Greek Islands Portal

Lemnos lies south-west of Lesvos and south of Samothrace.
It has a strongly indented coastline with two deep bays, Moudros and Pournias, which almost divide the island in the middle.
It has an area of 476 square kilometers and 259 kilometers of coastline. It is a flat island, with a low hill, Skopia at the north-west (430 meters). Administratively, it forms, together with Agios Efstratios, the province of Lemnos within the prefecture of Lesvos.

As archaeological excavation has shown, the island was inhabited from the Neolithic period. It was called Aethalia and the most important city was Hephaesteia, which was named after the god Hephaestus, who was worshipped here.
It flourished in the Bronze Age.
During the Persian Wars it was conquered by the Persians, and afterwards became a member of the Athenian Confederacy, as conquered by the Macedonians and finally by the Romans.

The island was of great strategic importance during Byzantine times, because of its position on the entrance to the Vosporos.
In AD 267 it was destroyed by the Goths, and much later was plundered by pirates, who were eventually expelled from the area by the Byzantine fleet in AD 924.

During the Venetian occupation it prospered greatly.
After the Venetians, it was captured by the Turks (1458). The people of Lemnos fought in their own ships during the Greek War of Independence of 1821. The island was liberated in 1912.