Εμφανίζονται 100 (επί συνόλου 505) τίτλοι με αναζήτηση: Πληροφορίες για τον τόπο στην ευρύτερη περιοχή: "ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ Περιφέρεια ΕΛΛΑΔΑ" .
ΟΙΝΟΥΣΣΕΣ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ (Περιφέρεια) ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
Αν προσπαθήσει κανείς να περιγράψει τα νησιά του Βόρειου Αιγαίου,
θα σταθεί αρχικά στα βασικά χαρακτηριστικά όλων των νησιών του Αιγαίου.
Ο συνδυασμός ήλιου και θάλασσας, η αρμονία του ήπιου κλίματος με το ευχάριστο
νησιωτικό περιβάλλον, δημιουργούν τις καταλληλότερες συνθήκες για απόδραση από
την καθημερινή ρουτίνα, πνευματική ξεκούραση και ψυχική ηρεμία.
Τα χαρακτηριστικά αυτά, δεν θα ήταν από μόνα τους ικανά να σκιαγραφήσουν
τη φυσιογνωμία του τόπου μας. Κι αυτό, επειδή τα νησιά παρουσιάζουν συναρπαστική
πολυμορφία, η οποία ταυτόχρονα τους επιτρέπει να διατηρούν τη μοναδικότητά τους,
όχι μόνο σε σχέση με τα υπόλοιπα νησιά της Ελλάδας,
αλλά και μεταξύ τους. Το ηφαιστειογενές τοπίο, εναλλάσσεται με πυκνή βλάστηση,
απέραντοι ελαιώνες χτυπιούνται απ' τα ακρογιάλια, ερειπωμένα κάστρα προσαρμόζονται
στο σύγχρονο τρόπο ζωής των πρωτευουσών, επίνεια και λιμανάκια σκιάζονται από
επιβλητικούς ορεινούς όγκους.
Η ίδια πολυμορφία παρουσιάζεται και στις τοπικές παραδόσεις, οι οποίες
αποτελούν ένα κομμάτι άρρηκτα συνδεδεμένο με την καθημερινότητα των νησιωτών,
ιδιαίτερα αξιοσέβαστο και από τη νέα γενιά, που συνεχίζει πιστά να διατηρεί και
να ενσωματώνει στην κουλτούρα της τα προγονικά ήθη και έθιμα, σφυρηλατημένα στο
πέρασμα χιλιετιών.
Στο πλαίσιο των άφθαρτων από το χρόνο παραδόσεων, διατηρείται ανεξίτηλη
και η παραδοσιακή ελληνική φιλοξενία. Στα νησιά μας άνθρωποι και περιβάλλον, εξακολουθούν
να μαρτυρούν την ανόθευτη αγνότητα του ελληνικού πνεύματος. Εδώ ξεχωρίζουμε ακόμη
και τιμούμε τον επισκέπτη, το φίλο που ήρθε από μακριά για να ξεκουραστεί, να
περάσει τις διακοπές του. Αποτελεί συγκριτικό πλεονέκτημα για τα νησιά μας, το
γεγονός ότι δεν γνώρισαν ποτέ τι σημαίνει μαζικός τουρισμός, με ό,τι αρνητικό
αυτό συνεπάγεται.
Και δεν θα μπορούσε να είναι διαφορετικά. Ο πολιτισμός, η πολιτισμική
διάσταση του Βόρειου Αιγαίου, δεν θα επέτρεπε ποτέ στους φιλόξενους απ' τη φύση
τους νησιώτες, απλά να συνυπάρξουν με τον επισκέπτη.
Η ιστορία των νησιών μας και οι ρίζες του πολιτισμού μας χάνονται
στα βάθη των αιώνων, σε εποχές παλιότερες ακόμα κι απ’ τη Σαπφώ, τον Όμηρο
και τον Πυθαγόρα. Ίχνη του παραμένουν χειροπιαστά μέχρι σήμερα, στα απειράριθμα
αρχαιολογικά ευρήματα, που βρίσκονται διάσπαρτα, όχι μόνο στα πλούσια σε εκθέματα
μουσεία, αλλά κι όπου γυρίσεις το βλέμμα σου, με ιδιαίτερα τα ευρήματα της Πολιόχνης.
Δεν είναι τυχαίο ότι στο Βόρειο Αιγαίο, σώζεται το αρχαιότερο βουλευτήριο της
Ευρώπης. Η Βυζαντινή εποχή, έχει επίσης αφήσει μνημεία σ' όλο το νησιωτικό μας
χώρο. Κάστρα, μοναστήρια, εκκλησίες, σπάνια χειρόγραφα, μοναδικές εικόνες, αποδεικνύουν
την συνέχιση της έντονης πολιτιστικής δημιουργίας στο πέρασμα των αιώνων. Και
οι μετέπειτα εποχές, της μεταβυζαντινής και σύγχρονης ιστορίας, έχουν σφραγίσει
αυτή τη γη, με τρόπο προσιτό στον κάθε επισκέπτη.
Είναι άξιο απορίας πώς όλα αυτά τα στοιχεία του πολιτισμού, είναι
πλήρως εναρμονισμένα με το φυσικό περιβάλλον. Πώς διατηρήθηκε αυτό το περιβάλλον
ανεπηρέαστο από ό,τι θα μπορούσε να το αλλοιώσει, να το αλλοτριώσει, να το βλάψει.
Τα σημαντικότερα πλεονεκτήματα των νησιών μας είναι ο πολιτισμός κι
αυτό το περιβάλλον, που προσφέρει ξεχωριστές δυνατότητες στον επισκέπτη, όχι μόνο
για να αξιοποιήσει κάθε στιγμή του στα νησιά μας, αλλά και για να απολαύσει μ'
όλες του τις αισθήσεις, ό,τι μπορεί να αποκομίσει. Βάσει αυτών των χαρακτηριστικών,
αλλά και των φυσικών στοιχείων της περιοχής (π.χ. γεωθερμία, σπάνια χλωρίδα και
πανίδα) είναι δεδομένη για τον τόπο μας η ανάπτυξη εναλλακτικών μορφών τουρισμού.
Εδώ ο επισκέπτης μπορεί να έρθει αποκλειστικά για να "αγγίξει το Θεό"
στα κατανυκτικά μοναστήρια, για να περπατήσει στα μονοπάτια ποικιλόμορφων δασών,
που φτάνουν στον ουρανό, για να παρατηρήσει πουλιά και έντομα κρυμμένος για ώρες
σε προστατευμένους υδροβιότοπους, για να ασκήσει το σώμα του, ακόμη και ως Ίκαρος,
στον αεραθλητισμό, για να αντιμετωπίσει ήπια, μέσω των ιαματικών λουτρών, προβλήματα
που ταλαιπωρούν την υγεία του.
Βασικός στόχος και διαρκής προσπάθεια της Περιφέρειας Βορείου Αιγαίου
είναι η ανάδειξη του πλούτου αυτού των νησιών μας και, παράλληλα, η δημιουργία
των απαραίτητων υποδομών και η τουριστική ανάπτυξή τους, με τέτοιο τρόπο και σε
τέτοιο βαθμό, ώστε να διασφαλίζονται οι καλύτερες δυνατές συνθήκες μετάβασης και
διαμονής των επισκεπτών μας στον τόπο μας. Η προσπάθεια αυτή, σε συνδυασμό πάντοτε
με τις αντίστοιχες δράσεις των αρμοδίων φορέων και της Τοπικής Αυτοδιοίκησης,
έχουν αποδώσει καρπούς τα τελευταία χρόνια, οπότε και παρουσιάζεται αύξηση του
τουριστικού ρεύματος προς την περιοχή μας. Όπως είναι φυσικό, η δραστηριότητά
μας αυτή συνεχίζεται αδιάκοπα και με όλο και περισσότερο μεράκι, με ένα και μοναδικό
σκοπό. Να αποτελεί το Βόρειο Αιγαίο τόπο άριστης φιλοξενίας.
ΜΟΝΗ ΜΥΡΣΙΝΙΔΙΟΥ (Μοναστήρι) ΧΙΟΣ
Founder of this monastery is the monk Christoforos Seremelis (1897).
It is dedicated to Panagia Myrtidiotissa (Virgin of the Myrtles) of the miraculous
icon which the monk found in the sea below the monastery. It celebrates its feast
day on September 24 when crowds of worshippers come to honor Her Grace. The monastery
offered valuable philanthropic services during the German occupation as well as
during the resistance movement of World War II. The vestments of the national
martyr Gregory V are kept here. The monastery, which house four monks, includes
guest quarters.
This text is cited Jan 2004 from the Promoting Tourism Prefectural Committee of Chios URL below, which contains image.
ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ (Περιφέρεια) ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
ΛΕΣΒΟΣ (Νομός) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
ΧΙΟΣ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
ΔΑΦΝΩΝΑΣ (Χωριό) ΧΙΟΣ
Το όμορφο χωριό, το γραφικό που στην πλαγιά σκαρφαλωμένο, καμαρώνει
τ' άλλα καμποχώρια από ψηλά, τον κάμπο, μέχρι τη θάλασσα κι απέναντι τα παράλια
της Ιωνίας!
Κι η Κακιά Σκάλα από πάνω, γκρίζα κι απρόσιτη στο μεγάλο της μέρος,
με τον Προφήτη Ηλία και τον Χριστό προστάτες, απ' τα ψηλά να το σκεπάζουν. Στη
μέση η πανωκλησιά ερειπωμένη κι άγνωστη στους πολλούς, στ' όνομα της Μητέρας Παναγιάς.
Δαφνώνας. Το χωριό που από τις δάφνες τ' όνομά του πήρε, κι απέχει
9.800 μέτρα από την πόλη (έτσι έγραφε η πινακίδα που υπήρχε πριν μερικά χρόνια
στο έμπα του χωριού) μα ο άλλος δρόμος της Ψαρόπετρας, λιγότερο από 8.000.
Aπό της Νέας Μονής τα μέρη και τους Κεφαλοβούνους, μέχρι το Καστέλι
κι απ' την Κακιά Σκάλα μέχρι τον Μεσόβουνο (Μισόβουνο) και τον Κορακάρη, κάθε
κομμάτι και χαλάσματα, κάθε σωρός με πέτρες και Ιστορία!
Η παράδοση θέλει το χωριό να προέρχεται από παλιό οικισμό στα Πετρανά,
στα Καναβουτσάτα, ή κατ' άλλους στη Λαυρίνα. Στη σημερινή του θέση μεταφέρθηκε
(λένε) τέλος του δέκατου, με αρχές του ενδέκατου αιώνα.
Ο Γεώργιος Ζολώτας, (στην Ιστορία της Χίου) μεταξύ άλλων αναφέρει
την ύπαρξη στην αρχαιότητα, ονομαστού θρησκευτικού κέντρου "περί τον Δαφνώνα".
Οι δυο στήλες-κατάλογοι των Τοττειδών που βρέθηκαν στην περιοχή, καθώς και τα
μάρμαρα και οι "αξιόλογοι λίθοι", οδηγούν στο συμπέρασμα ότι "Αξιώσεις
παλαιού κέντρου φαίνεται να έχουσι ο Δαφνών".
Αναφερόμενος στο Καναβουτσάτο, Στρατηγάτο, Βεσταρχάτο, Πετρανά, γράφει:
"Τα κτήματα ταύτα έχουσιν ή μάλλον είχον αφθονίαν υλικού Μεσαιωνικού και
παλαιοτέρου Ελληνικού, ευρέθησαν δ' αυτόθι και επιγραφαί τινές".(...)
Η Γενουοκρατία άφησε ανεξίτηλα τα σημάδια της και στον Δαφνώνα όπως
σ' όλο το νησί. Το κάστρο στο πάνω μέρος του χωριού, ερειπωμένο σήμερα απ' τον
χρόνο, μα κι από χέρια βέβηλα, υπευθύνων και μη.
Τους πύργους στο Καναβουτσάτο, στους Επτά και στην Λαυρίνα και τα
αξιόλογα υδρευτικά έργα. Εκτός των πολυσυζητημένων πηγών στους Επτά, το Καναβουτσάτο,
των Χαβιάρηδων, του Αφτουλά και τόσων άλλων, πάλι ο Ζολώτας γράφει: "Αι του
Δαφνώνα πολλαί πηγαί (Αγ. Σαράντα, Βεσταρχάτου, Στρατηγάτου, Αγ. Αποστόλων, Λαυρίνας,
της Καστάνας και της κυρίας του χωριού) ών το ύδωρ έκπαλαι ήρχετο δι' υδραγωγείου
εις την πόλιν ως μαρτυρεί το λεγόμενον Γεφύρι της Κόρης εις τον Παρθένην, αλλά
και εν τη θέσει Βεσταρχάτον υπάρχουσα παλαιά επιγραφή ήν κατεχωρήσαμεν, μνημονεύουσαν
εισαγωγής των υδάτων εις τας της πόλεως χρείας. Και άλλη δ' επιγραφή το αυτόν
υδραγωγείον (Δαφνώνος-Πόλεως) αφορά επισκευασθέν το 1802 δαπάνη του μητροπολίτου
Βοσνίας Παϊσίου Κορέση".
Να σημειωθεί ότι οι κάτοικοι του χωριού εκτός από γεωργοί, κτηνοτρόφοι,
κηπουροί και κτίστες, είχαν την ευθύνη της ύδρευσης της πόλης και της συντήρησης
των υδραγωγείων, μαζί με τους κατοίκους των Καρυών και του Βασιλεωνίκου.
