Lesbos

Categories: Islands of Greece | North Aegean | Prefectures of Greece | Aeolian colonies

Statistics
Periphery: North Aegean
Capital: Mytilene
Area: 2,154 km² Ranked 32nd
Elevation: Lowest: Aegean Sea
Highest: Mount Olympus
Inhabitants: 110,220 Ranked 29th
Population density:
50.28/km²
ISO 3166-2: GR-83
FIPS code: GR51
Car designation: MH (Lemnos and
Agios Efstratios)
MY (Lesbos island)
Code for the
municipalities: 		35xx
Number of municipalities: 17
Number of communities: 1
Area/distance code: 225x0
Postal code 811 xx - Lesbos island
814 xx - Myrina and Agios Efstratios
2-letter
abbreviation/HASC: 		LV
Website: www.lesvos.gr
(also in Greek)
Map
Image:GreeceLesbos.png

Lesbos (Greek: Λέσβος - Lésvos; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is an island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It is the third largest Greek island and the seventh largest in the Mediterranean. It has an area of 630 square miles with 230 miles of coastline. Its population is approximately 108,000 about a third of which live in the capital city, Mytilene, located in the southeastern part of the island. The remaining population is distributed in small towns and villages. The largest towns are Kalloni, Plomari, Ayassos, Eressos, and Molyvos, the ancient Methymna. Mytilene was founded ca 1050 BCE by the family Penthilides who arrived from Thessaly in mainland Greece and ruled the city until the popular revolt (590-580 BCE) led by Pittacus .

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Geography

The island is mountainous; two peaks Lepetymnos (3,176 feet) and Olympos of similar height dominate its northern and central sections. The island’s volcanic origin is manifested in several hot springs. Two almost land-locked gulfs penetrate the interior so that no part of it is farther than a few miles from the sea. The island is verdant, aptly named the Emerald Island, with a variety of flora that belies its size. Olive trees, eleven million of them, cover 40% of the island together with other fruit trees. Forests of pine and some oak occupy 20%, and the remainder is scrub, grassland and urban. In the western part of the island is the world’s second largest petrified forest of Sequoia trees.

Its economy is essentially agricultural. The cultivation of the olive tree for olive oil is the main source of income for most towns and villages. Tourism in Mytilene, encouraged by its international airport, and the coastal towns of Plomari, Molyvos, and Eressos contribute substantially to the economy of the island. Fishing and the manufacture of soap and ouzo, the Greek national liquor, are the remaining sources of income.

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History

Image:Sappho-bust.png
Ancient Greek bust of Sappho the Eresian.
According to myths, Lesbos was the patron god of the island. Macar is reputed to be the first king whose daughters bequeathed their names to some of the present larger towns. Homer refers to the island as “Macaros edos”, the seat of Macar. Hittite records of the Late Bronze Age name the island Lazpas and must have considered its population significant enough to ”borrow their gods”, presumably idols, to intervene in the cure of their king since the local gods were not forthcoming. It is believed that emigrants from mainland Greece, mainly from Thessaly, entered the island in the Late Bronze Age and bequeathed it with the Aeolic dialect of Greek, whose written form survives in the poems of Sappho and others. Abundant gray pottery ware and the worship of Cybele, the great mother-goddess of Anatolia, suggest the continuity of the population from Neolithic times.

When the Persian king Cyrus defeated Croesus (546 BCE) all Anatolia including the Ionic Greek cities and the adjacent islands became Persian subjects and remained such until the Persians were defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis (480 BCE). The island was governed by an oligarchy in archaic times followed by quasi-democracy in classical times. For a short period it was member of the Athenian confederacy its apostasy from which is described in a stirring chapter of Thucydides’s history of the Peloponnesian War. In Hellenistic times the island belonged to various Macedonian kingdoms until 79 BCE when it passed into Roman hands. During the middle ages it belonged to the Byzantine empire and in 1355 it was granted to the Genoese Gateluzi for economic and political reasons. The island was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1462 and remained in their possession until 1913 when it became part of modern Greece. The cities of Mytilene and Methymna are bishoprics since the 5th century.

