Lemnos

Lemnos, a Turkish island in the northern part of the Ægean Sea, is situated 40 miles SE. of Mount Athos and about the same distance SW. of the Dardanelles. It is nearly split in two by a large bay on the south coast and another on the north coast. The interior consists of an undulating plateau. None of the hills exceed 1400 feet in height. Area, 180 sq. m.; pop. about 30,000, all Greeks, except 5000 Turks. The principal products are corn, wine, and tobacco. In antiquity and all through the middle ages the most notable product of the island was the 'Lemnian earth' or 'sealed earth,' which was in general request as an antidote against snake-bites, also as a remedy in cases of plague, dysentery, &c. It was extracted only on one day in the year, August 6, with an accompaniment of religious ceremonies, from a spot near the ruined site of the ancient city Hephæstia, in the north-east of the island. It has now gone out of repute, and very little is extracted every year. It consisted of silex to the extent of two parts in three, with some alumina, oxide of iron, water, and natron. In ancient times the island is stated to have possessed an active volcano; at the present date there exist no traces of volcanic action. Lesbos was regarded by the Greeks as sacred to Hephæstus. It was conquered by the Persians in the reign of Darius Hystaspes; but Miltiades wrested it from them for the Athenians. In 1657 it passed into the hands of the Turks, from the Venetians. The chief town is Kastro (the ancient Myrina), a fortified place on the west coast, with 3000 inhabitants. Lemnos is a place of banishment for Turkish political offenders. See Tozer's Islands of the Ægean (1890).