Η ζωή του χωριού ήταν άρρηκτα δεμένη με την Νέα Μονή. Στην ιστορία
της Μονής δεν θα αναφερθούμε.
Είναι γνωστό "τοις πάσοι" ότι στην χιλιόχρονη ζωή της, πέρασαν
κατά καιρούς πολλοί Αγιοι άνθρωποι, και κατά καιρούς "μοίραζαν οι κλέφτες
τα ρούχα τους". Σε μερικά μόνο στοιχεία που έχουν σχέση με το χωριό μας θ'
αναφερθούμε, αποσπασματικά.
"Το Βεσταρχάτον και αυτό Γενουατικόν ήτο των Valasti οι οποίοι
το επώλησαν το 1679 εις την Νέαν Μονήν, μετά της εκκλησίας. Αλλοι δ' Ιουστινιάναι
ομοίως επώλησαν τα υποστατικά των του Βεσταρχάτου, το 1615. Τα κτήματα της Λαυρίνας
επώλησεν η Πλουμού Ιουστινιάνι σύζυγος του Βικεντίου το 1642, ομοίως δ' επωλήθη
τη Μονή και το κτήμα των Αγ. Σαράντα εις Λουτρά. Ούτω δ' ηγόρασεν η Μονή παρά
των απογόνων, τα κτήματα τα οποία τη είχον αρπάσει οι πρόγονοι.
Με το πέρασμα του χρόνου και των κατακτητών, το χωριό έπαιρνε ή άλλαζε
μορφή. Στην Βόρεια πλευρά του ποταμού (που το χώριζε στα δυο και το στόλιζε με
τα γραφικά του γεφυράκια, μέχρι που οι ανάγκες του "πολιτισμού" μας
τον σκέπασαν με τσιμέντο) και γυριστά στον λόφο γέμισε σπίτια φτωχικά τα πιο πολλά,
μα γραφικά. Και καλντερίμια στους ανηφορικούς του δρόμους με σκαλιά, για ν' ανεβαίνεις
άνετα και να θαυμάζεις το "δέσιμο" της πέτρας στον δρόμο, τους τοίχους
και τις γυμνές κορφές της Κακιάς Σκάλας πιο ψηλά.
Ετούτη η πλευρά ανήκε στην δικαιοδοσία της Μονής. Κι οι χωριανοί δουλεύανε
για τους κτηματίες μοναχούς, ή πλήρωναν απότριτα (το ένα τρίτο της σοδειάς) σ'
αυτούς, προτιμώντας τους από τον Τούρκο τώρα κατακτητή και τους Δαφνούσους κτηματίες
που είχαν τ' αρχοντικά τους στην Νότια πλευρά του ποταμού και ανήκαν στην δικαιοδοσία
της Τούρκικης διοίκησης, μια και μ' ένα καλό μπαξίσι, αγόραζαν τον νόμο. Πλούτος
και ευμάρεια απ' εδώ. Φτώχεια και μιζέρια απ' την άλλη (πλην των ρασοφόρων και
των "ευνοουμένων" τους).
Χαρακτηριστικός ήταν ο ξεσηκωμός κατά των "αγίων" της Μονής,
στα μέσα του δεκάτου ενάτου αιώνα. Χρόνια αγώνες στα δικαστήρια. Και τέλος η δικαίωση.
Μετά από χρόνια. (...)
Στην Κατοχή ο Δαφνώνας με την μεγάλη γεωργική παραγωγή του, συνέβαλε
στην τροφοδοσία του νησιού. Μετά τον πόλεμο όμως τα πράγματα άλλαξαν. Η γεωργία
έχασε την αξία που είχε. Το μεροκάματο στην χώρα πιο δελεαστικό. Η μετανάστευση
(εσωτερική και εξωτερική) και η θάλασσα, μάστιγα για τον τόπο. Η παρακμή (προσωρινά
τουλάχιστο), έχει αρχίσει. Και η καθίζηση στο ανατολικό μέρος του χωριού το 1971,
στάθηκε ανασταλτικός παράγων.
Το καθεστώς της Νέας Μονής επίσης αλλάζει. Οι εναπομείναντες καλόγεροι
εκδιώκονται και καλόγριες παίρνουν την θέση τους. Τα κτήματα της Μονής (όσα έμειναν)
μοιράζονται στους ακτήμονες και τους καλλιεργητές του χωριού. Τα χρόνια περνούν
και οι Δαφνούσοι αρχίζουν να προοδεύουν ξανά. Οι 310 κάτοικοι του χωριού (σήμερα)
και πάνω από τόσοι που ζουν έξω απ' αυτό, διαπρέπουν σ' όλους τους τομείς. Ξεχωριστή
θέση στην Χίο (και όχι μόνο) κατέχουν οι Τεχνίτες και επιχειρηματίες μας. Οι μορφωμένοι
δεν μας λείπουν. Στην Αττική, στην Αμερική και όπου αλλού, ξεχωριστή η θέση τους.
Κάθε καλοκαίρι, όλα τα σπίτια καινούργια και παλιά, γεμίζουν. Οι Δαφνούσοι όπου
κι αν πήγαν, δεν ξέχασαν τον τόπο τους. Το συνάλλαγμα έρχεται άφθονο στους συγγενείς,
μα και για έργα κοινωφελή. Κι εκεί που ζούνε στην ξενιτιά, στην καρδιά τους έχουν
το χωριό.
Η "Αδελφότητα Δαφνουσίων Αττικής" με έδρα τον Πειραιά, ο
"Σύλλογος Δαφνουσίων Αμερικής" και η "Νεολαία Δαφνουσίων Αμερικής"
με έδρα το Μπρούκλυν της Νέας Υόρκης, είναι το δεύτερο σπίτι τους. Και στον Δαφνώνα
ο πολιτιστικός μας σύλλογος και ο ποδοσφαιρικός μας όμιλος, μαζεύουν τα παιδιά
μας και τους εμπνέουν ιδανικά.
Επίσης μεγάλη η προσφορά της Εκκλησίας μας. Ο παπά Παντελής Καλεώδης
σε συνεργασία με την επιτροπή και την συνδρομή των κατοίκων (μονίμων και μη) παράγει
αξιόλογο έργο και αξιοποιεί στο μέγιστο δυνατό κάθε ευκαιρία.
Ο ενοριακός Ναός στη μνήμη του Αγ. Παντελεήμονα (με ωραιότατο καμπαναριό
κτισμένο το 1900), ο Ναός του Αγ. Γεωργίου (αρχαιότερος και πρώην ενοριακός Ναός,
με "ταφείο"), έχουν επισκευασθεί πρόσφατα. Έχει ξανακτισθεί η Παναγιά
της Λαυρίνας πάνω στα θεμέλια της ερειπωμένης απ' τον σεισμό και λαφυραγωγημένης
αρχαίας εκκλησιάς και η "εκ θεμελίων" καινούργια εκκλησιά της Μεταμόρφωσης
του Σωτήρα που δεσπόζει πάνω απ' το χωριό και φαίνεται εκεί ψηλά απ' όλα τα Καμπόχωρα.
Η παράδοση και τα έθιμα του χωριού αναβιώνουν. Οι αποκριές, ο Δαφνούσικος
γάμος, οι παρέες το Πάσχα, η Πρωτομαγιά, το Δεκαπενταύγουστο, τα Κάλαντα, ο Αγιος
Βασίλης ξανάρχονται στο προσκήνιο. Τα παιδιά μας μαθαίνουν παραδοσιακούς χορούς.
Γίνεται προσπάθεια συγκέντρωσης φωτογραφικού υλικού από το παρελθόν και να καταγραφούν
τα λαϊκά ποιήματα του χωριού, καθώς και τα δίστιχα μοιρολόγια.
Η συνένωση των μικρών χωριών της περιοχής στον δήμο Καμποχώρων, βοηθά
την ανάπτυξη και το μέλλον διαγράφεται λαμπρό.(...)
Κείμενο: Βαγγέλης Ρουφάκης
Το
ΛΕΣΒΟΣ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
ΜΗΘΥΜΝΑ (Κωμόπολη) ΛΕΣΒΟΣ
Χαρακτηριστικό δείγμα μεσαιωνικής αρχιτεκτονικής, ο Μόλυβος είναι
χτισμένος πάνω σε λόφο. Στις ρίζες του λόφου η θάλασσα, στην κορυφή το κάστρο.
Ο οικισμός αναπτύσσεται ημικυκλικά γύρω από το κάστρο, το οποίο έχει περίμετρο
310 μέτρων. Η ανάπτυξη του πολεοδομικού ιστού με πυρήνα το κάστρο συνηθιζόταν
για λόγους ασφαλείας των κατοίκων και είχε σαν αποτέλεσμα πυκνή δόμηση και σύνδεση
των κτιρίων δια μέσω λιθόστρωτων οδών, τα καλντερίμια. Τα παραδοσιακά κτίρια είναι
διώροφα, χτισμένα από πέτρα και ξύλο. Σήμερα σώζονται αρκετά αρχοντικά από το
τέλος του 18ου αι., όπως το αρχοντικό Γιαννάκου και το παλαιό αρχοντικό Κράλλη
(σήμερα ακήκει στην ΑΣΚΤ). Γενικά ο Μόλυβος διατηρεί σχεδόν ανέπαφο τον αρχιτεκτονικό
του χαρακτήρα που ανασυγκροτήθηκε τον 19ο κυρίως αιώνα.
Το κείμενο παρατίθεται τον Νοέμβριο 2004 από την ακόλουθη ιστοσελίδα με φωτογραφία
ΑΙΓΕΙΡΟΣ (Αρχαία κωμόπολη) ΜΥΤΙΛΗΝΗ
Aegiroessa (Aigirhoedda), a city which Herodotus (i. 149) enumerates among the 11 cities of Aeolis; but nothing is known of it. Forbiger conjectures that the historian may mean Aegeirus (Aigeiros), in the island of Lesbos.
ΑΝΤΙΣΣΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΛΕΣΒΟΣ
Eth. Antissaios. A city of the island Lesbos, near to Cape Sigrium,
the western point of Lesbos (Steph. B. s. v. Antissa, following Strabo, p. 618).
The place had a harbour. The ruins found by Pococke at Calas Limneonas, a little
NE. of cape Sigri, may be those of Antissa. This place was the birth-place of
Terpander, who is said to be the inventor of the seven-stringed lyre. Antissa
joined the Mytilenaeans in their revolt from Athens in the Peloponnesian war B.C.
428, and successfully defended itself against the Methymnaeans who attacked it;
but after Mytilene had been compelled to surrender to the Athenians, Antissa was
recovered by them also (Thuc. iii. 18, 28). Antissa was destroyed by the Romans
after the conquest of Perseus, king of Macedonia (B.C. 168), because the Antissaeans
had received in their port and given supplies to Antenor, the admiral of Perseus.
The people were removed to Methymna. (Liv. xlv. 31; Plin. v. 31.)
Myrsilus (quoted by Strabo, p. 60) says, that Antissa was once an
island, and at that time Lesbos was called Issa; so that Antissa was named like
many other places, Antiparos, Antiphellus, and others, with reference to the name
of an opposite place. Pliny (ii. 89) places Antissa among the lands rescued from
the sea, and joined to the mainland; and Ovid (Met. xv. 287), where he is speaking
of the changes which the earth's surface has undergone, tells the same story.
In another passage (v. 31), where he enumerates the ancient names of Lesbos, Pliny
mentions Lasia, but not Issa. Lasia, however, may be a corrupt word. Stephanus
makes Issa a city of Lesbos. It is possible, then, that Antissa, when it was an
island, may have had its name from a place on the mainland of Lesbos opposite
to it, and called Issa.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΕΡΕΣΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΛΕΣΒΟΣ
Eresos: Eth. Eresios, Eresieus. So called from Eresus the son of Macar.
(Steph. B. s. v.) Eressus, as it is in the text of Strabo (p. 618), was a city
of Lesbos, situated on a hill, and reaching down to the sea. From Eressus to Cape
Sigrium is 28 stadia, as the MSS. have it, which Casaubon (ed. Strab.) has changed
to 18. It was on the west side of the island, and its ruins are said to be at
some little distance from a place now called Eresso, which is situated on a hill.
Eressus joined Mytilene and other towns in Lesbos in the revolt from the Athenians
during the Peloponnesian War (B.C. 428); but it was compelled to surrender to
Paches, the Athenian commander, shortly after. (Thuc. iii. 25, 35.) There was
a fresh revolt from Athens (B.C. 412), and a fresh subjugation. (Thuc. viii. 23.)
It revolted a third time shortly after (Thuc. viii. 100), and was besieged by
Thrasybulus with an Athenian force, but he was obliged to give up the siege to
follow the Peloponnesians to the Hellespont. In B.C. 392 Thrasybulus lost many
ships in a storm off Eresus, but he recovered the town, with other places in Lesbos,
for the Athenians. (Diod. xiv. 94.)
Eresus is mentioned by Pliny (v. 31) as one of the existing cities
of Lesbos. Eresus was the birthplace of Tyrtamus, to whom his master Aristotle
gave the name of Theophrastus. Phanias, another of Aristotle's pupils, was also
a native of Eresus. According to the poet Archestratus, in his Gastronomia, quoted
by Athenaeus (iii. p. 111), if ever the gods eat flour, they send Hermes to buy
it at Eresus.
