In 1878, the French Navy embarked on a program of cruiser construction authorized by the Conseil des Travaux (Council of Works) for a strategy aimed at attacking British merchant shipping in the event of war.

[1] The design for Aréthuse was prepared by the naval constructor Arthur Bienaymé, which he submitted to the Minister of the Navy, Louis Pierre Alexis Pothuau.

Pothuau forward it to the Conseil des Travaux on 8 February 1878, which during a meeting on 26 March, made several recommendations for improvements.

On 6 April 1878, Pothuau issued a request to the various French shipyards for proposals for a pair of new cruisers similar to what the Conseil had asked Bienaymé to revise about his design.

Pothuau had received a number of submissions by July, and he forwarded six of them, including Bienaymé's, to the Conseil for further evaluation.

Steam was provided by eight coal-burning fire-tube boilers that were ducted into a single funnel located amidships.

For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried a tertiary battery of eight 37 mm (1.5 in) 1-pounder Hotchkiss revolver cannon in single pivot mounts.

The following year, the aft-most four 138.6 mm guns were removed from the battery, and the space they had occupied was converted into an officer's wardroom.

Aréthuse was assigned to the defending squadron, along with the coastal defense ship Fulminant, the cruisers Dupetit-Thouars and Desaix, and twenty torpedo boats.

[4] In 1890, the ship had been assigned to the North Atlantic Squadron, along with the unprotected cruisers Roland, Kerguelen, and Sané and the sloop Bisson.

[3] The following year, she returned to the North Atlantic squadron, which included the unprotected cruisers Magon and Segond and the aviso Hussard.

[10] During that period, she served as the squadron flagship, and she took part in the international Columbian Naval Review held off New York on 27 April 1893.

[11] She remained assigned to the station in 1894, and in September, she was sent to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in response to the outbreak of the Revolta da Armada (Revolt of the Fleet).

[13] The ship was struck from the naval register on 1 December 1899, was renamed Sémiramis, and was converted into a hulk armed with just four 37 mm guns in 1899.