Lemnos

Coordinates: 39°55′N 25°15′E / 39.917°N 25.250°E / 39.917; 25.250
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the locality in Australia, see Lemnos, Victoria. For Greek ships with the name, see Greek ship Lemnos.
"Limnos" redirects here. For the Canadian ship, see CCGS Limnos.
Lemnos
Λήμνος
UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code
81400
Area code(s)22540
Vehicle registrationMH, MY
Websitelimnos.gr

Lemnos or Limnos (

8th-largest island
of Greece.

Geography

Lemnos from space

Lemnos is primarily a flat island, but the western region, particularly the northwest, is rocky and mountainous. At 430 meters above sea level, Mount Skopia is the highest point.

harbour
. It is the seat of all trade carried on with the mainland.

Lemnos also has a 7-hectare desert, the Pachies Ammoudies of Lemnos.

Climate

The climate in Lemnos is mainly Mediterranean (Csa).[5] Winters are generally mild, but with occasional snowfall. Strong winds are a feature of the island, especially in August and during the winter, with a maximum average wind speed of 20.7 km/h in February,[6] hence its nickname "the wind-ridden one" (in Greek, Ανεμόεσσα). The temperature is typically 2 to 5 degrees Celsius less than in Athens, especially in summertime.

Climate data for Lemnos Island (1974-2010)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 18.8
(65.8) 		19.0
(66.2) 		22.0
(71.6) 		25.8
(78.4) 		29.8
(85.6) 		34.4
(93.9) 		39.4
(102.9) 		35.8
(96.4) 		32.8
(91.0) 		31.2
(88.2) 		24.0
(75.2) 		19.2
(66.6) 		39.4
(102.9)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 10.7
(51.3) 		11.0
(51.8) 		13.1
(55.6) 		17.1
(62.8) 		22.1
(71.8) 		27.2
(81.0) 		29.5
(85.1) 		29.1
(84.4) 		25.3
(77.5) 		20.3
(68.5) 		15.7
(60.3) 		12.3
(54.1) 		19.5
(67.1)
Daily mean °C (°F) 7.6
(45.7) 		7.8
(46.0) 		10.0
(50.0) 		13.8
(56.8) 		18.6
(65.5) 		23.8
(74.8) 		26.1
(79.0) 		25.5
(77.9) 		21.6
(70.9) 		16.9
(62.4) 		12.5
(54.5) 		9.3
(48.7) 		16.1
(61.0)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 4.4
(39.9) 		4.5
(40.1) 		6.2
(43.2) 		9.0
(48.2) 		13.0
(55.4) 		17.3
(63.1) 		20.4
(68.7) 		20.7
(69.3) 		16.7
(62.1) 		12.9
(55.2) 		9.1
(48.4) 		6.2
(43.2) 		11.7
(53.1)
Record low °C (°F) −5.0
(23.0) 		−4.2
(24.4) 		−6.0
(21.2) 		1.0
(33.8) 		3.4
(38.1) 		3.4
(38.1) 		12.0
(53.6) 		12.8
(55.0) 		8.8
(47.8) 		1.6
(34.9) 		−1.0
(30.2) 		−3.6
(25.5) 		−6.0
(21.2)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 66.5
(2.62) 		55.6
(2.19) 		51.5
(2.03) 		36.4
(1.43) 		21.6
(0.85) 		15.5
(0.61) 		11.0
(0.43) 		6.3
(0.25) 		29.3
(1.15) 		43.9
(1.73) 		80.4
(3.17) 		84.7
(3.33) 		502.7
(19.79)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 mm) 11.3 10.7 9.6 8.9 6.6 4.7 2.1 2.3 4.0 7.1 10.1 12.9 90.3
Average
relative humidity
(%) 		77.3 74.9 74.9 73.4 68.1 59.9 57.0 61.0 66.8 73.7 77.9 78.5 70.3
Source 1: NOAA[7]
Source 2: HNMS[8]

Mythic Lemnos

For ancient Greeks, the island was sacred to

Hephaistia
in the god's honour.

