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Lesbos or Lesvos ( ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of , with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece and the eighth largest in the Mediterranean. It is separated from Anatolia by the narrow Mytilini Strait. On the southeastern coast is the island's capital and largest city, Mytilene (Μυτιλήνη), whose name is also used for the island as a whole. Lesbos is a separate regional unit with the seat in Mytilene, which is also the capital of the larger North Aegean region. The region includes the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Ikaria, Lemnos, and Samos. The total population of the island was 83,755 in 2021. A third of the island's inhabitants live in the capital, while the remainder are concentrated in small towns and villages. The largest are Plomari, Agia Paraskevi, Polichnitos, Agiassos, Eresos, Gera, and Molyvos (the ancient Mythimna).
According to later Greek writers, Mytilene was founded in the 11th century BC by the family Penthilidae, who arrived from Thessaly and ruled the city-state until a popular revolt (590–580 BC) led by Pittacus of Mytilene ended their rule. In fact, the archaeological and linguistic records may indicate a late Iron Age arrival of Greek settlers, although references in Late Bronze Age Hittite archives indicate a likely Greek presence then. According to Homer's Iliad, Lesbos was part of the kingdom of Priam, which was based in Anatolia. In the Middle Ages, it was under Byzantine Empire and then Genoese rule. Lesbos was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1462. The Ottomans then ruled the island until the First Balkan War in 1912, when it became part of the Kingdom of Greece.
In Modern Greek, the letter beta ⟨β⟩ is pronounced and transliterated as , thus producing the alternative form Lesvos. An older name for the island that was maintained in Aeolic Greek was Ἴσσα (Íssa). Pliny the Elder also refers to the island with the names ἱμερτή (, ) and Λασία (, often understood as ). In Greece, Lesbos is commonly referred to as Mytilene (Μυτιλήνη) after its capital. Some suggest that the name derives from the Anatolian root "muwa" meaning power, while others have suggested a link to the ancient Greek word μυτίλος ( mytilos), meaning mussel, or a type thereof.Ράπτης, Γεώργιος Α. (1993). "Λεξικό Ορθογραφικό-Ερμηνευτικό Της Αρχαίας Ελληνικής Γλώσσας". Εκδόσεις Κοντέος. p. 351.Babiniotis, Georgios. (2002) "Mytilene". In: " Babiniotis Dictionary" 2nd ed. p. 1159. The ending -ene appears to be the common Greek place name suffix ( -enos in Masculine gender) indicating provenance. The island is also sometimes called the "Island of the Poets", alluding to renowned native poets like Alcaeus and Sappho.
Lesbos is mentioned in two Hittite texts from the Late Bronze Age, a period during which the island appears to have been a dependent of the Seha River Land. The Manapa-Tarhunta letter recounts an incident in which a group of purple-dyers from Lesbos defected from the Sehan king. (2025). 9781589832688, Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 9781589832688
Two of the nine lyric poets in the Ancient Greek canon, Sappho and Alcaeus, were from Lesbos. Phanias wrote history. The seminal artistic creativity of those times brings to mind the myth of Orpheus to whom Apollo gave a lyre and the taught to play and sing. When Orpheus incurred the wrath of the god Dionysus he was dismembered by the Maenads and of his body parts his head and his lyre found their way to Lesbos where they have "remained" ever since. Pittacus was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. In classical times, Hellanicus advanced historiography and Theophrastus, the father of botany, succeeded Aristotle as the head of the Lyceum. Aristotle and Epicurus lived there for some time, and it is there that Aristotle began systematic zoological investigations.Harissis, H. 2017. 'The location of the euripus of Pyrrha in the works of Aristotle and Strabo'. Acta Classica 60.
