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LEMNOS (mod. Limnos)

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 413 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LEMNOS (mod. Limnos) , an See also:island in the See also:northern See also:part of the See also:Aegean See also:Sea. The See also:Italian See also:form of the name, Stalimene, i.e. is Tip Aiµvov, is not used in the island itself, but is commonly employed in See also:geographical See also:works. The island, which belongs to See also:Turkey, is of considerable See also:size: See also:Pliny says that the See also:coast-See also:line measured 1I21 See also:Roman See also:miles, and the See also:area has been estimated at 150 sq. m. See also:Great part is mountainous, but some very fertile valleys exist, to cultivate which 2000 yoke of oxen are employed. The See also:hill-sides afford pasture for 20,000 See also:sheep. No forests exist on the island; all See also:wood is brought from the coast of See also:Rumelia or from See also:Thasos. A few mulberry and See also:fruit trees grow, but no See also:olives. The See also:population is estimated by some as high as 27,000, of whom 2000 are See also:Turks and the See also:rest Greeks, but other authorities doubt whether it reaches more than See also:half this number. The See also:chief towns are Kastro on the western coast, with a population of 4000 Greeks and Soo Turks, and Mudros on the See also:southern coast. Kastro possesses an excellent See also:harbour, and is the seat of all the See also:trade carried on with the island. See also:Greek, See also:English and Dutch consuls or consular agents were formerly stationed there; but the whole trade is now in Greek hands.

The archbishops of Lemnos and Ai Strati, a small neighbouring island with 2000 inhabitants, resides in Kastro. In See also:

ancient times the island was sacred to See also:Hephaestus, who as the See also:legend tells See also:fell on Lemnos when his See also:father See also:Zeus hurled him headlong out of See also:Olympus. This See also:tale, as well as the name Aethaleia, sometimes applied to it, points to its volcanic See also:character. It is said that See also:fire occasionally blazed forth from Mosychlos, one of its mountains; and See also:Pausanias (viii. 33) relates that a small island called Chryse, off the Lemnian coast, was swallowed up by the sea. All volcanic See also:action is now See also:extinct. The most famous product of Lemnos is the medicinal See also:earth, which is still used by the natives. At one See also:time it was popular over western See also:Europe under the name terra sigillata. This name, like the Gr. Amaeta a4payyis, is derived from the See also:stamp impressed on each piece of the earth ; in ancient times the stamp was the See also:head of See also:Artemis. The Turks now believe that a See also:vase of this earth destroys the effect of any See also:poison drunk from it-a belief which the ancients attached rather to the earth from Cape Kolias in See also:Attica. See also:Galen went to see the digging up of this earth (see See also:Kuhn, Medic.

Gr. See also:

Opera, xii. 172 sq.) ; on one See also:day in each See also:year a priestess performed the due ceremonies, and a waggon-load of earth was dug out. At the See also:present time the day selected is the 6th of See also:August, the feast of See also:Christ the Saviour. Both the See also:Turkish hodja and the Greek See also:priest are present to perform the necessary ceremonies; the whole See also:process takes See also:place before daybreak. The earth is sold by apothecaries in stamped cubical blocks. The hill from which the earth is dug is a dry See also:mound, void of vegetation, beside the See also:village of Kotschinos, and about two See also:hours from the site of Hephaestia. The earth was considered in ancient times a. cure for old festering wounds, and for the bite of poisonous See also:snakes. The name Lemnos is said by Hecataeus (ap. Steph. Byz.) to have been a See also:title of See also:Cybele among the Thracians, and the earliest inhabitants are said to have been a Thracian tribe, called by the Greeks Sinties, i.e. " the robbers." According to a famous legend the See also:women were all deserted by their husbands, and in revenge murdered every See also:man on the island.

From this barbarous See also:

act, the expression Lemnian deeds, Ai7,ieia ipya, became proverbial. The See also:Argonauts landing soon after found only women in the island, ruled over by Hypsipyle, daughter of the old See also:king Thoas. From the Argonauts and the Lemnian women were descended the See also:race called Minyae, whose king Euneus, son of See also:Jason and Hypsipyle, sent See also:wine and provisions to the Greeks at See also:Troy. The Minyae were expelled by a Pelasgian tribe who came from Attica. The See also:historical See also:element underlying these traditions is probably that the See also:original Thracian See also:people were gradually brought into communication with the Greeks as See also:navigation began to unite the scattered islands of the Aegean (see JASON); the Thracian inhabitants were barbarians in comparison with the Greek mariners. The See also:worship of Cybele was characteristic of See also:Thrace, whither it spread from See also:Asia See also:Minor at a very See also:early See also:period, and it deserves See also:notice that Hypsipyle and Myrina (the name of one of the chief towns) are See also:Amazon names, which are always connected with See also:Asiatic Cybele-worship. Coming down to a better authenticated period, we find that Lemnos was conquered by Otanes, one of the generals of See also:Darius Hystaspis; but was soon reconquered by See also:Miltiades, the See also:tyrant Etudes critiques et biographiques (1862). He died in See also:Paris on of the Thracian See also:Chersonese. Miltiades afterwards returned to ! the 14th of See also:December 1892.

End of Article: LEMNOS (mod. Limnos)

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