Mithymna

For an archaeological site on Crete, see Methymna, Crete.

Mithymna Μήθυμνα
Location
Mithymna
Coordinates	39°22′N 26°10′E / 39.367°N 26.167°E / 39.367; 26.167Coordinates: 39°22′N 26°10′E / 39.367°N 26.167°E / 39.367; 26.167
Location within the peripheral unit
Government
Country:	Greece
Region:	North Aegean
Regional unit:	Lesbos
Municipality:	Lesbos
Population statistics (as of 2001)
Municipal unit
- Population:	2,433
- Area:	50.166 km2 (19 sq mi)
- Density:	48 /km2 (126 /sq mi)
Other
Time zone:	EET/EEST (UTC+2/3)
Elevation (center):	51 m (167 ft)
Postal:	811 08
Telephone:	22530
Auto:	MY
Website
mithymna.gr

Mithymna (Greek: Μήθυμνα, formerly also Molyvos) is a former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit.^[1] The second most important town of the island, it is located NE of Eressos, N of Plomari and NW of Mytilene.

Aerial photo of Mithymna.

View of the harbour.

Inside the fortress.

The town (pop. 1,497 at 2001 census) is on the northern part of the island, just some 6 km north of the popular beach town of Petra. One of the most noticeable features of the town is the old Genoese fortress on the hill in the middle of the town.

The municipal unit of Míthymna stretches eastward from the town along the northern part of the island; it is the island's smallest municipal unit in land area at 50.166 km². Its population was 2,433 at the 2001 census. The next largest towns in the municipal unit are Árgennos (pop. 240) and Sykaminéa (207).

History

As Methymna, the city was once the prosperous second city of Lesbos, with a founding myth that identified an eponymous Methymna (Greek: Μήθυμνα), the daughter of Macar and married to the personification of Lesbos; this mythologized social geography appears on the city's coinage [1].) In the Peloponnesian War, Methymna played an important role (Thucydides, III, ii, 18; vi, 85; vii, 57; Xenophon, Hellen., I, vi, 14). The poets praised the excellent wine of Methymna (Virgil, Georgics, II, 90; Ovid, Ars Amatoria, I, 57; Horace, Satire II, 8, 50; Odes, I, 17, 21). Methymna was the birthplace of the legendary poet Arion and probably also of the historian Myrsilus. Here was the shrine of the hero Palamedes, mentioned in the early third-century AD Life of Apollonius of Tyana (book v.13).

As a Christian city, Methymna was the seat of a bishop. In 640, Methymna was mentioned in the Ecthesis, pseudographically attributed to Epiphanius of Salamis, as an autocephalous archdiocese, and around 1084, it was made a metropolitan see under Alexius I Comnenus. The Fourth Crusade brought Latin control, on the strength of which the Roman Catholic Church maintains a purely titular see of Methymna; there were 40 Roman Catholics in 1908. (CE)

The fortress was probably constructed after the mid-13th century, as a defense against Franks and Turks alike.

The Ottomans took the city in 1462. As Molivo under the Ottoman Empire, the city was a kaza of the sanjak of Metelin in the vilayet of Rhodes. After the defeat of the Ottomans in the First Balkan War (1913), Greece annexed Lesbos in 1914.

Historical Population

Year	Village population	Municipality population
1981	1,427	-
1991	1,333	2,359
2001	1,497	2,433

Notable people

• Argyris Eftaliotis, poet and translator.

References

1. ^ Kallikratis law Greece Ministry of Interior (Greek)

External links

• Official website (English) (German) (Greek)
• Lesvos Photo Guide
• http://lesvos.com/molyvos.html
• Lesvos Calendars
• Methymna Fortress
• Ancient coinage of Methymna - Wildwinds | Asia Minor Coins
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Methymna (cited as CE)

See also

• Communities of the Lesbos prefecture