Hephaestus' forge, which was located on Lemnos, as well as the name Aethaleia, sometimes applied to it, points to its

Chryse
, off the Lemnian coast, was swallowed up by the sea. All volcanic action is now extinct.

The earliest inhabitants are said to have been a Thracian tribe, whom the Greeks called

Asia Minor
at a very early period. Hypsipyle and Myrina (the name of one of the chief towns) are Amazon names, which are always connected with Asiatic Cybele-worship.

According to the epitome of the

Natural History (xxxvi. 13) speaks of a remarkable labyrinth
in Lemnos, which has not been identified in modern times.

According to a Hellenic legend, the women were all deserted by their husbands for Thracian women, and in revenge they murdered every man on the island. From this barbarous act, the expression

Attica
.

The historical element underlying these traditions is probably that the original Thracian people were gradually brought into communication with the Greeks as navigation began to unite the scattered islands of the Aegean; the Thracian inhabitants were technologically primitive in comparison with the Greek mariners.

In another legend, Philoctetes was left on Lemnos by the Greeks on their way to Troy; and there he suffered ten years' agony from his wounded foot, until Odysseus and Neoptolemus induced him to accompany them to Troy. According to Sophocles, he lived beside Mount Hermaeus, which Aeschylus makes one of the beacon points to flash the news of Troy's downfall home to Argos.

History

Building at the hill of Poliochne, dating from the early Bronze Age.
Kabeirio archaeological site
Hephaistia
Lemnian
(related to Etruscan) inscriptions discovered in a crypt.

Prehistory

The ruins of the oldest human settlement in the Aegean Islands found so far have been unearthed in archaeological excavations on Lemnos by a team of Greek, Italian and American

Epipaleolithic Period, indicating a settlement of hunters and gatherers and fishermen of the 12th millennium BC
.

A rectangular building with a double row of stepped seats on the long sides, at the southwest side of the hill of

Early Bronze Age and was possibly used as a kind of Bouleuterion.[citation needed
]

In August and September 1926, members of the

Miltiades of Athens in 510 BC, initiating the social and political hellenization of the island. There, a necropolis (ca. 9th–8th centuries BC) was discovered, revealing bronze objects, pots, and over 130 ossuaries. The ossuaries contained distinctly male and female funeral ornaments. Male ossuaries contained knives and axes whereas female ossuaries contained earrings, bronze pins, necklaces, gold-diadems, and bracelets. The decorations on some of the gold objects contained spirals of Mycenaean origin, but had no Geometric forms. According to their ornamentation, the pots discovered at the site were from the Geometric period. However, the pots also preserved spirals indicative of Mycenaean art. The results of the excavations indicate that the Early Iron Age inhabitants of Lemnos could be a remnant of a Mycenaean population and, in addition, the earliest attested reference to Lemnos is the Mycenaean Greek ra-mi-ni-ja, "Lemnian woman", written in Linear B syllabic script.[11] Professor Della Seta reports:[12]

The lack of weapons of bronze, the abundance of weapons of iron, and the type of the pots and the pins gives the impression that the necropolis belongs to the ninth or eighth century B.C. That it did not belong to a Greek population, but to a population which, in the eyes of the Hellenes, appeared barbarous, is shown by the weapons. The Greek weapon, dagger or spear, is lacking: the weapons of the barbarians, the axe and the knife, are common. Since, however, this population … preserves so many elements of Mycenaean art, the Tyrrhenians or Pelasgians of Lemnos may be recognized as a remnant of a Mycenaean population.

Antiquity

According to Homer, Lemnos was inhabited by the Sintians.[13][14] Thucydides mentions Tyrrhenians as the pre-Greek inhabitants.[15]

Dioscuri, Apollo
, etc. Few coins of Myrina are known. They belong to the period of Attic occupation, and bear Athenian types. A few coins are also known which bear the name of the whole island, rather than of either city.