Theophanes, the historian who recorded Pompey's campaigns, was also from Lesbos. As the Greek novel Daphnis and Chloe is set on Lesbos, the author, Longus, is usually assumed to be from the island. The abundant grey pottery ware found on the island and the worship of Cybele, the great mother-goddess of Anatolia, suggest the cultural continuity of the population from Neolithic times. When the Persian king Cyrus the Great defeated Croesus (546 BC) the Ionic Greek cities of Anatolia and the adjacent islands became Persian subjects and remained such until the Persians were defeated by the Greeks at the Battle of Salamis (480 BC). The island was governed by an oligarchy in Archaic Greece, followed by quasi-democracy in Classical Greece. Around this time, Arion developed the type of poem called dithyramb, the progenitor of tragedy, and Terpander invented the seven-note musical scale for the lyre. For a short period it was a member of the Delian League, its apostasy from which is recounted by Thucydides in the Mytilenian Debate, in Book III of his History of the Peloponnesian War. In Hellenistic times, the island belonged to various Diadochi until 79 BC when it passed into Roman Republic hands. Remnants of its Roman medieval history are three impressive castles. The cities of Mytilene and Methymna have been bishoprics since the 5th century. By the early 10th century, Mytilene had been raised to the status of a metropolitan see. Methymna achieved the same by the 12th century.
After the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) the island passed to the Latin Empire, but was reconquered by the Empire of Nicaea sometime after 1224. In 1354, it was granted as a dowry and fief to the Genoese Francesco I Gattilusio by the Byzantine emperor John V Palaiologos. The Gattilusio family ruled the island for over a century, engaging in fortifications at the Castle of Mytilene, Molyvos (ancient Methymna), and the fort of Agios Theodoros at the site of ancient Antissa.
In 1464, as part of the First Ottoman–Venetian War, the Venetians under Orsato Giustiniani occupied the fort of Agios Theodoros, but failed to capture the rest of the island, and destroyed the castle upon their withdrawal. Another attack occurred in 1474, when the Venetians under Pietro Mocenigo raided the island. During the Second Ottoman–Venetian War, a Venetian-led fleet of 200 ships besieged Mytilene, but the attack was defeated by Şehzade Korkut. His father, Sultan Bayezid II, then reinforced the Castle of Mytilene with artillery bastions.
The large majority of the island's population remained Greek Christian, although there was a sizeable Muslims community, formed from both immigrants and converts; from 7.4% of households in 1488, it rose to a peak of 19.45% in 1831 before starting to decline in relative terms, reaching 14% in 1892. The Islamization process peaked between 1602 and 1644. The Muslims lived throughout the island. Relations between the two communities were generally good, and Lesbians were often bilingual in both Greek language and Ottoman Turkish. During Ottoman rule, the compulsory devshirme system was implemented into the island, where the locals including Muslim landowners and the state representatives negotiated enlisting their teenagers into the Ottoman military by preventing some boys from being levied and sneaking others into the levied groups. For example, in the winter between 1603 and 1604, 105 boys were levied from the island and Lesvos was the only Island that the levy was implemented on the levy of this period.
Lesbos prospered from trade, and Mytilene was considered the busiest Ottoman port in the Aegean Sea. West European representatives are attested in the city already in 1700, acting as vice-consuls for the consulates in Smyrna. The island exported olives and olive oil, wheat, grapes, raisins and wine, figs, fish, dairy products, acorns, soap, leather and hides, pitch and livestock. Mytilene itself increased five-fold in population during the Ottoman period. A number of new mosques were erected in the city, and Hayreddin Barbarossa built a madrasa, dervish lodge, and imaret erected in his hometown. Many of the early Ottoman buildings, as well as the city walls, were destroyed in the earthquake of 1867. Mevlevi and Bektashi lodges are attested, since 1544 for the former, and since 1699 for the latter. Molyvos, which was the island's second city for most of the Ottoman period, also experienced growth, doubling in size; unlike Mytilene, the Muslim element came to predominate, and comprised over half the population by 1874. Mosques were built and fortifications were undertaken during the long Cretan War with Venice. But during the 19th century, the town declined rapidly in importance and number of inhabitants, a decline which continued to modern times. In the mid-18th century, the castle and settlement of Sigri were established to protect the western coast from pirate attacks.
The relative prosperity of the island—wealth was apparently concentrated among the Greek Christian bourgeoisie rather than the Muslim community—contributed to the island not taking part in the Greek War of Independence in 1821–1829. During the second half of the 19th century, this prosperity became evident in the construction of large and ornamented mansions and churches; the Muslims followed suit, employing the fashionable Neo-Classical and Neo-Gothic styles in their own renovations of their mosques, especially after the destructive 1867 earthquake. The Ottoman writer and liberal politician Namık Kemal served in the local administration in 1877–1884. In 1905, four European powers seized the customs and telegraph offices in the island to pressure the Ottoman government to accept their plan for an international commission that would supervise the provinces of Macedonia.
