Lesvos history and timeline

Lesbos, due to its rich hinterland and geographical location, was inhabited, as its rich archaeological findings demonstrate, from the depths of antiquity. The first organized societies developed approximately four thousand years ago and commercial relations with the regions of the East, the other islands of the Aegean and the wider Greek area began very early on. Lesvos, with its history since ancient times, with the multitude of poets, musicians, philosophers and legislators it gave birth to and promoted, was one of the great cultural and commercial centers of ancient Greece.

With its beautiful, gifted and richly diverse nature, its many traditional stone settlements, its strong economic and cultural history, which left behind hundreds of historical monuments and buildings. The nature and location of the island made it repeatedly the target of the powerful, but at the same time it contributed to the development of a special spiritual culture, which is represented by names such as Sappho, Arion, Pittakos, Alkaios, Terpandros, Theophrastus, Theophanes and a host of other poets, writers and philosophers.

The island changes rulers for centuries: Persians, Macedonians, Athenians, Spartans, Pontians. During the Hellenistic period, Lesvos was under the influence of Macedonian rule and later of the Ptolemies. In fact, in 88 BC, Lesbos sided with the king of Pontus, Mithridates, with the aim of expelling the Romans from the Aegean region, but the attempt failed and the island came under the rule of the Romans.

Alexander the Great freed the island from Persian rule, which later came under Roman occupation. During Byzantium, it became a place of exile for officials who fell out of favor with the Court, in 1355 it was granted to the hegemony of the Gateluzos and in 1462 it was taken over by the Turks.

The economy of Lesbos was for many centuries inextricably linked with the opposite coasts of Asia Minor, which due to the short distance also functioned as an inland region, with Smyrna as the “metropolis” of the region. From the middle of the last century to the first decades of our century, Lesvos experienced a rapid economic boom based on the olive monoculture.

The revival of the Lesbian olive grove both in varieties and in area (the olive grove increased tenfold), after the total destruction suffered in 1850 due to extremely adverse weather conditions, marks the beginning of a new era. Crafts and industries are organized, which process the products and by-products of the olive tree, and valuable commercial networks are created that channel the local products to the Balkans, Europe, the Far East, Asia Minor, North and Central Africa. Standardization and processing methods rival those of the International Market.

Lesvos becomes a gateway to the East, with Western standards, something that is sculpted on its culture. Buildings, churches, rich residences are built, which combine cultural elements of the West and the East. The island is internationalized and actively participates in the social, economic and cultural progress of the time. At the end of the 19th century, there is a great accumulation of wealth on the island, due to the expansion of trade. A Commercial Club already operates and later, in 1915, the Commercial Association of Mytilene is founded.

In 1919, the Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Mytilene was founded. From the 1912 date of liberation, until the Asia Minor disaster (1922), the gradual separation from Asia Minor takes place and the local economy turns towards Greece and its metropolitan center. In 1922, the wave of refugees, who came from a very advanced region, brought substantial changes to both the social and economic life of the place. A gradual shrinking of industrial production is observed, as a huge consumer market for the produced products of Lesvos was extinguished, while at the same time with the arrival of refugees, cheap labor is offered and new crops are created but the existing ones are also improved.

Since 1960, an effort has already begun to wean itself off the olive monoculture, the instability of whose production has led to a dramatic decrease in the island’s population. The shift is towards the development of tourism and the immediate need to create infrastructure in hotels, roads and transport within a wider climate of modernization that is taking shape with Greece’s entry into the European Union. immediate need to create infrastructure in hotels, roads and transportation within a wider climate of modernization that is formed with the entry of Greece into the European Union.

Timeline

Ancient times

The Pelasgians arrived on Lesbos in 3,300 BC, while around 1,400 BC, the Aeolians came from central Greece and around 1,000 BC. the Achaeans from the Peloponnese. The Achaeans are responsible for the establishment of the “Lesbian hexapolis”, which consisted of Mytilene, Antissa, Pyrrha, Arisvi, Mithymna and Eresos.

Mytilini, after managing to overcome at the end of the 7th century BC. the internal conflicts, in which the poet Alkaios also took part, thanks to the wise Pittacus, it acquires a democratic state and political stability, which allows it to develop into a strong naval force and then dominate the other cities of the island. In 570 BC the Mytileneans are the only Aeolians who take part in the colonization of Naukratis in Egypt.