A trace of the

Lemnos stele. Lemnos later adopted the Attic dialect
of Athens.

Coming down to a better authenticated period, it is reported that Lemnos was conquered by

Macedonian
empire absorbed it. By 450 BC, Lemnos was an Athenian cleruchy. The Athenian settlers brought with them Athenian drama, dated to at least 348 BC. However, the tradition of theater seems to date back to the 5th century, and recent excavations at the site Hephaisteia suggest that the theater dated to the late 6th to early 5th century.

On a barren island near Lemnos there was an altar of Philoctetes with a brazen serpent, bows and breastplate bound with strips, to remind of the sufferings of the hero.[17]

In 197 BC, the Romans declared it free, but in 166 BC gave it over to Athens which retained nominal possession of it until the whole of Greece was made a province of the Roman Republic in 146 BC. After the division of the Roman Empire in 395, Lemnos passed to the Byzantine Empire.

Pliny the Elder writes about a labyrinth on Lemnos which was built by the architects Zmilis, Rhoecus and Theodorus, who were all natives of Lemnos.[18]

Middle Ages

Further information: Byzantine Greece and Frankokratia
View of the fortress of Myrina.

As a province of the Byzantine Empire, Lemnos belonged to the

Kotsinos. Leonardo died in 1260 and was succeeded by his son Paolo Navigajoso, who resisted Byzantine attempts at reconquest until his death during a siege of the island by the Byzantine admiral Licario
in 1277. Resistance continued by his wife, but in 1278 the Navigajosi were forced to capitulate and cede the island back to Byzantium.

During the last centuries of Byzantium, Lemnos played a prominent role: following the loss of

Giustiniani Longo, if the Ottoman besiegers were driven off.[19] Dorino I Gattilusio, the ruler of Lesbos, also acquired Lemnos as his fief shortly before the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.[20]

Ottoman period

Further information: Ottoman Greece
Map of Lemnos, 1809

Following the fall of Constantinople (1453), and thanks to the intercession of

military order on the island, which controlled the exit of the Dardanelles, but nothing came of it as Isma'il Bey soon recovered Lemnos for the Sultan.[22]

In 1464, during the

voevoda), judge (kadi), and elders (kodjabashis) heading the local Greek inhabitants.[20] In the late-16th century, Lemnos is recorded, along with Chios, as "the only prosperous island of the Archipelago". It had 74 villages, three of them inhabited by Turkish Muslims.[20]

In July 1656, during the

Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774. The fortress had just surrendered when an attack by the Ottoman fleet on the Russian vessels in Mudros Bay forced the Russians to withdraw (24 October 1770).[22]

Ottoman fountain in Myrina

Under Ottoman rule, Lemnos initially formed part of the

island's capture by the Greeks in 1912. It comprised the islands of Lemnos (Limni in Turkish), Agios Efstratios (Bozbaba), Imbros (Imroz) and Tenedos (Bozcaada).[22][23]

The French scholar Vital Cuinet, in his 1896 work La Turquie d'Asie, recorded a population of 27,079, of which 2,450 were Muslims and the rest Greek Orthodox.[22]

Modern period

Diagram by the French L'Illustration, depicting the Greek and Ottoman fleets and the warships that participated in the Battle of Lemnos (1913)
View of Moudros during the Gallipoli campaign in WWI, with a French military wine store in the foreground and a hospital in the background.
WWI Allied cemetery in Mudros

On 8 October 1912, during the

after a brief action without any casualties from the Ottoman garrison, who were returned to Anatolia. Peter Charanis, born on the island in 1908, and later a professor of Byzantine history at Rutgers University, recounts when the island was liberated and Greek soldiers were sent to the villages and stationed themselves in the public squares. Some of the children ran to see what Greek soldiers looked like; "What are you looking at?", one of them asked; "At Hellenes", the children replied; "Are you not Hellenes yourselves?", a soldier retorted; "No, we are Romans", the children replied; which might seem odd at a first glance, but indicates that in parts of Greece the locals self-identified as a continuation of the Eastern, Greek-speaking part of the Roman Empire (Ρωμιοί), along with their Greek identity.[24]

Lemnos. Thus the Ottomans were prevented from supplying and reinforcing their land forces in Macedonia by sea, a critical factor in the success of the Balkan League
in the war.

