Lesbos (ancient world)
Lesbos, an island in the Aegean Sea off the west coast of Asia Minor, is noted for its rich historical and cultural significance in the ancient world. Known for its volcanic terrain and abundant hot springs, the island was home to a significant Bronze Age settlement at Thermi, which had ties to the ancient city of Troy. By around 1100 BCE, Aeolian immigrants settled on the island, claiming descent from Lesbos, a mythological figure associated with the wind-god Aeolus. The island was organized into a Pentapolis, which included five cities: Mytilene, Methymna, Eresus, Antissa, and Pyrrha. Mytilene emerged as the most prominent city, although it did not exert total control over the others.
Lesbos came under Roman rule in 191 BCE, following the defeat of Antissa due to its alliance with King Perseus of Macedon. The island later supported Mithridates VI of Pontus against Rome but eventually succumbed to complete Roman control. The island is also culturally significant, with the novel "Daphnis and Chloe," attributed to Longus in the early third century CE, depicting the idyllic pastoral life of its inhabitants. By the late Roman Empire, Lesbos was part of the province known as Insulae, and bishops from Mytilene and Methymna are documented from the fifth century onward, illustrating the island's continuing ecclesiastical importance.
Subject Terms
Lesbos (ancient world)
(recently often called Mitillini)
The largest of the Greek islands off the West (Aegean) coast of Asia Minor, at the entrance to the Gulf of Adramyttium (Edremid). Its southern coasts possessed two inlets with very narrow mouths cutting deep into the hills, the Gulfs of Pyrrhaeus Euripus (Kalloni) and Hiera (Yera). The island, of which the northern part consists of volcanic stone, abounds in hot springs. A significant Bronze Age settlement at Thermi, on the east coast, had close links with Troy; and Old Methymna (to the north), Pyrrha and Kourtir (on the Pyrrhaean Gulf to the south) have provided abundant Mycenaean remains. From c 1100 (?) a chief element in the population was provided by Aeolian immigrants, who traced their ancestry back to Lesbos, the mythological grandson of the wind-god Aeolus. The fertile soil and favorable climate of the island sustained a Pentapolis (group of five cities) comprising Mytilene—which, although far the strongest, never completely dominated the others—Methymna, Eresus (sw , famous for its wheat), Antissa (nw ), and Pyrrha.
In 191 Lesbos passed under the control of the Romans, who destroyed Antissa (because of its alliance with the Macedonian King Perseus) and gave its territory to Methymna (167/6). Lesbos joined the cause of Mithridates VI of Pontus against the Romans, who subsequently extended their control over the whole island. The Lesbian League coined under Marcus Aurelius (AD 161–80) and Commodus (180–92). At an uncertain epoch of the middle or later Principate (early third century?), Longus wrote his novel Daphnis and Chloe, which offers a vivid romantic picture of pastoral life on the island. In the late empire it belonged to the province of Insulae (the Islands). From the fifth century there is evidence of bishops of Mytilene and Methymna.