The name of the town on the coins is said to be always EPESION, with
one S.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΙΚΑΡΙΑ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
Icarus, Icaria (Ikaros, Ikaria: Nikaria) an island of the Aegean,
to the west of Samos, according to Strabo (x. p. 480, xiv. 639), 80 stadia from
Cape Ampelos, while Pliny (v. 23) makes the distance 35 miles. The island is in
reality a continuation of the range of hills traversing Samos from east to west,
whence it is long and narrow, and extends from NE. to SW. Its length, according
to Pliny, is 17 miles, and its circumference, according to Strabo, 300 stadia.
The island, which gave its name to the whole of the surrounding sea (Icariumn
Mare or Pelagus), derived its own name, according to tradition, from Icarus, the
son of Daedalus, who was believed to have fallen into the sea near this island.
(Ov. Met. viii. 195, foll.) The cape forming the easternmost point of the island
was called Drepanume or Dracanum (Strab. xiv. pp. 637, 639; Horn. Hymn. xxxiv.
1; Diod. Sic. iii. 66; Plin. iv. 23; Steph. B. s. v. Drakonon), and near it was
a small town of the same name. Further west, on the north coast, was the small
town of Isti (Istoi), with a tolerably good roadstead; to the south of this was
another little place, called Oenoe (Oinoe, Strab. l. c.; Athen. i. p. 30.) According
to some traditions, Dionysus was born on Cape Draconum (Theocrit. Idyll. xxvi.
33), and Artemis had a temple near Isti, called Tauropolion. The island had received
its first colonists from Miletus (Strab. xiv. p. 635); but in the time of Strabo
it belonged to the Samians: it had then but few inhabitants, and was mainly used
by the Samians as pasture land for their flocks. (Strab. x. pp. 488, xiv. p. 639;
Scylax, pp. 22; Aeschyl. Pers. 887; Thucyd. iii. 92, viii. 99; Ptol. v. 2. § 30;
P. Mela, ii. 7.) Modern writers derive the name of Icaria from the Ionic word
kara, a pasture (Hesych. s. v. Kar), according to which it would mean the pasture
land. In earlier times it is said to have been called Doliche (Plin. l. c.; Callim.
Hymn. in Dian. 187), Macris (Plin, l. c.; Eustath. ad Dionys. Per. 530; Liv. xxvii.
13), and Ichthyoessa (Plin. l. c.). Respecting the present condition of the island,
see Tournefort, Voyage due Levant, ii. lett. 9. p. 94; and Ross, Reisen auf den
Griech. Inseln, vol. ii. p. 164, fol.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΛΕΠΕΤΥΜΝΟΣ (Βουνό) ΜΥΤΙΛΗΝΗ
Lepetymnus (Lepetumnos, called Lepethymnus or Lepethymus by Pliny,
v. 31. s. 39; the MSS. vary), a mountain in the northern part of Lesbos, near
Methymna. Plehn states (Lesbiac. Lib. p. 9) that it is the highest mountain in
the island: but this does not appear to be consistent with modern surveys. Its
present name is said to be Mont S. Theodore. The sepulchre and tomb of the hero
Palamedes are alleged to have been here. (Tzetzes, Lycophr. Cassandr. 1095; Philostr.
Heroic. p. 716, Vit. Apollon. Tyan. iv. 13. 150, also 16. 154.) In Antigonus of
Carystus (c. 17) there is a story given, on the authority of Myrsilus the Lesbian,
concerning a temple of Apollo and a shrine of the hero Lepetymnus, connected with
the same mountain. Here, also, according to Theophrastus (De Sign. Pluv. et Vent.
p. 783, ed. Schneid.), an astronomer called Matricetas made his observations.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΛΕΣΒΟΣ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
Lesbos (Lesbos: Eth. and Adj. Lesbios, Lesbikos, Lesbiakos, Lesbius,
Lesbicus, Lesbiacus: fem. Lesbis, Lesbias, Lesbis, Lesbias: in the middle ages
it was named Mitylene, from its principal city: Geog. Rav. v. 21; Suidas. s. v.;
Hierocl. p. 686; Eustath. ad Il. ix. 129, Od. iii. 170 : hence it is called by
the modern Greeks Mitylen or Metelino, and by the Turks Medilli or Medellu-Adassi.)
Like several other islands of the Aegean, Lesbos is said by Strabo, Pliny and
others to have had various other names, Issa, Himerte, Lasia, Pelasgia, Aegira,
Aethiope, and Macaria. (Strab. i. p. 160, v. p. 128; Plin. v. 31 (39); Diod. iii.
55, v. 81.)
Lesbos is situated off the coast of Mysia, exactly opposite the opening
of the gulf of Adramyttium. Its northern part is separated from the mainland near
Assos by a channel about 7 miles broad; and the distance between the south-eastern
extremity and the islands of Arginusae is about the same. Strabo reckons the breadth
of the former strait at 60 stadia, and Pliny at 7 miles: for the latter strait
see Strab. xiii. pp. 616, 617, and Xen. Hell. i. 6. 15 - 28. The island lies between
the parallels of 38° 58' and 39° 24'. Pliny states the circumference as 168 miles,
Strabo as 1100 stadia. According to Choiseul-Gouffier, the latter estimate is
rather too great. Scylax (p. 56) assigns to Lesbos the seventh rank in size among
the islands of the Mediterranean sea.
In shape Lesbos may be roughly described as a triangle, the sides of which
face respectively the NW., the NE., and the SW. The northern point is the promontory
of Argennum, the western is that of Sigrium (still called Cape Sigri), the south-eastern
is that of Malea (now called Zeitoun Bouroun or Cape St. Mary). But though this
description of the island as triangular is generally correct, it must be noticed
that it is penetrated far into the interior by two gulfs, or sea-lochs as they
may properly be called, on the south-western side. One of these is Port Hiero
or Port Olivier, one of the best harbours of the Archipelago, opening from the
sea about 4 miles to the westward of Cape Malea, and extending about 8 miles inland
among the mountains. It may be reasonably conjectured that its ancient name was
Portus Hieraeus; since Pliny mentions a Lesbian city called Hiera, which was extinct
before his time. The other arm of the sea, to which we have alluded, is about
half-way between the former and Cape Sigrium. It is the beautiful and extensive
basin, named Port Caloni, and anciently called Euripus Pyrrhaeus. From the extreme
narrowness of the entrance, it is less adapted for the purposes of a harbour.
Its ichthyology is repeatedly mentioned by Aristotle as remarkable. (Hist. Animal.
v. 10. § 2, v. 13. § 10, viii. 20. § 15, ix. 25. § 8.)
The surface of the island is mountainous. The principal mountains
were Ordymnus in the W., Olympus in the S., and Lepethymnus in the N. Their elevations,
as marked in the English Admiralty Charts, are respectively, 1780, 3080, and 2750
feet. The excellent climate and fine air of Lesbos are celebrated by Diodorus.
Siculus (v. 82), and it is still reputed to be the most healthy island in the
Archipelago. (Purdy's Sailing Directory, p. 154.) Tacitus (Ann. vi. 3) calls it
insula nobilis et amoena. Agates were found there (Plin. xxxvii. 54), and its
quarries produced variegated marble (xxxvi. 5). The wholesome Lesbian wines (
innocentis pocula Lesbii, Hor. Carm. i. 17, 21) were famous in the ancient world.
The trade of the island was active and considerable; but here again we must refer
to what is said concerning its chief city Mytilene. At the present day the figs
of Lesbos are celebrated; but its chief exports are oil and gall-nuts. The population
was estimated, in 1816, at 25,000 Greeks and 5000 Turks.
Tradition says that the first inhabitants of Lesbos were Pelasgians:
and Xanthus was their legendary leader. Next came Ionians and others, under Macareus,
who is said by Diodorus (v. 80) to have introduced written laws two generations
before the Trojan war. Last were the Aeolian settlers, under the leadership of
Lesbus, who appears in Strabo under the name Graus, and who is said to have married
Methymna, the daughter of Macareus. Mytilene was the elder daughter. This is certain,
that the early history of Lesbos is identical with that of the Aeolians. Strabo
regards it as their central seat (schedon metropolis, xiii. pp. 616, 622). In
mercantile enterprise, in resistance to the Persians, and in intellectual eminence,
the insular Aeolians seem to have been favourably contrasted with their brethren
on the continent. That which Horace calls Aeolium carmen and Aeoliae fides (Carm.
ii. 13. 24, iii. 30. 13) wass due to the genius of Lesbos: and Niebuhr's expression
regarding this island is, that it was the pearl of the Aeolian race. (Lectures
on Ancient Ethnology and Geography, vol. i. p. 218.)
Lesbos was not, like several other islands of the Archipelago, such
as Cos, Chios and Samos, the territory of one city. We read of six Aeolian cities
in Lesbos, each of which had originally separate possessions and an independent
government, and which were situated in the following geographical order. Methymna
(now Molivo) was on the north, almost immediately opposite Assos, from which it
was separated by one of the previously mentioned straits. Somewhere in its neighbourhood
was Arisba which, however, was incorporated in the Methymnaean territory before
the time of Herodotus (i. 151). Near the western extremity of the island were
Antissa and Eressus. The former was a little to the north of Cape Sigrium, and
was situated on a small island, which in Pliny's time (ii. 91) was connected with
Lesbos itself. The latter was on the south of the promontory, and is still known
under the name of Erissi, a modern village, near which ruins have been found.
At the head of Port Caloni was Pyrirha, which in Strabo's time had been swallowed
up by the sea, with the exception of a suburb. (Strab. xiii. p. 618; see Plin.
v. 31.) The name of Pera is still attached to this district according to Pococke.
On the eastern shore, facing the mainland, was Mytilene Besides these places,
we must mention the following: - Hiera doubtless at the head of Port Olivier,
said by Pliny to have been destroyed before his day; Agamede, a village in the
neighbourhood of Pyrrha; Nape, in the plain of Methymna; Aegirus, between Methymna
and Mytilene; and Polium, a site mentioned by Stephanus B. Most of these places
are noticed more particularly under their respective names. All of them decayed,
and became unimportant, in comparison with Methymna and Mytilene,. which were
situated on good harbours opposite the mainland, and convenient for the coasting-trade.
The annals of Lesbos are so entirely made up of events affecting those two cities,
especially the latter, that we must refer to them for what does not bear upon
the general history of the island.
From the manner in which Lesbos is mentioned both in the Iliad and
Odyssey (Il. xxiv. 544, Od. iv. 342), it is evident that its cities were populous
and flourishing at a very early period. They had also very large possessions on
the opposite coast. Lesbos was not included in the conquests of Croesus. (Herod.
i. 27.) The severe defeat of the Lesbians by the Samians under Polycrates (iii.
39) seems only to have been a temporary disaster. It is said by Herodotus (i.
151.) that at first they had nothing to fear, when Cyrus conquered the territories
of Croesus on the mainland: but afterwards, with other islanders, they seem to
have submitted voluntarily to Harpagus (i. 169). The situation of this island
on the very confines of the great struggle between the Persians and the Greeks
was so critical, that its fortunes were seriously affected in. every phase of
the long conflict, from this period down to the peace of Antalcidas and the campaigns
of Alexander.
The Lesbians joined the revolt of Aristagoras (Herod. vi. 5, 8), and
one of the most memorable incidents in this part of its history is the consequent
hunting down of its inhabitants, as well as those of Chios and Tenedos, by the
Persians (Herod. vi. 31; Aesch. Pers. 881). After the battles of Salamis and Mycale
they boldly identified themselves with the Greek cause. At first they attached
themselves to the Lacedaemonian interest: but before long they came under the
overpowering influence of the naval supremacy of Athens. In the early part of
the Peloponnesian War, the position of Lesbos was more favourable than that of
the other islands: for, like Corcyra and Chios, it was not required to furnish
a money-tribute, but only a naval contingent (Thuc. ii. 9). But in the course
of the war, Mytilene was induced to intrigue with the Lacedaemonians, and to take
the lead in a great revolt from. Athens. The events which fill so large a portion
of the third book of Thucydides - the speech of Cleon, the change of mind on the
part of the Athenians, and the narrow escape of the Lesbians from entire massacre
by the sending of a second ship to overtake the first - are perhaps the most memorable
circumstances connected with the history of this island. The lands of Lesbos were
divided among Athenian citizens (klerouchoi), many of whom, however, according
to Boeckh, returned to Athens, the rest remaining as a garrison. Methymna had
taken no part in the revolt, and was exempted from the punishment After the Sicilian
expedition, the Lesbians again wavered in their allegiance to Athens; but the
result was unimportant (Thucyd. viii. 5, 22, 23, 32, 100). It was near the coast
of this island that the last great naval victory of the Athenians during the war
was won, that of Conon over Callicratidas at Arginusae. On the destruction of
the Athenian force by Lysander at Aegospotami, it fell under the power of Sparta;
but it was recovered for a time by Thrasybulus (Xen. Hell. iv. 8. 28 - 30). At
the peace of Antalcidas it was declared independent. From this time to the establishment
of the Macedonian empire it is extremely difficult to fix the fluctuations of
the history of Lesbos in the midst of the varying influences of Athens, Sparta,
and Persia.