In the Greco-Turkish population exchange that followed World War I and the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922, the local Muslims left the island and Lesbos returned to a fully Greek Christian population, as it had been before the Ottoman era. In 1922, many Greek refugees of the war and the concurrent Greek genocide settled in Lesbos. These refugees were mostly women and children as the men were either fighting or had died in battle. A statue of a mother cradling her children named the "Statue of the Asia Minor Mother" was donated by the refugees and erected in Mytilene. Twenty years later, during World War II, Nazi Germany conducted an invasion of Greece and Yugoslavia, with both being defeated in 1941 and subsequently divided between the Axis Powers. Lesbos was occupied by Germany until 10 September 1944, when Greece was liberated.
The poet Odysseus Elytis, the descendant of an old family of Lesbos, received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1979.
In 2019, the head of the Lesbos chamber of commerce, Vangelis Mirsinias, told The Jakarta Post that the island's administration is trying to "woo back the tourists" and they "want to remind people of how beautiful" Lesbos is." He advocated for the European Union to help in advertising and also said, "The economy is still paying the impact of the crisis. It will need time and money to change this image." Lesbos is also a hotspot for Dutch people and one Dutch tourist said that tourism had halted because people "did not feel like seeing all this misery" of the refugees. One local told the publication that residents had become "fed up" and "people are angry towards the government and towards Europe: they told us not to worry, the camps won't last. But it's still there", whilst another business owner explained that he had lost a third of his business and "blames all the negative media attention" for the lack of tourists. The Jakarta Post also reported that tourists have increased in numbers in recent years, with 63,000 arriving in 2018. The COVID-19 pandemic has also damaged the island's tourism industry.
In April 2022, the Greek government announced a dedication of €2 million in restoring tourism in Lesbos and four other islands. In October 2022, it was announced that Lesbos would return to the cruise ship industry. Konstantinos Moutzouris, the governor of the North Aegean Region, which Lesbos is under, explained that the region's administration will run a study "in order to develop cruise tourism on the island." The deputy governor of tourism, Nikolaos Nyktas, believed that the cruise industry "suits the island and its culture", while the head of development for the project, Ioannis Bras, said that the island could "offer a lot to the cruise market".
In English and most other European languages, including Greek language, the term lesbian is commonly used to refer to homosexual women. This use of the term derives from the poems of Sappho, who was born in Lesbos and who wrote with powerful emotional content directed toward other women. Due to this association, the town of Eresos, her birthplace, is visited frequently by LGBT tourism.
The island is forested and mountainous with two large peaks, Mount Lepetymnos at and Mount Olympus at (not to be confused with Mount Olympus in Thessaly on the Greek mainland), dominating its northern and central sections. The island's volcanic origin is manifested in several and the two gulfs. Lesbos is verdant, aptly named Emerald Island, with a greater variety of flora than expected for the island's size. Eleven million cover 40% of the island, together with other fruit trees. Forests of Mediterranean , chestnut trees and some occupy 20%, and the remainder is scrubland, grassland or urban. The island is also one of the best in the world for bird watching.
This geopark was enlarged from former "Lesvos Petrified Forest Geopark". Lesbos contains one of the few known petrified wood, called the Petrified forest of Lesbos, and it has been declared a Protected Natural Monument. Fossilised plants have been found in many localities on the western parts of the island. The fossilised forest was formed during the Late Oligocene to Lower–Middle Miocene, as determined by the intense volcanic activity in the area. Neogene dominate the central and western part of the island, comprising , and , ignimbrite, Pyroclastic rock, , and volcanic ash. The products of the volcanic activity covered the vegetation of the area and the process took place during favourable conditions. The fossilized plants are silicified remnants of a sub-tropical forest that existed on the northwest part of the island 20–15 million years ago.
