The main force of the Persians returned, crushed the Massagetae, and took Spargapises captive. According to Herodotus, Tomyris warned Cyrus that if he did not return her son that she “shall give even you who can never get enough of it your fill of blood,” (Hdt. 1.212.3) Cyrus ignored Tomyris’s warning, underestimating the queen. But after Spargapises committed suicide, Tomyris reacted violently and in the ensuing battle the Massagetae routed the Persians (Berger, 1979, p.4) where the Massagetae gained victory and saw Cyrus slaughtered. It is unknown whether Cyrus met his end by Tomyris herself through beheading or if he simply dropped dead of a stroke in the throws of battle (Deligiorgis, 2015, p. 4).
Gorgo
Gorgo, Daughter of the Spartan King Cleomenes, first appears in the Histories when she was only eight years old. Her appearance emerged when the leader of the Ionian city, Miletus Aristagoras, came to Sparta. Aristagoras came to the Spartan King to convince him to invade the Persian Empire in support of the Ionian Revolt. Cleomenes refused to aid him. Aristagoras would not take no for an answer and so followed the King to his home and attempted to persuade the king with money. Gorgo, being present, told her Father that if he listens to Aristagoras, he will be corrupted and so listening to his Daughter, Cleomenes had Aristagoras leave Sparta. (Hdt. 5.51)
Later in the Histories Gorgo had become Queen of Sparta after her Father and with her marriage to Leonidas I. In this second story of Gorgo, she was the only one who was able to discover a secret message from the exiled king of Sparta (Demaratus) to the Spartans about Xerxes plan to attack Hellas. To avoid the message from being intercepted by the Persians, Demaratus wrote the message on a double tablet. He scraped away the wax, wrote his message and then melted the wax back over the message. When the tablet got to the Spartans; “Gorgo … suggested a plan of which she had herself thought, bidding them to scrape the wax and they would find writing upon the wood and doing as she said they found the writing and read it,” (Hdt. 7.239.22−24). Demaratus’ message was then sent to the rest of the Greeks as a warning.
Through the stories of Gorgo, Herodotus portrays her as an important and active political advisor, who (even at a young age) was wise, witty, morally good, and intelligent.
Periander’s daughter
Periander was the Ruler or Tyrant of Corinth. He had murdered Lyside, – who he called Melissa – his Wife and the Mother of his children, which caused his youngest Son, Lycophron, to turn against him. In retaliation to his son’s disloyalty, Periander exiled Lycophron. But, when Periander reached old age, he wished for Lycophron to become ruler of Corinth in his place, as his eldest son seemed to be slow witted. Lycophron would not answer the messenger sent by his father and so Periander decided to send his daughter, Lycophron younger sister to persuade his to return to Corinth. Perianders Daughter attempted to follow her father’s instruction and change her Brothers mind by telling him “O child, would you like the tyranny to pass to others and our father’s house to be plundered rather than return and have it for your own?… Pride is the possession of fools. Do not cure one ill with another. There are many who place reason before virtue, and many who have lost their fathers’ possessions by being eager to protect their mothers’ side,” (Hdt. 3.50-53). Many unnamed women in Herodotus’ Histories act as intermediates in family affairs and Perianders daughter is no different, she seems to have wanted her family to come back together, for her brother to return before their father passed and to be there with her when he did.
While this attempt of diplomacy on Perianders daughters’ part did ultimately fail when her brother refused to return to Corinth, her story shows that women were able and entrusted to hold positions of great political advising and influence, and that even though many women throughout history only held roles that were defined by family they were not insignificant social actors.
Atossa
Atossa was an Achaemenid empress, the daughter of Cyrus and later wife of Darius. She can be credited with directing the course of history by pushing the invasion of Greece by Darius and thus the ensuing Persian war.
Atossa’s story begins with a growth on her breast that she was ashamed to tell anyone until she was in so much pain she was unable to function normally, only then she sent for help by Demoocede the Physician (Hdt. 3.133.1). Democedes was a Greek who wished to return home and so he sought to bargain with Atossa saying he would only heal her if she did whatever he asked. Due to her serious condition, it seems as though she was willing to agree to anything to have it fixed. Atossa agreed and was healed by Democedes. Atossa went to Darius and introduced the idea of war, he responded that he was already planning it, but his intended enemy was the Scythians. At this Atossa countered that he should attack Greece as she would like Greek handmaids (Hdt. 3.134.5), Darius responded that he would seek information on them (Hdt. 3.134.6). By encouraging Darius to investigate Greece, and using Democedes as a guide, Atossa made Democedes’ escape possible.
In this story even though Atossa acts on the wishes of a man, she is portrayed as powerful holding great influence over a king. Atossa’s story shows women’s role in and ability to shape history.