During

Rosslyn Wemyss
, who was ordered to prepare the then largely unused harbour for operations against the Dardanelles.

The harbour was broad enough for British and French warships, but lacked suitable military facilities, which was recognized early on. Troops intended for Gallipoli had to train in Egypt, and the port found it difficult to cope with casualties of the Gallipoli campaign. The campaign was called off in evident failure at the close of 1915. Moudros' importance receded, although it remained the Allied base for the blockade of the Dardanelles during the war. The town of Lemnos, Victoria, Australia, established in 1927 as a soldier settlement zone for returning First World War soldiers, was named after the island. There are three Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemeteries on the island, the first one for the 352 Allied soldiers in Portianou, the second one for the 148 Australian and 76 New Zealander soldiers in the town of Moudros and the third one for the Ottoman soldiers (170 Egyptian and 56 Turkish soldiers).[25]

In late October 1918, the armistice between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies was signed at Moudros.

After the Red Army victory in the Russian Civil War in 1920, many Kuban Cossacks fled the country to avoid persecution from the Bolsheviks. A notable evacuation point was the Greek island of Lemnos where 18,000 Kuban Cossacks landed, though many later died of starvation and disease. Most left the island after a year.

During

Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS), such as Wolfgang Abendroth. Partially evacuated since August 1944, the island was liberated on 16 and 17 of October 1944 by the Greek Sacred Band (World War II) or Greek Sacred Squadron under the command of the British Raiding Forces (as part of the SAS or Special Air Service
).

Today the island has about 30 villages and settlements. The province includes the island of Agios Efstratios to the southwest which has some exceptional beaches.[26]

Municipality

Panoramic view of Myrina
Kornos village
Varos
Landscape around Fisini
Bay of Diapori

The present municipality of Lemnos was formed on the merger of the following four former municipalities, each of which became municipal units, following the 2011 local government reform:[2]

Lemnos and the smaller island of Agios Efstratios previously formed part of Lesbos Prefecture. In 2011, the prefecture was abolished and Lemnos and Agios Efstratios now form Lemnos Regional Unit. Lemnos Province, abolished in 2006, comprised the same territory as the present regional unit.

Subdivisions

The municipal units of Atsiki, Moudros, Myrina and Nea Koutali are subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets):

Atsiki

Moudros

Myrina

  • Myrina (Myrina, incl. Androni)
  • Thanos (Thanos, Paralia Thanous)
  • Kaspakas (Kaspakas, Agios Ioannis, Gali, Limenaria)
  • Kornos (Kornos, Psylloi)
  • Platy (Platy, Paralia Plateos, Plagisos Molos)

Nea Koutali

Culture

Cuisine

Local specialties include:

Sports

  • Ifaistos Limnou BC

Economy

Lemnos has a strong husbandry tradition, being famous for the Kalathaki Limnou

Muscat
grapes are grown widely, and are used to produce an unusual table wine that is dry yet has a strong Muscat flavor. Since 1985, the variety and quality of Lemnos wines have increased greatly.

The island's economically active population in 2001 was 6,602. Of them, 12% were employers, 20.5% self-employed, 55.3% wage-earners, 7.1% unpaid, auxiliary family members, and 5.1% did not declare line of occupation. Of the economically active population, 17.9% worked in agriculture, 5.3% in light manufacturing, 11% in construction, 6.7% in hotels and restaurants, and the rest in other lines of business.

better source needed] In 2001, the island had 12,116 regular dwellings, of which 65% were stone-built, and 90.2% had pitched roofs made of red tiles.[29]

Transport

The only airport is

Laurium, Thessaloniki and Kavala
.

