Artemisia I of Caria

Artemisia ruled Halicarnassus and three nearby islands around 480 BC, inheriting Carian-Greek lineage from her father Lygdamis I and Cretan Greek roots from her mother. When Xerxes I invaded Greece, she joined him as an ally, personally commanding ships at Artemisium and then at the pivotal naval clash at Salamis. Herodotus, himself from Halicarnassus, recorded her battlefield courage and the unusual respect Xerxes showed her — a Greek queen fighting for Persia, remembered by her own countryman not with contempt but with something close to admiration.