After the battle of the Granicus, Alexander made a treaty with the
Lesbians. Memnon the Rhodian took Mytilene and fortified it, and died there. Afterwards
Hegelochus reduced the various cities of the island under the Macedonian power.
(For the history of these transactions see Arrian, Exped. Alex. iii. 2; Curt.
Hist. Alex. iv. 5.) In the war of the Romans with Perseus, Labeo destroyed Antissa
for aiding the Macedonians, and incorporated its inhabitants with those of Methymna
(Liv. xlv. 31. Hence perhaps the true explanation of Pliny's remark, l. c.). In
the course of the Mithridatic War, Mytilene incurred the displeasure of the Romans
by delivering up M‘. Aquillius (Vell. Pat. ii 18; Appian, Mithr. 21). It was also
the last city which held out after the close of the war, and was reduced by M.
Minucius Thermus, - an occasion on which Julius Caesar distinguished himself,
and earned a civic crown by saving the life of a soldier (Liv. Epit. 89; Suet.
Caes. 2; see Cic. contra Rull. ii. 1. 6). Pompey, however, was induced by Theophanes
to make Mytilene a free city (Vell. Pat. l. c.; Strab. xiii. p. 617), and he left
there his wife and son during the campaign which ended at Pharsalia. (Appian,
B.C. ii. 83; Plut. Pomp. 74, 75.) From this time we are to regard Lesbos as a
part of the Roman province of Asia, with Mytilene distinguished as its chief city,
and in the enjoyment of privileges more particularly described elsewhere. We may
mention here that a few imperial coins of Lesbos, as distinguished from those
of the cities, are extant, of the reigns of M. Aurelius and Commodus, and with
the legend KOINON LEXBION (Eckhel, vol.ii. p. 501; Mionnet, vol. iii. pp. 34,
35).
In the new division of provinces under Constantine, Lesbos was placed
in the Provincia Insularum (Hierocl. p. 686, ed. Wesseling). A few detached, notices
of its fortunes during the middle ages are all that can be given here. On the
15th of August, A.D. 802, the empress Irene ended her extraordinary life here
in exile. (See Le Beau, Hist. du Bas Empire, vol. xii. p. 400.) In the thirteenth
century, contemporaneously with the first crusade, Lesbos began to be affected
by the Turkish conquests: Tzachas, Emir of Smyrna, succeeded in taking Mytilene,
but failed in his attempt on Methymna. (Anna Comn. Alex. lib. vii. p. 362, ed.
Bonn.) Alexis, however, sent an expedition to retake Mytilene, and was successful
(Ib. ix. p. 425). In the thirteenth century Lesbos was in the power of the Latin
emperors of Constantinople, but it was recovered to the Greeks by Joannes Ducas
Vatatzes, emperor of Nicaea. In the fourteenth century Joannes Palaeologus gave
his sister in marriage to Francisco Gateluzzio, and the island of Lesbos as a
dowry; and it continued in the possession of this family till its final absorption
in the Turkish empire (Ducas, Hist. Byzant. p. 46, ed. Bonn). It appears, however,
that these princes were tributary. to the Turks (Ib. p. 328). In 1457, Mahomet
II. made an unsuccessful assault on Methymna, in consequence of a suspicion that
the Lesbians had aided the Catalan buccaneers (Ib. p. 338; see also Vertot, Hist.
de l'Ordre de Malte, ii. 258). He did not actually take the island till 1462.
The history of the annalist Ducas himself is closely connected with Lesbos: he
resided there after the fall of Constantinople; he conveyed the tribute from the
reigning Gateluzzio to the sultan at Adrianople; and the last paragraph of his
history is an unfinished account of the final catastrophe of the island.
This notice of Lesbos would be very incomplete, unless something were
said of its intellectual eminence. In reference to poetry, and especially poetry
in connection with music, no island of the Greeks is so celebrated as Lesbos.
Whatever other explanation we may give of the legend concerning the head and lyre
of Orpheus being carried by the waves to its shores, we may take it as an expression
of the fact that here was the primitive seat of the music of the lyre. Lesches,
the cyclic minstrel, a native of Pyrrha, was the first of its series of poets.
Terpander, though his later life was chiefly connected with the Peloponnesus,
was almost certainly a native of Lesbos, and probably of Antissa: Arion, of Methymna,
appears to have belonged to his school; and no two men were so closely connected
with the early history of Greek music. The names of Alcaeus and Sappho are the
most imperishable elements in the renown of Mytilene. The latter was sometimes
called the tenth Muse (as in Plato's epigram, Sappho Lesbothen he dekate); and
a school of poetesses (Lesbiadum turba, Ovid, Her. xv.) seems to have been formed
by her. Here, without entering into the discussions, by Welcker and others, concerning
the character of Sappho herself, we must state that the women of Lesbos were as
famous for their profligacy as their beauty. Their beauty is celebrated by Homer
(Il. ix. 129, 271), and, as regards their profligacy, the proverbial expression
lesbiazein affixes a worse stain to their island than kretizein does to Crete.
Lesbos seems never to have produced any distinguished painter or sculptor,
but Hellanicus and Theophanes the friend of Pompey are worthy of being mentioned
among historians; and Pittacus, Theophrastus, and Cratippus are known in the annals
of philosophy and science. Pittacus was famous also as a legislator. These eminent
men were all natives of Mytilene, with the exception of Theophrastus, who was
born at Eresus.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΛΗΜΝΟΣ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
Lemnos (Lemnos: Eth. Lemnios), one of the larger islands in the Aegaean
sea, situated nearly midway between Mount Athos and the Hellespont. According
to Pliny (iv. 12. s. 23), it lay 22 miles SW. of Imbros, and 87 miles SE. of Athos;
but the latter is nearly double the true distance. Several ancient writers, however,
state that Mount Athos cast its shadow upon the island. (Soph. ap. Schol. ad Theocr.
vi. 76; Plin. l. c.) Pliny also relates that Lemnos is 112 miles in circuit, which
is perhaps not far from the truth, if we reckon all the windings of the coast.
Its area is nearly 150 square miles. It is of an irregular quadrilateral shape,
being nearly divided into two peninsulas by two deep bays, Port Paradise on the
N., and Port St. Antony on the S. The latter is a large and convenient harbour.
On the eastern side of the island is a bold rock projecting into the sea, called
by Aeschylus Ermaion lepas Lemnou, in his description of the beacon fires between
Mount Ida and Mycenae, announcing the capture of Troy. (Aesch. Agam. 283; comp.
Soph. Philoct. 1459.) Hills, but of no great height, cover two-thirds of the island
; they are barren and rocky, and there are very few trees, except in some of the
narrow valleys. The whole island bears the strongest marks of the effects of volcanic
fire, the rocks, in many places, are like the burnt and vitrified scoria of furnaces.
Hence we may account for its connection with Hephaestus, who, when hurled from
heaven by Zeus, is said to have fallen upon Lemnos. (Hom. Il. i. 594.) The island
was therefore sacred to Hephaestus (Nicandr. Ther. 458; Ov. Fast. iii. 82), who
was frequently called the Lemnian god. (Ov. Met. iv. 185; Virg. Aen. viii. 454.)
From its volcanic appearance it derived its name of Aethaleia (Aithaleia, Polyb.
ap. Steph. B., and Etym. M. s. v. Aithale). It was also related that from one
of its mountains, called Moosuchlus (Mosuchlos), fire was seen to blaze forth.
(Antimach. ap. Schol. ad Nicandr. Ther. 472; Lycophr. 227; Hesych. s. v.) In a
village in the island, named Chorous, there is a hot-spring, called Thermia, where
a commodious bath has been built, with a lodging-house for strangers,who frequent
it for its supposed medicinal qualities. The name of Lemnos is said to have been
derived from the name of the Great Goddess, who was called Lemnos by the original
inhabitants of the island. (Hecat. ap. Steph. B. s. v.)
The earliest inhabitants of Lemnos, according to Homer, were the Sinties,
a Thracian tribe; a name, however, which probably only signifies robbers (from
sinomai). (Hom. Il. i. 594, Od. viii. 294; Strab. vii. p. 331, x. p. 457, xii.
p. 549.) When the Argonauts landed at Lemnos, they are said to have found it inhabited
only by women, who had murdered all their husbands, and had chosen as their queen
Hypsipyle, the daughter of Thoas, the former King of the island. Some of the Argonauts
settled here, and became by the Lemnian women the fathers of the Minyae (Minuai),
the later inhabitants of the island. The Minyae were driven out of the island
by the Tyrrhenian Pelasgians, who had been expelled from Attica. (Herod. iv. 145,
vi. 137 ; Apoll. Rhod. i. 608, seq., and Schol.; Apollod. i. 9. § 17, iii. 6.
§ 4.) It is also related that these Pelasgians, out of revenge, made a descent
upon the coast of Attica during the festival of Artemis at Brauron, and carried
off some Athenian women, whom they made their concubines; but, as the children
of these women despised their half-brothers born of Pelasgian women, the Pelasgians
murdered both them and their Athenian mothers. In consequence of this atrocity,
and of the former murder of the Lemnian husbands by their wives, Lemnian Deeds
(Lemnia erga) became a proverb throughout Greece for all atrocious acts. (Herod.
vi. 128; Eustath. ad Il. p. 158. 11, ad Dionys. Per. 347; Zenob. iv. 91.) Lemnos
continued to be inhabited by Pelasgians, when it was conquered by Otanes, one
of the generals of Darius Hystaspis (Herod. v. 26); but Miltiades delivered it
from the Persians, and made it subject to Athens, in whose power it remained for
a long time. (Herod. vi. 137; Thuc. iv. 28, vii. 57.) In fact, it was always regarded
as an Athenian possession, and accordingly the peace of Antalcidas, which declared
the independence of all the Grecian states, nevertheless allowed the Athenians
to retain possession of Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros. (Xen. Hell. iv. 8. 15, v.
1. § 31.) At a later period Lemnos passed into the hands of the Macedonians, but
it was restored to the Athenians by the Romans. (Polyb. xxx. 18.)
In the earliest times, Lemnos appears to have contained only one town,
which bore the same name as the island (Hom. Il. xiv. 230); but at a later period
we find two towns, Myrina and Hephaestias. Myrina (Murina: Eth. Murinaios) stood
on the western side of the island, as we may infer from the statement of Pliny,
that the shadow of Mt. Athos was visible in the forum of the city at the time
of the summer solstice. (Plin. iv. 12. s. 23; Herod. vi. 140; Steph. B. s. v.;
Ptol.iii. 13. § 4.) On its site stands the modern Kastro, which is still the chief
town in the place. In contains about 2000 inhabitants; and its little port is
defended by a pier, and commanded by a ruinous mediaeval fortress on the overhanging
rocks. Hephaestias, or Hephaestia (Hephaistias, Hephaistia: Eth. Hephaistieus),
was situated in the northern part of the island. (Herod., Plin., Ptol. ll. cc.;
Steph. B. s. v.) There are coins of Hephaestia (see below), but none of Myrina,
and none bearing the name of the island. (Eckhel, vol. ii. p. 51.)
According to Pliny (xxxvi. 13. s. 19) Lemnos had a celebrated labyrinth,
supported by 150 columns, and with gates so well poised, that a child could open
them. Pliny adds, that there were still traces of it in his time. Dr, Hunt, who
visited the island in 1801, attempted to find out the ruins of this labyrinth,
and was directed to a subterraneous staircase in an uninhabited part of the island,
near a bay, called Porniah. He here found extensive ruins of an ancient and strong
building that seemed to have had a ditch round it communicating with the sea.
The edifices have covered about 10 acres of ground: there are foundations of an
amazing number of small buildings within the outer wall, each about seven feet
square. The walls towards the sea are strong, and composed of large square blocks
of stone. On an elevated spot of ground in one corner of the area, we found a
subterraneous staircase, and, after lighting our tapers, we went down into it.
The entrance was difficult: it consisted of 51 steps, and about every twelfth
one was of marble, the others of common stone. At the bottom is a small chamber
with a well in it, by which probably the garrison was supplied: a censer, a lamp,
and a few matches, were lying in a corner, for the use of the Greek Christians,
who call this well an Agiasma, or Holy Fountain, and the ruins about it Panagia
Coccipee. The peasants in the neighbourhood had no knowledge of, any sculpture,
or statues, or medals having ever been found there. It does not appear, however,
that these ruins have any relation to the labyrinth mentioned by Pliny; and Dr.
Hunt thinks that they are probably those of the citadel of Hephaestias.
The chief production of the island, was a red earth called terra Lemnia
or sigillata, which was employed by the ancient physicians as a remedy for wounds
and the bites of serpents; and which is still much valued by the Turks and Greeks
for its supposed medicinal virtues. It is dug out of a hill, made into small balls,
and stamped with a seal containing Arabic characters.
The ordinary modern name of the island, is Stalimene (eis tan Lemnon),
though it is also called by its ancient name.
There were several small islands near Lemnos, of which the most celebrated
was Chruse, where Philoctetes was said to have been abandoned by the Greeks. According
to Pausanias, this island was afterwards swallowed up by the sea, and another
appeared in its stead, to which the name of Hiera was given. (Eustath ad Hom.
Il. ii. p. 330; Appian, Mithr. 77; Paus. viii. 33. § 4.) (Rhode, Res Lemnicae,
Vratisl. 1829; Hunt, in Walpole's Travels, p. 54, seq.)