Hydna of Scione
The final women’s story is Hydna of Scione. There is only one surviving reference to Hydna, from Pausanias in his Description of Greece. Due to the lack of writing on Hydna it is not certain that she ever actually existed but her story is one that should, nonetheless, be shared to show women’s ingenuity and skill.
Hydna’s story took place in 480 BCE on the southern coast of Greece in Scione, a city in Pallene (Robinson, 1923, p.110). At the time, Scione was controlled by Athens. Hydna was a young woman who became a skilled swimmer and diver through her father’s teachings. In 480 BCE, off the coast of her home, the Persian leader Xerxes had stationed his naval fleet, in preparation to move on Salamis where they planned to destroy the rest of the Greek force. Hydna and her father set out. Swimming miles from shore and obscured by the storm, they set about cutting the ropes that held the ships anchors to the sea floor. It is said that the boats, after being unmoored, crashed into each other, and were destroyed. The destruction allowed more time for Greeks to prepare and led to victory for Greek forces at Salamis (Robinson, 1923, p.110).
Similar to Herodotus, Pausanias undermines or overshadows women’s achievements by only allowing them to be strong, powerful and skilled if they also exist as perfect women. In Hydnas’ case she is perfect in that she is assumed to be virginal; as that is the only way in which those of the female sex are able to dive into the sea. Although male historians have so commonly clouded the stories of women with their own insecurities and ideas that does not mean that the women in these stories must continue to be seen in these lights. Hydna is not a just a virginal woman but a diver and swimmer equal to a man, a Greek, a war hero, a woman and much more.
The story of Hydna is as follows written by Pausanias in his Description of Greece Translated by W.H.S Jones:
Beside the Gorgias is a votive offering of the Amphictyons, representing Scyllis of Scione, who, tradition says, dived into the very deepest parts of every sea. He also taught his daughter Hydna to dive (10.19.1).
When the fleet of Xerxes was attacked by a violent storm off Mount Pelion, father and daughter completed its destruction by dragging away under the sea the anchors and any other security the triremes had. In return for this deed the Amphictyons dedicated statues of Scyllis and his daughter. The statue of Hydna completed the number of the statues that Nero carried off from Delphi. Only those of the female sex who are pure virgins may dive into the sea (10.19.2).
Conclusion
There are many more stories of women in Herodotus’s histories. Women who fought for their children, acted in their family’s interest, Daughters mediating family conflict, Women fighting for themselves, vengeance on behalf of Men and too many unnamed Women who will never be known to history. But I hope that recounting the stories of these ten Women both named and unnamed bring light to Women’s roles and significance during the Persian Wars.
For more reading
Women in Ancient Persia – https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1492/women-in-ancient-persia/
Women in Ancient Greece – /https://www.worldhistory.org/article/927/women-in-ancient-greece/
The Persian Wars – https://www.worldhistory.org/Persian_Wars/
Europa – https://www.worldhistory.org/Europa/
Medea – https://www.worldhistory.org/Medea/, https://womeninantiquity.wordpress.com/2021/04/03/medea-medusa/
Helen – https://www.worldhistory.org/Helen_of_Troy/, https://womeninantiquity.wordpress.com/2017/03/30/helen-of-troy/
Artemisia – https://www.worldhistory.org/Artemisia_I_of_Caria/
Gorgo – https://www.worldhistory.org/Gorgo_of_Sparta/
Hydna – https://www.worldhistory.org/article/737/ten-noble-and-notorious-women-of-ancient-greece/
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Photos (in order)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Persian_Wars#/media/File:Greek-Persian_duel.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Plataea#/media/File:Plataea_battlefield.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Herodotos_Met_91.8.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pausanias_(geographer)#/media/File:Pausanias_Description_of_Greece.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_(mythology)#/media/File:Jupiter_and_Io)_by_John_Hoppner,_RA.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medea#/media/File:Herkulaneischer_Meister_001.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_of_Troy#/media/File:Francesco_Primaticcio_003.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomyris#/media/File:Tomyris-Castagno.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_tablet#/media/File:Table_with_was_and_stylus_Roman_times.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Corinth#/media/File:Reconstruction_of_ancient_Corinthos.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire#/media/File:Achaemenid_prince’s_head_2.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_the_Diver#/media/File:PaestumTaucher.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scione#/media/File:MACEDON,_Skione._Circa_480-470_BC.jpg
Wars throughout history are so often portrayed as a man’s world but while the men were fighting, leading and making the decisions the women had to be doing something right? Well, women were doing the same in their own respect during the Persian war. In the following page you will learn about ten stories ……
Women in Antiquity 
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