Persian Wars

From the end of the 6th c. BC, during the reign of Cyrus, Lesvos becomes vassal to the Persians and is obliged to follow them in their campaigns. After the end of the Persian wars and the victory of the Greeks, the Lesbian cities became members of the First Athenian Alliance and later took an active part in the events of the Peloponnesian war.

In 428 BC the defection of the Mytileneans from the First Athenian Alliance resulted in the slaughter of the male population of the city and the exanderopodization of the civilian population.

The development of lyric poetry

Mytilini is a “lyrical” island, letters and especially poetry, flourished on the island since early antiquity. According to mythology, in Lesvos the wave took out the head of Orpheus and his lyre, after he was killed by the maenads in Thrace. In fact, the same myth mentions that the severed head of Orpheus continued to sing, while the lyre was said to be hanging in the temple of Apollo in Mytilene.

Lesvos, however, also nurtured the founders of lyric poetry, Alkaios and Sappho. Alkaios, who in addition to symposia poems, also wrote political ones, was exiled because of his political activity in Pyrrha, Lydia and Egypt. Sappho, who was born in Eresso, also got involved in politics, was exiled to Sicily and returned to open a dance and music school in Mytilene.

Roman rule

The Roman rule brought a great economic boom to the island and the indicators of prosperity on the island can be seen both from the rich buildings with magnificent mosaics, and from the public works that were built at the same time, such as the ancient theater of Mytilene, which will impress the Roman emperor Pompey, and the aqueduct in Moria, which will supply water to the capital of Lesbos.

Byzantine period

The prosperity of the island continued in the early Christian years, as evidenced by the existence of the two bishoprics, Mytilene and Mithymni. During the Byzantine period, Lesvos belonged administratively to the island province with Rhodes as its capital, while after the thematic organization of the empire, Lesvos joined the naval “theme” of Samos, continuing to enjoy the privileges and protection of the emperors and flourishing until 8th century, when the devastating barbarian raids begin.

However, throughout the period of the Byzantine Empire, the island was used as a place of accommodation for official exiles such as Empress Irene, Patriarch Ignatius Ragaves, Constantine Monomachos, Leo Kouropalatis and others.

The rule of the Gatelouzo family

With the decline of Byzantium, it was attacked by Turks, Venetians and Saracens. In 1355, the emperor John V Palaiologos granted the island as a dowry to the Genoese Franciscan Gatelouzo, whose family would rule the island for 107 years, making its hegemony one of the most important in the East.

The Genoese rulers governed wisely, respecting the religion and customs of the local population and contributed to the economic development of the island. After all, the Gateluzi passed through Lesbos more as “commercial agents” than as conquerors, as they used the island as a base for their commercial missions. Then the castle of Mytilene was built, which has survived to this day.

Turkish rule

After the fall of Constantinople, in 1462 Mohammed II with a strong naval force laid siege to Mytilene, which, after 16 days of resistance, surrendered and, despite the efforts during the Greek Revolution of 1821, remained in their hands until November 8, 1912.

During the first period of the Turkish rule, the population decreased significantly, as after the occupation of the island 10,000 Lesbians were transferred to Constantinople to strengthen its population, as part of the policy of the Ottoman Empire. In fact, the repeated attempts of the West to occupy the island, due to its strategic position, had the effect of intensifying the cruelty on the part of the Turks.

These trials, however, did not dampen the morale of the inhabitants and the contribution of the Lesbians was particularly important in the operations of the Peloponnese and Central Greece during the revolution of 1821. An administrative reform of the Ottoman Empire in 1839 abolished the monopoly of the Nazirites in the trade of of local products, which resulted in the island starting to flourish again economically

Liberation & Asia Minor Destruction

Throughout the Revolution, the island, in the maritime area of Lesvos, many naval operations were conducted, such as in Eresos in 1821 and 1824 and in the straits of Lesvos and Asia Minor in 1826. Finally, on November 8, 1912, Admiral Kountouriotis with the Greek fleet occupies the city of Mytilene and a month later the whole of Lesbos is liberated. The island, however, was definitively ceded to Greece with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

After the Asia Minor disaster of 1922, approximately 24,000 refugees settled permanently on the island. The mass arrival of refugees reorganized the social structures and the distribution of the population, while it led the island to an economic boom due to the knowledge that the refugees brought to all sectors of economic activity.

The German occupation & the civil war

In 1941 the island was handed over to the German invaders and its liberation came three years later, in 1944, after 3 years of hunger and misery. The continuation of the civil war, the political persecutions and the complete economic hardship lead to a large wave of internal and external migration, resulting in the reduction of the population and the desolation of several settlements on the island.