Lemnos Límnos
Chief town: Myrina
Lemnos is a hilly island rising to 470m/1,540ft at its highest point. Fertile and almost treeless, it produces corn and, increasingly, cotton. The coast is much indented, with two inlets, Pourniás Bay in the north and Moúdros Bay in the south, cutting so deep inland that the eastern and western parts of the island are joined by a strip of land only 4km/2.5 mi wide.
Lemnos is a hilly island rising to 470m/1,540ft at its highest point. Fertile and almost treeless, it produces corn and, increasingly, cotton. The coast is much indented, with two inlets, Pourniás Bay in the north and Moúdros Bay in the south, cutting so deep inland that the eastern and western parts of the island are joined by a strip of land only 4km/2.5 mi wide.
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Must-see attractions nearby:
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The volcanic rock in the east recalls the ancient tradition that, after his fall from Olympus, Hephaistos set up his smithy and married Aphrodite here. The people of Lemnos were notorious for their "wicked deeds," as reported by Herodotus, which provided the Athenian general Miltiades with a pretext for his conquest of the island.
The walled city of Poliokhni, dated to the beginning of the third millennium B.C., belonged to the same pre-Greek culture as Troy and Thermoi (on Lésbos). The first Greeks came to Lemnos about 800 B.C., but a century later gave way to the Tyrsenoi from Asia Minor, whose language, on the evidence of inscriptions found at Kamínia, was related to Etruscan. This provides some support for the theory, first put forward by Herodotus, that the Etruscans originally came from the region of Lydia in Asia Minor. The island was resettled by Greeks after the Athenian conquest at the end of the sixth century B.C. It was celebrated for the cult of Hephaistos, centered on an "earth fire" near the city of Hephaisteia in the north of the island. In the A.D. fourth century Hephaisteia became the see of a bishop, but the bishopric was later transferred to Myrina on the west coast. After the fourth Crusade the island was occupied by the Venetians. A hundred years later it was recovered by the Byzantines, and was then granted to the Gattelusi family of Lésbos as a fief. It was held by the Turks from 1479 to 1912. During the Orlov rising of 1770 it became a Russian naval base. In WWI, Moúdros Bay was the Royal Navy's base during the Gallipoli campaign.
An airfield is located 25 km/15 mi northeast of Myrina and the island is also serviced by boat.
The walled city of Poliokhni, dated to the beginning of the third millennium B.C., belonged to the same pre-Greek culture as Troy and Thermoi (on Lésbos). The first Greeks came to Lemnos about 800 B.C., but a century later gave way to the Tyrsenoi from Asia Minor, whose language, on the evidence of inscriptions found at Kamínia, was related to Etruscan. This provides some support for the theory, first put forward by Herodotus, that the Etruscans originally came from the region of Lydia in Asia Minor. The island was resettled by Greeks after the Athenian conquest at the end of the sixth century B.C. It was celebrated for the cult of Hephaistos, centered on an "earth fire" near the city of Hephaisteia in the north of the island. In the A.D. fourth century Hephaisteia became the see of a bishop, but the bishopric was later transferred to Myrina on the west coast. After the fourth Crusade the island was occupied by the Venetians. A hundred years later it was recovered by the Byzantines, and was then granted to the Gattelusi family of Lésbos as a fief. It was held by the Turks from 1479 to 1912. During the Orlov rising of 1770 it became a Russian naval base. In WWI, Moúdros Bay was the Royal Navy's base during the Gallipoli campaign.
An airfield is located 25 km/15 mi northeast of Myrina and the island is also serviced by boat.
Related Attractions
Lemnos Archaeological Museum
In the bay to the north of Myrina is a well-arranged museum displaying material from the prehistoric settlement of Poliókhni, the site of ancient Hephaisteia and the sanctuary of the Kabeiroi at Khlói (Chloe).
Hours
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open | 8:30 | 8:30 | 8:30 | 8:30 | 8:30 | 8:30 | 8:30 |
| Close | 15:00 | 15:00 | 15:00 | 15:00 | 15:00 | 15:00 | 15:00 |
Always closed on:
New Year's Day (January 1)
May Day / Labor Day (May 1)
Day after Christmas, St Stephen's Day, Boxing Day (December 26)
Christmas - Christian (December 25)
Good Friday - Christian (Apr 06)
Easter - Christian (Apr 08)
May Day / Labor Day (May 1)
Day after Christmas, St Stephen's Day, Boxing Day (December 26)
Christmas - Christian (December 25)
Good Friday - Christian (Apr 06)
Easter - Christian (Apr 08)
Feast of St George
The annual feast day of St George is celebrated on the island of Lemnos at the village of Kaliopi with horse races.
There is also a three-day non-stop festival at Arachova.
There is also a three-day non-stop festival at Arachova.
Kotsina, Greece
To the north of Moudros are the villages of Kotsína and Kontoupoli. Nearby is Hephaesteia with 5th Century BC ruins.
Límnos - Hephaisteia
In the northeast of the island of Lemnos, reached by way of Kontopoúli (30km/19mi), are the site of ancient Hephaisteia on Pourniás Bay (necropolis of eighth-sixth century B.C.; Hellenistic theater), and the ancient port of Chloe (Khlói), where excavations by Italian archeologists (not yet complete) have brought to light a sanctuary of the Kabeiroi (non-Hellenic divinities whose cult was centered on the island of Samothrace). The visible remains include two cult buildings of the sixth and fifth-fourth centuries B.C.
Límnos - Kontiás
Kontiás, 10 km/6 mi east of Myrina, is beautifully situated in a bay with a sandy beach.
Moúdros
The second port on the island of Límnos, Moúdros lies on the east side of Moúdros Bay, 28 km/17 mi east of Myrina. From here a road runs via Kamínia, near which were found the Tyrsenian inscriptions, to Poliókhni (34km/21 mi), where Italian archeologists found remains of a settlement dating back to the third and fourth millennia B.C. (town walls, houses and a gate approached by a ramp similar to that of Troy II).
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Polichni, Greece
Poichi is located east of Moudros and known primarily for the a number of ruins, noteably a Neolithic town and a settlement thought to date to the Bronze Age.