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ΜΗΘΥΜΝΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΛΕΣΒΟΣ
Methumna, and on coins Methumna, Mathumna: Eth. Methumnaios. A town
in Lesbos, the most important next after Mytilene. It was situated on the northern
shore of the island, where a channel of 60 stadia (Strab. xiii. p. 618) intervened
between it and the coast of the mainland near Assos.
One of the earliest notices of the Methymnaeans is the mention of
their conquest of Arisba, another town of Lesbos, and their enslaving of its citizens.
(Herod. i. 151.) The territory of Methymna seems to have been contiguous to that
of Mytilene, and this may have been one cause of the jealousy between the two
cities. The power and fame of Mytilene was on the whole far greater; but in one
period of the history of Lesbos, Methymna enjoyed greater prosperity. She did
not join the revolt of the other Lesbians from Athens in the Peloponnesian War
(Thuc. iii. 2, 18), and she was therefore exempted from the severe punishment
which fell on Mytilene. (Thuc. iii. 50.) Hence she retained the old privilege
of furnishing a naval contingent instead of a tribute in money. (Thuc. vi. 85,
vii. 57.) Shortly before the battle of Arginusae, Methymna fell into the power
of the Lacedaemonians, and it was on this occasion that the magnanimous conduct
of Callicratidas presented so remarkable a contrast to that of the Athenians in
reference to Mytilene. (Xen. Hellen. i. 6. § 14.) After this time Methymna seems
to have become less and less important. It comes into notice, however, in every
subsequent period of history. It is mentioned in the treaty forced by the Romans
(B.C. 154) between Attalus II. and Prusias II. (Polyb. xxxiii. 11.) It is stated
by Livy (xlv. 31) and by Pliny (v. 31) to have incorporated the inhabitants of
Antissa with its own. Its coins, both autonomous and imperial, are numerous. It
was honourably distinguished for its resistance to the Mahomedans, both in the
12th and 15th centuries; and it exists on the same spot at the present day, under
the name of Molivo.
We have no information concerning the buildings and appearance of
ancient Methymna. It evidently possessed a good harbour. Its chief fame was connected
with the excellent wine produced in its neighbourhood. (Virg. Georg. ii. 90; Ovid,
Art. Am. i. 57; Hor. Sat. ii. 8. 50.) Horace (Od. i. 117. 21) calls Lesbian wine
innocens; and Athenaeus (ii. p. 45) applies the epithet eustomachos to a sweet
Lesbian wine. In another place (i. p. 32) he describes the medicinal effect of
the wine of this island. Pliny says (xiv. 9) that it had a salt taste, and apparently
mentions this as a merit. Pausanias, in his account of Delphi (x. 19), tells a
story of some fishermen of Methymna dragging in their nets out of the sea a rude
image of Bacchus, which was afterwards worshipped. Methymna was the birthplace
of the poet and musician Arion. Myrsilus also, who is said to have written a history
of Lesbos, is supposed to have been born here.
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ΜΙΝΥΑΙ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
Minya (Minua), a city of Thessaly, said by Stephanus B. (s. v.) to
have been formerly called Halmonia (Halmonia), and to have derived its name from
Minyas. It is mentioned by Pliny (iv.8. s. 15) under the name of Almon, and in
conjunction with Orchomenus Minyeus in Thessaly. (See Muller, Orchomenos und die
Minyer, p. 244, 2nd ed.)
ΜΥΤΙΛΗΝΗ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΛΕΣΒΟΣ
or Mitylene (Mutilene or Mitulene: Eth. Mutilenaios or Mitulenaios).
The most important city in the island of Lesbos. There is some uncertainty about
the orthography of the name. Coins are unanimous in favour of Mutilene. Inscriptions
vary. Greek manuscripts have generally, but not universally, Mitulene. Latin manuscripts
have generally Mitylene; but Velleius Paterculus, Pomponius Mela, and sometimes
Pliny, have Mytilene. In some cases we find the Latin plural form Mitylenae. (Suet.
Caes. 2, Tib. 10; Liv. Epit. 89.) Tacitus has the adjective Mytilenensis (Ann.
xiv. 53). It is generally agreed now that the word ought to be written Mytilene;
but it does not seem necessary to alter those passages where the evidence of MSS.
preponderates the other way. A full discussion of this subject may be seen in
Plehn (Lesbiacorum Liber). The modern city is called Mitylen, and sometimes Castro.
The chief interest of the history of Lesbos is concentrated in Mytilene.
Its eminence is evident from its long series of coins, not only in the autonomous
period, when they often bore the legend PROTE AEXBOU MUTIAENE, but in the imperial
period down to the reign of Gallienus. Lesbos, from the earliest to the latest
times, has been the most distinguished city of the island, whether we consider
the history of poetry or politics, or the annals of naval warfare and commercial
enterprise.
One reason of the continued pre-eminence of Mytilene is to be found
in its situation, which (in common with that of Methymna) was favourable to the
coasting trade. Its harbours, too, appear to have been excellent. Originally it
was built upon a small island; and thus (whether the small island were united
to the main island by a causeway or not) two harbours were formed, one on the
north and the other on the south. The former of these was the harbour for ships
of war, and was capable of being closed, and of containing fifty triremes, the
latter was the mercantile harbour, and was larger and deeper, and defended by
a mole. (Strab. xiii. p. 617; Paus. viii. 30.) The best elucidation of its situation
in reference to the sea will be found in the narratives contained in the 3rd book
of Thucydides and the 1st book of Xenophon's Hellenics. The northern harbour seems
to have been called Maloeis [Malea]. This harmonises with what we find in Thucydides,
and with what Aristotle says concerning the action of the NE. wind (kaikias) on
Mytilene. The statements of Xenophon are far from clear, unless, with Mr. Grote
(Hist. of Greece, vol. viii. p. 230), we suppose the Euripus of Mytilene to be
that arm of the sea which we have mentioned, in the article Lesbos under the name
of Portus Hieraeus, and which runs up into the interior of the island, to the
very neighbourhood of Mytilene. A rude plan is given by Tournefort; but for accurate
information the English Admiralty charts must be consulted. The beauty of the
ancient city, and the strength of its fortifications, are celebrated both by Greek
and Roman writers. (See especially Cic. c. Rull. ii. 1. 6) Plutarch mentions a
theatre (Pomp. 42), and Athenaeus a Prytaneium (x. p. 425). Vitruvius says (i.
6) that the winds were very troublesome in the harbour and in the streets, and
that the changes of weather were injurious to health. The products of the soil
near Mytilene do not seem to have been distinguished by any very remarkable peculiarities.
Theophrastus and Pliny make mention of its mushrooms: Galen says that its wine
was inferior to that of Methymna. In illustration of the appearance of Mytilene,
as seen from the sea, we may refer to a view in Choiseul-Gouffier; and to another,
which shows the fine forms of the mountains immediately behind, in Conybeare and
Howson's Life and Epp. of St. Paul.
The first passage in which the history of Mytilene comes prominently
into view is in the struggle between the Aeolians and Athenians for Sigeum (B.C.
606), at the NW. corner of Asia Minor. The place and the time are both remarkable,
as illustrating the early vigour with which Mytilene was exercising its maritime
and political power. We see it already grasping considerable possessions on the
mainland. It was in this conflict, too, that Pittacus, the sage and lawgiver of
Mytilene, acted so noble a part, and that Alcaeus, her great poet, lost his shield.
The mention of these two names reminds us that this time of rivalry with Athens
coincides with the famous internal contests of the nobles and commons in Mytilene.
For the history and results of this struggle, see the lives of Alcaeus, Pittacus,
and Sappho, in the Dict. of Biography.
It may be difficult to disentangle the history of the Mytilenaeans
from that of the Aeolians in general, during the period of the Persian ascendancy
on these coasts. But we have a proof of their mercantile enterprise in the fact
that they alone of the Aeolians took part in the building of the Hellenium at
Naucratis (Herod. ii. 178); and we find them taking a prominent part in the invasion
of Egypt by Cambyses. (Ib. iii. 13, 14.) They supplied a contingent to Darius
in his Scythian expedition (Ib. iv. 97). They were closely connected with the
affairs of Histiaeus (Ib. vi. 5); and doubtless, though they are not separately
mentioned, they were the best portion of those Aeolians who supplied sixty ships
to Xerxes in his invasion of Greece. (Ib. vii. 95.)
The period of the Athenian supremacy and the Peloponnesian War is
full of the fame of Mytilene. The alliance of its citizens with those of Athens
began soon after the final repulse of Persia. They held a very distinguished position
among the allies which formed the Athenian confederacy; but their revolt from
Athens in the fourth year of the Peloponnesian War brought upon them the most
terrible ruin. Though the first dreadful decision of the Athenian assembly was
overruled (Thucyd. iii. 36), the walls of Mytilene were pulled down, and her fleet
given up; her territory was divided among Athenian shareholders, and she was deprived
of her possessions and forts on the mainland. (Ib. iii. 50.) Towards
the close of the Peloponnesian War, Conon was defeated by Callicratidas off Mytilene,
and blockaded in the harbour. (Xen. Hell. i. 6) We pass now to the period of Alexander,
with whose campaigns this city was conspicuously connected. The Lesbians made
a treaty with Macedonia. Memnon reduced the other cities of the island ; and his
death, which inflicted the last blow on the Persian power in the Aegean, took
place in the moment of victory against Mytilene. It was retaken by Hegesilochus,
in the course of his general reduction of the islands, and received a large accession
of territory. Two Mytilenaeans, Laomedon and Erigyius, the sons of Larichus, were
distinguished members of Alexander's staff. The latter fell in action against
the Bactrians ; the former was governor of Syria even after Alexander's death.
The first experience of the Roman power in the Aegean was disastrous
to Mytilene. Having espoused the cause of Mithridates, and having held out to
the last, it was sacked by M. Thermus, on which occasion J. Caesar honourably
distinguished himself. Pompey's friendship with Theophanes led to the recognition
of Mytilene as a free city. (Plin. v. 31.) After the defeat of Pharsalia, Pompey
touched there for the last time to take Cornelia on board. His son Sextus met
with a friendly reception there, after his defeat at sea, by Agrippa. (Dion Cass.
xlix. 17; App. B.C. v. 133.) Agrippa himself resided there for some time in retirement,
ostensibly on account of his health, but really through mortification caused by
the preference shown to M. Marcellus (Tac. Ann. xiv. 53; Suet. Aug. 66, Tib. 10);
and this residence is commemorated by an inscription still extant. The last event
which we need mention in the imperial period is the crossing over of Germanicus
with Agrippina from Euboea to Lesbos, and the birth of Julia. (Tac. Ann. ii. 54.)
This event, also, was commemorated both by coins and inscriptions. (See Eckhel
and Pococke.) It appears that the privilege of freedom was taken away by Vespasian,
but restored by Hadrian. (Plehn, Lesbiac. p. 83.)
Mytilene is one of the few cities of the Aegean, which have continued
without intermission to flourish till the present day. In the course of the middle
ages it gradually gave its name to the whole island. Thus, in the Synecdemus of
Hierocles, Mitulene and Methumna are both mentioned under the Province of the
Islands; but in the later Byzantine division, Mytilene is spoken of as an island,
like Lemnos and Chios, in the Theme of the Aegean Sea. (Const. Porphyrog. de Them.
i. pp. 42, 43, ed. Bonn.) The fortunes of Mytilene during the first advances of
the Mahomedans in the Levant, and during the ascendancy of the Venetians at a
later period, are noticed in Finlay's History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires,
vol. ii. pp. 72, 171, 223. The island of Lesbos was not actually part of the Mahomedan
empire till nearly ten years after the fall of Constantinople.
With the exception of the early struggles of the time of Alcaeus and
Pittacus, there is little to be said of the internal constitutional history of
Mytilene. It shared, with all Greek cities, the results of the struggles of the
oligarchical and democratical parties. We find a commonalty (damos) and a council
(bolla) mentioned on coins of the period of Alexander ; and the title of magistrates,
called strategos (praetor), appears on coins of Lucius Verus. In connection with
this part of the subject we may allude to two creditable laws; one which enacted
(doubtless in consequence of the great quantity of wine in the island) that offences
committed by the drunk should be more severely punished than those committed by
the sober (Arist. Pol. ii. 9. 9); the other making a singular provision for the
punishment of faithlessness in tributary allies, by depriving them of the privilege
of educating their children. (Aelian, Var. Hist. vii. 15.)
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ΟΙΝΟΗ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΕΥΔΗΛΟΣ
Oinoe. A small town on the northwest coast of the island of Icaria.
(Strab. xiv.; Steph. B. s. v.; Athen. i. p. 30.) This town was probably situated
in the fertile plain below the modern Messaria. The name of the town seems to
be derived from the wine grown in its neighbourhood on the slopes of Mount Pramnus,
though others believe that the Icarian Oenoe was a colony of the Attic town of
the same name.