Notable people

In popular culture

A slightly fictionalized Lemnos appears in the 2013 tactical shooter video game Arma 3 as the island of "Altis", part of the island country of the "Republic of Altis and Stratis". Altis is the main setting of the game, and originally kept the name "Lemnos" before an incident in 2012 between the game's developers and Greek authorities prompted the developers to rename the island. "Stratis", based on Agios Efstratios, is south of the island as it is in real life.

In God of War, at some point in the story Kratos finds a bottle of Lemnian wine, which he claims to come from Lemnos, a place close to where he was born. He eventually shares it with his son Atreus.[30]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2021, Μόνιμος Πληθυσμός κατά οικισμό" [Results of the 2021 Population - Housing Census, Permanent population by settlement] (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 March 2024.
  2. ^ a b "ΦΕΚ B 1292/2010, Kallikratis reform municipalities" (in Greek). Government Gazette.
  3. ^ "Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation)" (PDF) (in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-21.
  4. ISBN 978-1-136-78800-0
    .
  5. doi:10.1127/0941-2948/2006/0130
    . Retrieved January 29, 2013.
  6. ^ "Κλιματικά Δεδομένα ανά Πόλη- ΜΕΤΕΩΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΑ, ΕΜΥ, Εθνική Μετεωρολογική Υπηρεσία". www.emy.gr. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
  7. ^ "Limnos Island Climate Normals 1961-1990". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved January 29, 2013.
  8. ^ "Limnos Island Climate Averages 1974-2010". Hellenic National Meteorological Service. Retrieved December 9, 2020.
  9. ^ Bryant, Jacob (1807). A New System: Or, An Analysis of Antient Mythology. J. Walker. p. 420. Retrieved 12 August 2016 – via Internet Archive.
  10. ^ A short account of their excavations appeared in the Messager d'Athènes for January 3, 1927.
  11. ^ [1], Word study tool of ancient languages
  12. ^ Heffner, Edward H. "Archaeological News: Notes on Recent Archaeological Excavations and Discoveries; Other News" (July–December 1926). American Journal of Archaeology. Vol. 31, No. 1 (January 1927), pp. 99–127, especially pp. 123–124.
  13. ^ Homer. The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924: Il. 1.594.
  14. ^ Homer. The Odyssey. Rendered into English prose for the use of those who cannot read the original. Samuel Butler. Based on public domain edition, revised by Timothy Power and Gregory Nagy. A. C. Fifield, London. 1900: 8.5.
  15. ^ Thucydides. Historiae in two volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1942.
  16. ^ "Hephaistia". Pleiades, directory of Ancient Places. May 2019.
  17. ^ Appian, Mithridatic Wars, 11.77
  18. ^ Pliny the Elder, Natural History 12-37, 36.19.3
  19. ^
    ISBN 0-19-504652-8
    .
  20. ^
    ISBN 978-90-04-07819-2
    .
  21. ISBN 978-90-04-20323-5
    .
  22. ^
    ISBN 90-04-08265-4
    .
  23. ISBN 3-920153-56-1
    .
  24. ISBN 0521876885
    . pp. 42–43.
  25. ^ Ottoman military graveyard found on Greek island off Gallipoli
  26. ^ "Sand Dunes on the Greek Isle of Lemnos". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2022-05-12.
  27. ^ "Recognition of Protected Designation of Origin". World Intellectual Property Organization.
  28. ^ 2001 Census, National Statistical Service of Greece
  29. ^ 18.3.2001 Census, National Statistical Service of Greece
  30. ^ Kratos & Atreus Drink Wine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcba7Rvv8Y0

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lemnos.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Lemnos.
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