Important archaeological sites on the island are the Neolithic cave of Kagiani, probably a refuge for shepherds, the Neolithic settlement of Chalakies, and the extensive habitation of Thermi (3000-1000 BCE). The largest habitation is found in Lisvori (2800-1900 BCE) part of which is submerged in shallow coastal waters. There are also several archaic, classical Greek and Roman remains. Vitruvius called the ancient city of Mytilene "magnificent and of good taste". Remnants of its medieval history are three impressive castles.

Lesbos is the birthplace of several famous persons. In archaic times, Arion developed the type of poem called dithyramb, the progenitor of tragedy, Terpander invented the seven note musical scale for the lyre, followed by the lyric poet Alcaeus, and the most famous poetess Sappho. The seminal artistic creativity of those times brings to mind the myth of Orpheus to whom Apollo gave a lyre and the Muses taught to play and sing. When Orpheus incurred the wrath of the god Dionysus he was dismembered by the Maenads and of his body parts his head and his lyre found their way to Lesbos where they have remained ever since. Pittacus was one of the seven sages of the ancient world. In classical times Hellanicus advanced historiography, Theophrastus, the father of botany, succeeded Aristotle as the head of the Lyceum. Aristotle and Epicurus lived there for some time. In early CE times lived Theophanes, the historian of Pompey's campaigns, Longus wrote the famous novel Daphnis and Chloe, and much later the historian Doukas wrote the history of the early Ottomans. In modern times the poet Odysseus Elytis, descendant of an old family of Lesbos received the Nobel Prize. An other famous resident of the island of Lesbos is Teloniatou Iro a world famous model and a graduate student of the best Economics department in Greece, the Marketing and Communications of the Athens Univercity of Business and Economics.

Image:Olympos lesbos.jpg
Olympos peak rises 968 meters over Lesbos
Image:Kallonis bay lesbos.jpg
A view of Kallonis Bay
Image:Lesvos.jpg
Lesbos from space, September 1995
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Climate

The climate is mild Mediterranean, the mean annual temperature is 18 °C (64°F), and the mean annual rainfall is 750 mm (29 in). Its exceptional sunshine make it one of the sunniest islands in the Aegean. Snow is extremely rare as are temperatures below freezing.

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Transportation

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Provinces

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Municipalities and communities

Municipality YPES code Seat Postal code Area code
Agia Paraskevi 3501 Agia Paraskevi 811 02 22520-3
Agiassos 3502 Agiassos 811 01 22520-2
Atsiki 3504 Atsiki 814 01 22530
Eresos-Antissi 3506 Eressos 814 01 22530-8
Evergetoulas 3507 Sykounta 811 05 22520-9
Gera 3505 Pappados 811 06 25510-8
Kalloni 3508 Kalloni 811 07 21530-2
Loutropolis Thermis 3509 Loutropolis Thermis 811 00 22510-7
Mantamados 3510 Mantamaos 811 04 22530-6
Mithymna 3511 Mithymna 811 07
811 08 		2220-7
Moundros 3512 Moundros 814 01 22520-7
Myrina 3513 Myrina 814 00 22540-2
Mytilene 3514 Mytilene 811 00 22510-2 through 7
Nea Koutali 3515 Kontia 814 00 22540-5
Petra 3516 Petra 811 09 22530
Plomari 3517 Plomari 812 00 22530-3
Polichnitos 3518 Polichnitos 813 00 22520-4
Community YPES code Seat Postal code Area code
Agios Efstratios 3503 Agios Efstratios 815 00 22540-9

See also: List of settlements in the Lesbos prefecture

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External links

de:Lesbos et:Lesbos el:Λέσβος es:Lesbos eo:Lesbo fr:Lesbos gl:Lesbos ko:레스보스 la:Lesbos nl:Lesbos ja:レスボス島 pl:Lesbos pt:Lesbos fi:Lesvos sv:Lesbos