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ΠΥΡΡΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΜΥΤΙΛΗΝΗ
Eth. Purrhaios. A town on the coast of the deep bay on the west of
the island of Lesbos, which had so narrow an entrance that it was called the Euripus
of Pyrrha. It was situated at a distance of 80 stadia from Mytilene and 100 from
Cape Malea. (Athen. iii. p. 88; Strab. xiii. p. 617.) In the Lesbian revolt the
town sided with Mytilene, but was reconquered by Paches. (Thuc. iii. 18, 25, 35;
comp. Scylax, p. 36; Steph. B. s. v.) In Strabo's time the town no longer existed,
but the suburbs and port were still inhabited. Pliny (v. 39) reports that Pyrrha
had been swallowed up by the sea. The bay of Pyrrha is now called Caloni.
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ΣΑΜΟΣ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
Samos or Samus (Samos: Eth. and Adj. Samios, Samius, Samaios, Samiakos
in Steph.: Samiotes in the language of the modern Greeks, who call the island
Samo, Samo: the Turks call it Susam Adassi), a large island in that part of the
Aegaean which is called the Icarian sea, and the most important of the Sporades
next after Rhodes. The word denotes a height, especially by the sea-shore. (See
Const. Porphyrog. de Them. 16. p. 41, ed. Bonn.) Hence Samtothracia, or the Thracian
Samos, which is said by Pausanias (vii. 4. § 3) to have been colonised and named
by certain fugitives from the Icarian Samos,- and Same one of the names of Cephalonia,
which is inversely connected with it by one of Strabo's conjectures (x. p. 457).
How applicable the idea of elevation is to the island before us may be seen in
the narratives and views given by Dr. Clarke (Travels, vol. ii. p. 192, vol. iii.
p. 366), who uses the strongest language in describing the conspicuous height
of Samos above the surrounding islands.
The following earlier names of Samos are mentioned by Pliny (v. 37)
and other writers, - Parthenia, Anthemus, Melamphylus, Dryusa and Cyparissia.
Some of these have evidently arisen from the physical characteristics of the island.
Samos was, and is, well-wooded. It is intersected from E. to W. by a chain of
mountains, which is in fact a continuation of the range of Mycale, being separated
from it only by the narrow channel, hardly a mile in breadth, which the Turks
call the Little Boghaz. Here was fought the decisive victory against the Persians,
B.C. 479. The Great Boghaz, which is nearly 10 miles in breadth, separates the
other extremity of Samos from the comparatively low island of Icaria. The length
of Samos, from E. to W., is about 25 miles. Its breadth is very variable. Strabo
reckons the circuit at 600 stadia, Pliny at 87 miles, though he says that Isidorus
makes it 100. These differences may be readily accounted for by omitting or including
Port Vathy, which is a wild-looking bay, though a very serviceable harbour, on
the north. Here the modern capital is situated: but in ancient times the bay of
Vathy seems to have been comparatively deserted-perhaps, as Tournefort suggests,
because it was peculiarly exposed to pirates, who infested the straits and bays
of an island which lay in the route of commerce between the Bosporus and Egypt.
What Tournefort tells us of his travels through Samos gives us the idea of a very
rugged, though picturesque and productive, island. (Possibly the Palinurus and
Panormus of Samos, mentioned by Livy, xxxvii. 11, may have been in the bay of
Vathy.) The highest point, Mount Kerkis, the ancient Cerceteus (Strab. x. p. 488),
which is nearly always covered with snow, and reaches the height of 4725 English
feet, is towards the west. A ridge, which branches off in a south-easterly direction
from the main range, and ends in the promontory of Poseidium, opposite Mycale,
was called Ampelus, which name seems also to have been given to the whole mountain-system
(Strab. xiv. p. 637). The westernmost extremity of the island, opposite Icaria
was anciently called Cantharium. Here the cliffs are very bare and lofty. A landslip,
which has taken place in this part of the island, has probably given rise to the
name by which it is now called (he kataibate).
The position of Samos was nearly opposite the boundary-line of Caria
and Ionia; and its early traditions connect it, first with Carians and Leleges,
and then with Ionians. The first Ionian colony is said to have consisted of settlers
from Epidaurus, who were expelled from thence by the Argives. However this may
be, we find Samos at an early period in the position of a powerful member of the
Ionic confederacy. At this time it was highly distinguished in maritime enterprise
and the science of navigation. Thucydides tells us (i. 13) that the Samians were
among the first to make advances in naval construction, and that for this purpose
they availed themselves of the services of Ameinocles the Corinthian shipbuilder.
The story of Pliny (vii. 57), that either they or Pericles the Athenian first
constructed transports for the conveyance of horses, though less entitled to literal
acceptance, is well worthy of mention; and Samos will always be famous for the
voyage of her citizen Colaeus, who, not without divine direction (Herod. iv. 152),
first penetrated through the Pillars of Hercules into the Ocean, and thus not
only opened out new fields of commercial enterprise, but enlarged the geographical
ideas of the Greeks by making them for the first time familiar with the phenomenon
of the tides.
Under the despot Polycrates, Samos was in fact the greatest Greek
maritime power. This famous man, about ten years after the taking of Sardis by
Cyrus, held Samos in a position of proud independence, when Lesbos and Chios had
submitted to the Persians. He had 1000 bowmen in his pay; he possessed 100 ships
of war, and made considerable conquests both among the islands and the mainland.
He fought successfully against the Milesians and Lesbians, and made a treaty with
Amasis, king of Egypt. Whether we are to take the story in the poetical form in
which it is presented to us by Herodotus, or to attribute the change to the more
probable motive of self-interest, this treaty was broken off for an alliance with
Cambyses. In connection with this monarch's expedition to the Nile, some Samian
malcontents were so treacherously treated by Polycrates, that they sought and
obtained assistance from Greece. A joint force of Lacedaemonians and Corinthians
besieged Polycrates in Samos for forty days: but in this struggle also he was
successful. At last his own cupidity, acted on by the fraud of Oroetes, a neighbouring
satrap, brought him to a wretched death on the mainland. The time which succeeded
was full of crime and calamity for Samos. In the end, Syloson, the brother of
Polycrates (whose association with Cambyses is the subject of another romantic
story in Herodotus), landed with a Persian army on Samos, and became a tributary
despot; but not till his native island had been so depopulated as to give rise
to the proverb heketi Sulotontos euruchorie. It was at this period that Pythagoras,
who was a native of Samos, left the island to travel in foreign countries, being
partly urged to leave his home (according to Plutarch, Placit. i. 3) through discontent
under the government of Polycrates, who, however, was a patron of literature,
and had Anacreon many years at his court. For the chronology of this period see
Clinton, Fast. Hell. vol. ii. note B. pp. 230-232.
Samos was now Persian. It was from Samos that Datis sailed to Marathon,
taking Naxos on his way. But the dominion of the Persians did not last long. When
their fleet was gathered at Samos again, after the battle of Salamis, to the number
of 400 sail, it was in a great measure the urgency of Samian envoys which induced
the commanders of the Greek fleet at Delos to go across to the eastern side of
the Aegaean. Then followed that battle in the strait, which completed the liberation
of the Greeks.
In the maritime confederacy which was organised soon afterwards under
Athenian rule, Samos seems to have been the most powerful of the three islands
which were exempted from paying tribute. It was at the instance of her citizens
that the common treasure was removed from Delos to Athens. But this friendship
with Athens was turned into bitter enmity in consequence of a conflict with Miletus
about the territory of Priene. Samos openly revolted; and a large force was despatched
from Athens against it under the command of ten generals, two of whom were Sophocles
and Pericles. The latter pronounced in the Cerameicus the funeral oration over
those who had fallen in the war which, after a resistance of nine months, reduced
Samos to complete subjection.
From 439 to 412 Samos remained without fortifications and without
a fleet. But about this latter date it became the hinge upon which all the concluding
events of the Peloponnesian War really turned. The first movements towards the
establishment of an oligarchy at Athens began at Samos through the intrigues of
Alcibiades; and yet this island was practically the home of the Athenian democracy
during the struggle which ensued. It was at Samos that Alcibiades rejoined his
fellow-citizens; and from Samos that he finally sailed for the Peiraeus in 407.
Even till after the battle of Arginusae Samos was, more than any other place,
the headquarters and base of operations for the Athenian fleet.
Our notices of the island now become more fragmentary. After the
death of Alexander the Great it was for a time subject to the kings of Egypt.
(Polyb. v. 35.) Subsequently, it took the part of Antiochus the Great in his war
with Rome. It also acted with Mithridates against Rome; but was finally united
with the province of Asia B.C. 84. After the battle of Actium, Augustus passed
the winter there. Under the Roman emperors it was on the whole a place of no great
importance, though it had the honour of being a free state. (Plin. v. 37.) This
privilege was taken away under Vespasian. (Suet. Vesp. 8.) In the division of
the Empire contained in the Synecdemus we find it placed with Rhodes, Cos, Chios,
&c., in the Province of the Islands. In the later division into themes, it seems
to be again raised to a distinguished position. It gave its name to a separate
theme, which included a large portion of the mainland, and was divided into the
two turms of Ephesus and Adramyttium, the governor having his residence (praitorion)
at Smyrna; and this arrangement is spoken of in such a way (Const. Porphyrog.
de Them. l. c.) as distinctly to connect it with the ancient renown of Samos.
It would be difficult to follow the fortunes of Samos through the
middle ages. (See Finlay's History of the Byzantine and Greek Empires, vol. ii.
p. 112.) There are some points of considerable interest in its modern history.
In 1550, after being sacked by the Ottomans, it was given by Selim to the Capitan
Pacha Ochiali, who introduced colonists from various other places; whence the
names of some of the modern villages in the island, Metelinous, Albaniticori,
and Vourlotes (Vourla giving the name to some islands at the entrance of the bay
of Smyrna). Samos was much injured by the ravages of Morosini. In Tournefort's
time the largest part of the island was the property of ecclesiastics; and the
number of convents and nunneries was, considerable. He reckoned the population
to be 12,000; now it is estimated at 50,000, nearly the whole being Christian.
Samos performed a distinguished part in the War of Independence. The Turks often
attempted to effect a landing: the defences constructed by the Samiotes are still
visible on the shore; and the Greek fleet watched no point more carefully than
this important island. On the 17th of August, 1824, a curious repetition of the
battle of Mycale took place. Formidable preparations for a descent on the island
were made by Tahir-Pacha, who had 20,000 land-troops encamped on the promontory
of Mycale. Canaris set fire to a frigate near Cape Trogillium, and in the confusion
which followed the troops fled, and Tahir-Pacha sailed away. At this time the
Logothete Lycurgus was turannos of the island in the true classical sense of the
word, as is observed by Ross, who describes the castle built by Lycurgus on the
ruins of a mediaeval fort, adding that he was then (1841) residing with the rank
of Colonel at Athens, and that he was well remembered and much regretted in Samos.
This island was assigned to Turkey by the treaty which fixed the limits of modern
Greece; but it continued to make struggles for its independence. Since 1835 it
has formed a separate Beylick under a Phanariot Greek named Stephen Vogorides,
who resides in Constantinople with the title of Prince of Samos, and sends a governor
as his deputy. Besides other rights, the island has a separate flag exhibiting
the white Greek cross on a blue ground, with a narrow red stripe to denote dependence
on the Porte. It does not appear, however, that this government of Greeks by a
Greek for the Sultan is conducive to contentment.
The present inhabitants of this fruitful island are said to be more
esteemed for their industry than their honesty. They export silk, wool, wine,
oil, and fruits. If the word Sammet is derived from this place, it is probable
that silk has been an object of its industry for a considerable time. Pliny (xiii.
34) mentions pomegranates among its fruits. At the present day the beans of the
carob-tree are exported to Russia, where a cheap spirit for the common people
is made from them. We might suppose from the name of Mount Ampelus, that the wine
of the island was celebrated in the ancient world; but such a conclusion would
be in direct contradiction to the words of Strabo, who notices it as a remarkable
fact, that though the wine of the surrounding islands and of the neighbouring
parts of the mainland was excellent, that of Samos was inferior. Its grapes, however,
under the name of homomelides or hamamelides, are commended by Athenaeus (xiv.
p. 653; see Poll. Onomast. vi. 11), and now they are one of the most valued parts
of its produce. Ross saw these grapes (staphida) drying in large quantities in
the sun; and other authorities speak highly of the Malmsey or sweet muscato wine
exported in large quantities from Samos. Its marble is abundant; but it has a
greater tendency to split into small fragments than that of Pentelicus or Paros.
A stone found in the island is said by Pliny (xxxvi. 40) to have been used for
polishing gold. He also mentions in several places (l. c., also xxviii. 53, 77,
xxxi. 46, xxxv. 19, 53) the various medicinal properties of its earth. The Samian
earthenware was in high repute at Rome ( Samia etiamnum in esculentis laudantur,
Plin. xxxv. 46), and the name has been traditionally given by modern writers to
the red lustrous pottery made by the Romans, themselves for domestic use. (See
Marryatt's Pottery and Porcelain, London 1850, pp. 286, 290.) For the natural
Flora and Fauna of the island we must be content to refer to Tournefort, who says,
among other facts, that tigers sometimes swim across to it from Mycale, which
Chandler describes as a mountain infested with wild beasts. The woody flanks of
Mount Kerkis still supply materials for shipbuilding. It is said in Athenaeus
(l. c.) that the roses and fruits of Samos came to perfection twice a year; and
Strabo informs us that its general fruitfulness was such as to give rise to the
proverb Pherei kai ornithon gala.
