DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4376#0068
52 HISTORY 03? CAM A.
the open sea, entered the great harbour, where she
surprised the Rhodian ships unguarded, and cap-
tured them without striking a blow. The Rhodians
were caught as in a trap, and slain in the market-
place. It is evident from the position of the secret
port,1' that Artemisia must have passed out of it by
means of a fosse cut through the isthmus, and then
sailed round the rocky peninsula, on which the
castle of St. Peter now stands, and which was an
Acropolis in antiquity. Vitruvius says that she
executed this manoeuvre by making a ditch,—-fossa
facta; but this can only mean that she let the
water into a dry ditch through flood-gates, as there
would not have been time to dig a canal.
After thus taking the enemy's fleet, Artemisia
manned it with her own crews, and sailed to Rhodes.
The vessels, which had thus changed masters, ap-
proached that island decked with laurel, which led
the Rhodians to imagine that their expedition had
been successful, and that the fleet was returning in
triumph. Through this deception, Artemisia suc-
ceeded in entering the harbour at Rhodes, and having
taken the town, put to death the leading citizens.
She commemorated her triumph by erecting a
trophy at Rhodes, with a group of statues in bronze,
in which she was represented branding a captive
figure, by which the city of Rhodes was personified.
The Rhodians, on recovering their liberty, rendered
this monument of their defeat inaccessible. It
was consequently called, in later times, the "Afiarov.
r See the Plan, Plate I., and the chapter which treats of the
Topography of Halicarnassus.
the open sea, entered the great harbour, where she
surprised the Rhodian ships unguarded, and cap-
tured them without striking a blow. The Rhodians
were caught as in a trap, and slain in the market-
place. It is evident from the position of the secret
port,1' that Artemisia must have passed out of it by
means of a fosse cut through the isthmus, and then
sailed round the rocky peninsula, on which the
castle of St. Peter now stands, and which was an
Acropolis in antiquity. Vitruvius says that she
executed this manoeuvre by making a ditch,—-fossa
facta; but this can only mean that she let the
water into a dry ditch through flood-gates, as there
would not have been time to dig a canal.
After thus taking the enemy's fleet, Artemisia
manned it with her own crews, and sailed to Rhodes.
The vessels, which had thus changed masters, ap-
proached that island decked with laurel, which led
the Rhodians to imagine that their expedition had
been successful, and that the fleet was returning in
triumph. Through this deception, Artemisia suc-
ceeded in entering the harbour at Rhodes, and having
taken the town, put to death the leading citizens.
She commemorated her triumph by erecting a
trophy at Rhodes, with a group of statues in bronze,
in which she was represented branding a captive
figure, by which the city of Rhodes was personified.
The Rhodians, on recovering their liberty, rendered
this monument of their defeat inaccessible. It
was consequently called, in later times, the "Afiarov.
r See the Plan, Plate I., and the chapter which treats of the
Topography of Halicarnassus.