The municipality of Mytilene consists of the following municipal units (former municipalities):
The municipality of West Lesbos consists of the following municipal units:
On 9 September 2020, thousands of migrants fled from the overcrowded Moria camp after a fire broke out. At least 25 firefighters, with 10 engines, were battling the flames both inside and outside the facility. A smaller-scale facility, the Pikpa camp catered for a segment of the refugee population until its closure in October 2020, whereupon the occupants were transferred to the "old" Kara Tepe Refugee Camp. The eviction of Pikpa Open Refugee Camp Lesvos solidarity December 2020 Newsletter, accessed 25 May 2021
The Greek government maintains that the fires were started deliberately by migrants protesting that the camp had been put in lockdown due to a COVID-19 outbreak amongst the migrants in the camp. On 16 September 2020, four Afghan men were formally charged with arson for allegedly starting the fire. Two other migrants, both aged 17, which is below the age of full adult criminal responsibility in Greece, were also allegedly involved in starting the fire, and were held in police detention on the mainland.
After the closure of the Moria camp, a temporary facility was rapidly set up at Kara Tepe. The Greek government announced in November 2020 that a new closed reception centre will be built in the Vastria area near Nees Kydonies, on the border between Mytilene and Western Lesbos, and will be completed by late 2021.
| 87.5 MHz | Radio Kalloni | 1996 | News, Talk radio and Greek music |
| 88.2 MHz | Love Mitilini | 2003 | Easy listening |
| 90.0 MHz | Radio Mitilini | 1989 | Greek pop and rock music (formerly broadcast on 107.6) |
| 91.6 MHz | Rythmos Radio | 2005 | Greek pop music |
| 92.3 MHz | First Programme | 1938 | National; news and Talk radio; first station of Greek state radio |
| 92.8 MHz | Aeolos FM 92,8 | 1989 | Greek laïko-rebetiko-éntekhno music |
| 93.2 MHz | Astra FM 93,2 | 2000 | Greek music |
| 93.3 MHz | Foni tis Ecclesias | 2000 | Orthodoxy religious radio; rebroadcasting with Ecclesia FM 89,5 |
| 93.6 MHz | Intro Radio Lesvos | 2021 | Amateur radio with Greek pop music; located from Polichnitos |
| 94.3 MHz | Second Programme | 1952 | National; Greek music; second station of Greek state radio |
| 96.5 MHz | ERT Aegean | 1989 | News and Talk radio; Local station of Greek state radio |
| 96.8 MHz | Minore FM 96,8 | 1985 | Greek music: Pop music and Dance music |
| 97.2 MHz | Third Programme | 1954 | National; classical music; third station of Greek state radio |
| 97.6 MHz | Local 9,72 Mitilini | 1990 | News, Talk radio and music |
| 98.6 MHz | Best FM Lesvos | 1992 | Greek and foreign music |
| 99.0 MHz | Sto Nisi 99 FM | 2019 | News and Talk radio |
| 99.4 MHz | ERT Aegean | 1989 | News and Talk radio; Local station of Greek state radio |
| 99.8 MHz | SKAI Aegean | 2009 | News and Talk radio |
| 101.5 MHz | Slam 101.5 | 2019 | Foreign music |
| 103.0 MHz | ERT Aegean | 1989 | News and Talk radio; Local station of Greek state radio |
| 104.4 MHz | ERT Aegean | 1989 | News and Talk radio; Local station of Greek state radio |
| 104.8 MHz | Peiraiki Ecclesia | 1988 | Orthodoxy religious radio station by the Church of Piraeus |
| 105.8 MHz | Peiraiki Ecclesia | 1988 | Orthodoxy religious radio station by the Church of Piraeus |
| 105.9 MHz | ERT Aegean | 1989 | News and Talk radio; Local station of Greek state radio |
| Second Programme | 1952 | National; Greek music; second station of Greek state radio | |
| 106.4 MHz | Third Programme | 1954 | National; classical music; third station of Greek state radio |
| 106.9 MHz | SKAI Aegean | 2009 | News and Talk radio |
| 107.4 MHz | Peiraiki Ecclesia | 1988 | Orthodoxy religious radio station by the Church of Piraeus |
| 107.7 MHz | Radio Kalloni | 1996 | News, Talk radio and Greek music |
| 107.9 MHz | ERA Sport | 1993 | National; and Talk radio; fourth station of Greek state radio |
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