The archaeological interest of Samos is almost entirely concentrated
in that plain on the S., which contained the sanctuary of Hera at one extremity
and the ancient city on the other. This plain is terminated at the SW. by a promontory,
which from its white cliffs is called aspro kabo by the Greeks, but which received
from the Genoese the name of Cape Colonna, in consequence of the single column
of the Heraeum which remains: standing in its immediate neighbourhood. Virgil
tells us (Aen. i. 16), that Samos was at least second in the affections of Juno;
and her temple and worship contributed much to the fame and affluence of Samos
for many centuries. Herodotus says that the temple was the largest he had seen.
It was of the Ionic order; in form it was decastyle dipteral, in dimensions 346
feet by 189. (See Leake, Asia Minor, p. 348.) It was never entirely finished.
At least, the fluting of the columns was left, like the foliage on parts of our
cathedrals, incomplete. The original architect was Rhoecus, a Samian. The temple
was burnt by the Persians. After its restoration it was plundered by pirates in
the Mithridatic War, then by Verres, and then by M. Antony. He took to Rome three
statues attributed to Myron: of these Augustus restored the Athene and Heracles,
and retained the Zeus to decorate the Capitol. The image of the goddess was made
of wood, and was supposed to be the work of Smilis, a contemporary of Daedalus.
In Strabo's time the temple, with its chapels, was a complete picture gallery;
and the hypaethral portion was full of statues. (See Orig. c. Cels. 4.) In the
time of Tacitus, this sanctuary had the rights of asylum. (Ann. iv. 14.) When
Pausanias was there,the people pointed out to him the shrub of Agnus Castus, under
the shade of which, on the banks of the river Imbrasus, it was believed that Hera
was born. (Paus. l. c.) Hence the river itself was called Parthenias, and the
goddess Imbrasia. (Comp. Apoll. Rhod. i. 187, Imbrasies hedos Heres.) The anchorage
in front of the sanctuary was called hormos Heraites. (Athen. xv. p. 672.) The
temple was about 200 paces from the shore, according to Ross, who found its whole
basement covered with a mass of small fragments of marble, among which are portions
of the red tiles with which the temple was roofed. He discovered hardly anything
of interest, except an inscription with the word naopoiai.
The appearance of the watercourses of the Imbrasus shows that they
are often swollen by rains, and thus harmonises with the natural derivation of
the word. In the plain which extends along the base of the mountains eastwards
towards the city, Ross says that there are traces of ancient channels made for
the purpose of irrigation. He regards the marshy places near the temple to be
the Kalamoi and the Helos mentioned by Athenaeus (xiii. p. 572) ill connection
with the expedition of Pericles. (The former place is likewise referred to by
Herodotus, ix. 96.) Across this plain, which is about two miles in length, there
is no doubt that a Sacred Way extended from the sanctuary to the city, like that
which connected Athens with Eleusis. Somewhere on this line (kata ten hodon ten
eis to Heraion, Paus. vii. 5. § 6) was the tomb of Rhadine and Leontichus, where
lovers used to make their vows; and traces of funeral monuments are still seen
at the extremity of the line, close to the city-wall.
The modern town of Chora, close to the pass leading through the mountains
to Vathy, is near the place of the ancient city, which was situated partly in
the plain and partly on the slope of the hill. The western wall runs in a straight
line from the mountain towards the sea, with the exception of a bend inwards near
the tombs just mentioned. Here is a brackish stream (he gluphada), which is the
Chesius, the second of the three streams mentioned by Pliny. (See Etym. Magn.
s. v. Astupalaia.) The southern wall does not touch the sea in all its length,
and is strengthened by being raised on vaulted substructions. Here and elsewhere
the ruins of Samos touch the question of the use of the arch among the Greeks.
On the east side of the city the wails are very considerable, being 10 or 12 feet
thick, and about 18 feet high. The masonry is partly quadrangular and partly polygonal;
there are round towers at intervals on the outside of the wall, and in one place
are traces of a gate. In the eastern part of the city was the steep citadel of
Astypalaea, which was fortified by Polycrates (Polyaen. Strat. i. 23. § 2), and
here probably was what Suetonius calls the palace of Polycrates. (Suet. Calig.
21.) In the higher part of the town the theatre is distinctly visible; the marble
seats are removed; underneath is a large cistern. The general area is covered
with small fragments, many of the best having furnished materials for the modern
castle of Lycurgus near the shore on the SE.; and little more remains of a city
which Herodotus says was, under Polycrates, the greatest of cities, Hellenic or
Barbarian, and which, in the time of comparative decay, is still called by Horace
Concinna Samos.
Herodotus makes especial mention of the harbour and of an immense
tunnel which formed an aqueduct for the city. The former of these works (to tigani,
as it is now called, from being shaped like a frying-pan) is below Astypalaea;
and, though it is now accessible only to small craft, its famous moles remain,
one extending eastwards from the castle of Lycurgus, the other extending to meet
it from the extremity of the east city-wall southwards. Here Ross saw subterranean
passages hewn in the rock, one of which may possibly be the krupre diorux ek tes
akropoleos pherousa epi thalassan (Herod. iii. 146), constructed by Maeandrius
after the death of Polycrates. The tunnel has not been clearly identified; but,
from what M. Musurus told Prof. Ross, it is probable that it is where Tournefort
placed it, and that it penetrated the hill from Metelinous to Chora, and that
thence the water was taken into the city by a covered channel, traces of which
remain. It is clear that it cannot be in the quarry pointed out to Ross; both
because the cleavage of the rock is in the wrong direction, and because water
from such a height would fall like a cascade on the city.
The authorities, to which reference has been made in this article,
are, Tournefort (Voyage du Levant, 1717, pp. 404-436), who has given a very copious
account of the island; and Ross (Reisen auf den Griechischen Inseln des Agaischer
Meeres, vol. ii. 1843, pp. 139-155), who has examined the sites and remains of
the ancient city and Heraeum more carefully than any one else. (See also Clarke,
Travels, vol. ii. pp. 192-194, vol.iii. pp. 364-367.) Maps of the island will
be found in Tournefort and Choiseul-Gouffier; but the best delineation of it is
given in three of the English Admiralty charts. There is a small sketch of the
neighbourhood of the city in Kiepert's Hellas (1841), and a larger one in Ross.
In Kiepert's general map the rivers Imbrasus and Chesius are wrongly placed, and
also (probably) the ridge of Ampelus. It is very questionable whether the point
called Poseidion can be where it is (doubtfully) placed in Ross's plan: the position
of the little island Narthecis in the strait seems to show that this promontory
ought to be further to the east. (See Strab. xiv. p. 637.) A little volume was
published in London, and dedicated to James Duke of York, in 1678, entitled A
Description of the present State of Samos, Nicaria, Patmos, and Mount Athos, by
Joseph Georgirenes (Georgeirenes), Archbishop of Samos, now living in London,
translated by one that knew the author in Constantinople. From this book it appears
that Dapper has taken much directly, and Tournefort indirectly. Panofka has written
a book on Samos (Res Samiorum, Berlin, 1822): and more recently (1856) Guerin
has published a work on this island and Patmos.
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ΣΑΜΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΣΑΜΟΣ
The modern town of Chora, close to the pass leading through the mountains
to Vathy, is near the place of the ancient city, which was situated partly in
the plain and partly on the slope of the hill. The western wall runs in a straight
line from the mountain towards the sea, with the exception of a bend inwards near
the tombs just mentioned. Here is a brackish stream (he gluphada), which is the
Chesius, the second of the three streams mentioned by Pliny. The southern wall
does not touch the sea in all its length, and is strengthened by being raised
on vaulted substructions. Here and elsewhere the ruins of Samos touch the question
of the use of the arch among the Greeks. On the east side of the city the wails
are very considerable, being 10 or 12 feet thick, and about 18 feet high. The
masonry is partly quadrangular and partly polygonal; there are round towers at
intervals on the outside of the wall, and in one place are traces of a gate. In
the eastern part of the city was the steep citadel of Astypalaea, which was fortified
by Polycrates (Polyaen. Strat. i. 23. § 2), and here probably was what Suetonius
calls the palace of Polycrates. (Suet. Calig. 21.) In the higher part of the town
the theatre is distinctly visible; the marble seats are removed; underneath is
a large cistern. The general area is covered with small fragments, many of the
best having furnished materials for the modern castle of Lycurgus near the shore
on the SE.; and little more remains of a city which Herodotus says was, under
Polycrates, the greatest of cities, Hellenic or Barbarian, and which, in the time
of comparative decay, is still called by Horace Concinna Samos.
Herodotus makes especial mention of the harbour and of an immense
tunnel which formed an aqueduct for the city. The former of these works (to tigani,
as it is now called, from being shaped like a frying-pan) is below Astypalaea;
and, though it is now accessible only to small craft, its famous moles remain,
one extending eastwards from the castle of Lycurgus, the other extending to meet
it from the extremity of the east city-wall southwards. Here Ross saw subterranean
passages hewn in the rock, one of which may possibly be the krupre diorux ek tes
akropoleos pherousa epi thalassan (Herod. iii. 146), constructed by Maeandrius
after the death of Polycrates. The tunnel has not been clearly identified; but,
from what M. Musurus told Prof. Ross, it is probable that it is where Tournefort
placed it, and that it penetrated the hill from Metelinous to Chora, and that
thence the water was taken into the city by a covered channel, traces of which
remain. It is clear that it cannot be in the quarry pointed out to Ross; both
because the cleavage of the rock is in the wrong direction, and because water
from such a height would fall like a cascade on the city.
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ΣΙΓΡΙΟΝ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΛΕΣΒΟΣ
Sigrion. The westernmost promontory of the island of Lesbos, which now bears the
name of Sigri (Strab. xiii. pp. 616, 618.) Stephanus B. calls Sigrium a harbour
of Lesbos.
ΦΑΝΑΙ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΧΙΟΣ
Strabo's description commences on the east side of the island, where
the chief town, Chios, was situated, which had a harbour capable of holding 80
ships. His periplus is southwards. He next mentions the Posidium, now Cape Mastico,
the southern point of the island; then Phanae (Thuc. viii. 24), where there was
a deep recess, a temple of Apollo, and a grove of palm-trees. There was also a
point or headland at Phanae (Steph. s. v. Phanai), which Ptolemy also mentions
under the name Phanaea, Livy (xliv. 28) mentions the Promontorium Phanae as a
convenient, place to sail from to Macedonia. It seems to correspond to Port Mesta,
on the western coast...
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ΧΙΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
The chief town of Chios, as already observed, had the name of Chios,
though Strabo does not mention the name of the city, but the passage is probably
corrupt. It was on the east side of the island, and is now named Scio, though
it seems to be called Kastro in some maps. The city and its environs are like
Genoa and its territory in miniature. Some authorities (Dionys. Perieg. 535) place
it at the foot of Pellenaeus, which seems to be the same name as Strabo's Pelinaeus.
Probably the name of the high range of Pelinaeus may have extended as far south
as the town of Chios. Chandler could not see either stadium, odeum or theatre,
the usual accompaniments of every Greek town, and we know that Chios had a theatre.
As there was a marble quarry in the vicinity, there was abundance of building
materials. The stones of the old Greek town have, doubtless, been used for building
the modern town, for marbles and basreliefs are seen in the walls of the town
and of the houses.
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ΑΝΤΙΣΣΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΛΕΣΒΟΣ
A town on the west coast of Lesbos, though formerly on a small island opposite Lesbos, with which it afterwards united.
ΔΡΑΚΑΝΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΓΙΟΣ ΚΗΡΥΚΟΣ
A town and promontory in the island Icaria.
ΕΡΕΣΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΛΕΣΒΟΣ
or Eresus (on coins the name is always written Eresos). A city
of Lesbos, situated on a hill at a distance of twenty-eight stadia from Cape Sigrium.
It derives celebrity from having given birth to Theophrastus. Phanias, another
disciple of the great Stagirite, was likewise a native of this place. According
to Archestratus, quoted by Athenaeus, Eressus was famous for the excellence of
its wheaten flour.
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ΙΚΑΡΙΑ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
An island of the Aegean, near Samos, west from Ampelos, the western promontory of the latter. Mythology derived the name of this island from Icarus, son of Daedalus, whose body was washed upon its shores after the unfortunate termination of his flight. The modern name is Nicaria.
ΛΕΣΒΟΣ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
(Lesbos). A large island in the Aegaean, off the coast of Mysia
in Asia Minor. It was colonized by Aeolians, who founded in it an Hexapolis, consisting
of the six cities Mitylene, Methymna, Eresus, Pyrrha, Antissa, and Arisbe, afterwards
reduced to five through the destruction of Arisbe by the Methymnaeans. The chief
facts in the history of Lesbos are connected with its principal city, Mitylene.
The island is most important in the early history of Greece as the native region
of the early school of lyric poetry. It was the birthplace of the poets Terpander,
Alcaeus, Sappho, and Arion , of the sage Pittacus, of the historian Hellanicus,
and of the philosophers Theophrastus and Phanias.
ΛΗΜΝΟΣ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
(Lemnos). One of the largest islands in the Aegaean Sea, situated
nearly midway between Mount Athos and the Hellespont. Its area is about 180 square
miles. It was sacred to Hephaestus, who is said to have fallen here when he was
hurled down from Olympus. Hence the workshop of the god is sometimes placed in
this island. The legend appears to have arisen from the volcanic nature of Lemnos.
Its earliest inhabitants, according to Homer, were the Thracian Sinties, a name
which probably signifies "robbers," from sinomai. When the Argonauts
landed at Lemnos, they found it inhabited only by women who had murdered all their
husbands, and had selected Hypsipyle as their queen. By the Lemnian women some
of the Argonauts became the fathers of the Minyae, who inhabited the island till
they were expelled by the Pelasgians. Lemnos was conquered by one of the generals
of Darius; but Miltiades delivered it from the Persians, and made it subject to
Athens. Pliny speaks of a remarkable labyrinth in Lemnos, of which, however, no
remains are to be found at the present day.
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ΜΗΘΥΜΝΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΛΕΣΒΟΣ
(Methumna and Methumna, the first form being the better). The
second city of Lesbos, standing at the northern extremity of the island. It was
the birthplace of the poet Arion and of the historian Hellanicus. The celebrated
Lesbian wine grew in its neighbourhood. In the Peloponnesian war it remained faithful
to Athens, even during the great Lesbian revolt; afterwards it was sacked by the
Spartans (B.C. 406), and never recovered its former prosperity.
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ΜΙΝΥΑΙ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
The Minyae founded a colony in Lemnos, called Minyae, whence they proceeded to Elis Triphylia, and to the island of Thera
ΜΥΤΙΛΗΝΗ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΛΕΣΒΟΣ
(Mitulene) or Mytilene (Mutilene), the latter being the earlier
form. The chief city of Lesbos, stood on the east side of the island opposite
the coast of Lesbos, upon a promontory which was once an island, and both sides
of which formed excellent harbours. Its first foundation is ascribed to Carians
and Pelasgians. It was early colonized by the Aeolians. Important hints respecting
its political history are furnished by the fragments of the poetry of Alcaeus,
whence (and from other sources) it seems that, after the rule and overthrow of
a series of tyrants, the city was nearly ruined by the bitter hatred and conflicts
of the factions of the nobles and the people, till Pittacus was appointed to a
sort of dictatorship, and the nobles were expelled. Meanwhile, the city had grown
to great importance as a naval power, and had founded colonies on the coasts of
Mysia and Thrace. At the beginning of the seventh century B.C. the possession
of one of these colonies, Sigeum, at the mouth of the Hellespont, was disputed
in war between the Mitylenaeans and Athenians, and assigned to the latter by the
award of Periander, tyrant of Corinth. Among the other colonies of Mitylene were
Achilleum, Assos, and Antandrus. Mitylene submitted to the Persians after the
conquest of Ionia and Aeolis, and furnished contingents to the expeditions of
Cambyses against Egypt and of Darius against Scythia. It was active in the Ionian
revolt, after the failure of which it again became subject to Persia, and took
part in the expedition of Xerxes against Greece. After the Persian War it formed
an alliance with Athens, and remained one of the most important members of the
Athenian confederacy, retaining its independence till the fourth year of the Peloponnesian
War (B.C. 428), when it headed a revolt of the greater part of Lesbos, the progress
and suppression of which forms one of the most interesting episodes in the history
of the Peloponnesian War. This event destroyed the power of Mitylene. Its subsequent
fortunes cannot be related in detail here. It fell under the power of the Romans
after the Mithridatic War.
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ΟΙΝΟΗ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΕΥΔΗΛΟΣ
A town in the island of Icaria.
ΟΙΝΟΥΣΣΕΣ (Σύμπλεγμα νήσων) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
(Oinousai) or Oenussae (Oinoussai). Small islands in the Aegean Sea, between Chios and the mainland, now Egonuses.
ΠΥΡΡΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΜΥΤΙΛΗΝΗ
A town on the west coast of the island of Lesbos, on the inner part of the deep bay named after it, and consequently on the narrowest part of the island.
ΣΑΜΟΣ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
Now Samo, Turk. Susam Adassi; one of the principal islands of
the Aegaean Sea, lying in that portion of it called the Icarian Sea, off the coast
of Ionia, from which it is separated only by a narrow strait formed by the overlapping
of its eastern promontory Posidium (now Cape Colonna) with the westernmost spur
of Mount Mycale, Promontorium Trogilium (now Cape S. Maria). This strait, which
is little more than three-fourths of a mile wide, was the scene of the battle
of Mycale. The island is formed by a range of mountains extending from east to
west, whence it derived its name; for Samos was an old Greek word signifying a
mountain: and the same root is seen in Same, the old name of Cephallenia, and
Samothrace--i. e. the Thracian Samos. The circumference of the island is about
eighty miles. It was and is very fertile; and some of its products are indicated
by its ancient names, Dryusa, Anthemura, Melamphyllus, and Cyparissia. According
to the earliest traditions, it was a chief seat of the Carians and Leleges, and
the residence of their first king, Ancaeus; and was afterwards colonized by Aeolians
from Lesbos, and by Ionians from Epidaurus.
In the earliest historical records, we find Samos decidedly
Ionian, and a powerful member of the Ionic Confederacy. Thucydides tells us that
the Samians were the first of the Greeks, after the Corinthians, who paid great
attention to naval affairs. They early acquired such power at sea, that, besides
obtaining possession of parts of the opposite coast of Asia, they founded many
colonies, among which were Bisanthe and Perinthus, in Thrace; Celenderis and Nagidus,
in Cilicia; Cydonia, in Crete; Dicaearchia (Puteoli), in Italy; and Zancle (Messana),
in Sicily. After a transition from the state of a monarchy, through an aristocracy,
to a democracy, the island became subject to the most famous of the so-called
"tyrants," Polycrates (B.C. 532), under whom its power and splendour
reached their highest pitch, and Samos would probably have become the mistress
of the Aegaean but for the murder of Polycrates. At this period the Samians had
extensive commercial relations with Egypt, and they obtained from Amasis the privilege
of a separate temple at Naucratis. Their commerce extended into the interior of
Africa, partly through their relations with Cyrene, and also by means of a settlement
which they effected in one of the Oases, seven days' journey from Thebes. The
Samians now became subject to the Persian Empire, under which they were governed
by tyrants, with a brief interval at the time of the Ionian revolt, until the
battle of Mycale, which made them independent, B.C. 479. They now joined the Athenian
Confederacy, of which they continued independent members until B.C. 440, when
an opportunity arose for reducing them to entire subjection and depriving them
of their fleet, which was effected by Pericles after an obstinate resistance of
nine months' duration. In the Peloponnesian War, Samos held firm to Athens to
the last; and in the history of the latter part of that war, the island becomes
extremely important as the headquarters of the exiled democratical party of the
Athenians. Transferred to Sparta after the battle of Aegospotami (405), it was
soon restored to Athens by that of Cnidus (394), but went over to Sparta again
in 390. Soon after, it fell into the hands of the Persians, being conquered by
the satrap Tigranes; but it was recovered by Timotheus for Athens. In the Social
War, the Athenians successfully defended it against the attacks of the confederated
Chians, Rhodians, and Byzantines, and placed in it a body of two thousand cleruchi
(B.C. 352). After Alexander's death, it was taken from the Athenians by Perdiccas
(323), but restored to them by Polysperchon (319). In the subsequent period, it
seems to have been rather nominally than really a part of the Graeco-Syrian kingdom:
we find it engaged in a long contest with Priene on a question of boundary, which
was referred to Antiochus II., and afterwards to the Roman Senate. In the Macedonian
War, Samos was taken by the Rhodians again, B.C. 200. In the Syrian War, the Samians
took part with Antiochus the Great against Rome.
Little further mention is made of Samos till the time of Mithridates,
with whom it took part in his first war against Rome, on the conclusion of which
it was finally united to the province of Asia, B.C. 84. Meanwhile it had greatly
declined, and during the war it had been wasted by the incursions of pirates.
Its prosperity was partially restored under the propraetorship of Q. Cicero, B.C.
62, but still more by the residence in it of Antony and Cleopatra (32), and afterwards
of Octavianus, who made Samos a free State. It was favoured by Caligula, but was
deprived of its freedom by Vespasian, and it sank into insignificance as early
as the second century, although its departed glory is found still recorded, under
the emperor Decius, by the inscription on its coins, Samion proton Ionias.
Samos may be regarded as almost the chief centre of Ionian
manners, energies, luxury, science, and art. In very early times there was a native
school of statuary, at the head of which was Rhoecus, to whom tradition ascribed
the invention of casting in metal. In the hands of the same school architecture
flourished greatly; the Heraeum, one of the finest of Greek temples, was erected
in a marsh, on the western side of the city of Samos; and the city itself, especially
under the government of Polycrates, was furnished with other splendid works, among
which was an aqueduct pierced through a mountain. Samain architects became famous
also beyond their own island; as, for example, Mandrocles, who constructed Darius's
bridge over the Bosporus. Samian pottery was well known, and was in vogue in Greece
and Italy in the second century B.C., and was imitated by the potters of Gaul
and Britain. It was of a reddish colour, with reliefs. The island was the birthplace
of Pythagoras, and of several minor poets and historians.
The capital of the island was the city Samos, on the southeastern
coast. It had a magnificent harbour, and was adorned with many fine buildings,
especially a temple of Here (Heraeum), which in the time of Herodotus was the
largest temple in existence. It was of the Ionic order. Excavations made in 1880
show that its facade was one of some 150 feet.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΦΑΝΑΙ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΧΙΟΣ
The southern point of the island of Chios, celebrated for its temple of Apollo and for its excellent wine.
ΧΙΟΣ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
The modern Scio. One of the largest and most famous islands
of the Aegean, lay opposite to the peninsula of Clazomenae, on the coast of Ionia.
It was colonized by the Ionians at the time of their great migration, and remained
an independent and powerful maritime state till the defeat of the Ionian Greeks
by the Persians, B.C. 494, after which the Chians were subjected to the Persians.
The battle of Mycale, 479, freed Chios from the Persian yoke, and it became a
member of the Athenian League, in which it was for a long time the closest and
most favoured ally of Athens; but an unsuccessful attempt to revolt, in 412, led
to its conquest and devastation. Chios was celebrated for its wine and marble.
Of all the States which aspired to the honour of being the birthplace of Homer,
Chios was generally considered by the ancients to have the best claim; and it
numbered among its natives the historian Theopompus, the poet Theocritus, and
other eminent men. Its chief city, Chios (Khio), stood on the eastern side of
the island.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΧΙΟΣ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
Chios lies 58 km south of Lesbos, and 8 km from Asia Minor. It had
an area of 842 sq km. A mountain range traverses the island from north to south.
The name Chios, according to some authorities, is of Phoenician origin and means
mastic. Chios is the main source of mastic, a resin of the lentisk tree used as
a varnish and a liqueur flavoring. The island has been occupied since the beginning
of the Bronze Age. After 1000 B.C. Ionian settlers established themselves on Chios,
and in historical times, this island became a member of the Ionic Confederacy.
The common sanctuary was the Panionion in Asia Minor. An important school of sculptors
sprung up in Chios in the sixth century B.C. From 512 to 479 B.C. Chios was under
Persian rule. Thereafter Chios became a member of the Attic Maritime League.
ΑΘΕΡΑΣ (Βουνό) ΑΓΙΟΣ ΚΗΡΥΚΟΣ
ΔΡΑΚΑΝΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΓΙΟΣ ΚΗΡΥΚΟΣ
ΗΦΑΙΣΤΙΑΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΛΗΜΝΟΣ
ΙΚΑΡΙΑ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
ΛΕΣΒΟΣ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
ΜΗΘΥΜΝΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΛΕΣΒΟΣ
Methymna, Molivos, Molybos, Methymnaeans, Methymnaean, Methymnians, Methymnian, Methymne
ΜΥΡΙΝΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΛΗΜΝΟΣ
Lemnos is called dipolis, referring to the towns Myrina and Hephaestia.
ΧΙΟΣ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
ΛΗΜΝΟΣ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
ΣΑΜΟΣ (Νησί) ΒΟΡΕΙΟ ΑΙΓΑΙΟ
ΑΝΤΙΣΣΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΛΕΣΒΟΣ
Antissa
is believed to be NW of the modern town of Skalokhori, on the peninsula called Nisi, Ovriokastro, or Kastro ton Genoveson, E of the place where the river Voulgaris issues into the Tsamourliman (Mud Harbor) and ca. 9 km NE of the modern market town of Antissa which was called Telonia during the Turkish period and up to the 1930s. There are smaller ruined settlements W of Skalokhori, near Liota on the bay of Gavathas, and also farther W between the bay of Pokhi and Orphikia in the area of Lapsarna. The site of Antissa, which was excavated before WWII, may also be the location of the Byzantine castle of Ag. Theodoroi whose name appears in old maps. During its independent period, Antissa was rarely on friendly terms with the neighboring state of Methymna, but those who survived after the destruction of the city in 167 B.C. were forced to incorporate with the Methymnians.
ΔΕΛΦΙΝΙΟΝ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΧΙΟΣ
Delphinion, a small port situated 15 km N of Chios, served as an Athenian naval base during the Peloponnesian War. The acropolis was destroyed by the Spartans in 412 B.C. It was enclosed by a wall, parts of which have been found, along with several towers. To the NE of the acropolis an artificial platform has been discovered, dating from the end of the 4th c., on which there are the remains of houses datable from the 4th to the 2d c. B.C.
G. Bermond Montanari, ed.
This extract is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited June 2003 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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