Editing Lemnos (section)

==Mythic Lemnos==
For ancient Greeks, the island was sacred to [[Hephaestus]], god of metallurgy, who—as he tells himself in ''[[Iliad]]'' I.590ff—fell on Lemnos when Zeus hurled him headlong out of [[Mount Olympus|Olympus]]. There, he was cared for by the [[Sinties]], according to ''Iliad'', or by [[Thetis]] (Apollodorus, ''Bibliotheca'' I:3.5), and there with a Thracian [[nymph]] Cabiro (a daughter of [[Proteus]]) he fathered a tribe called the [[Cabeiri|Kaberoi]]. Sacred initiatory rites dedicated to them were performed in the island. Its ancient capital was named [[Hephaistia]] in the god's honour.

Hephaestus' forge, which was located on Lemnos, as well as the name ''Aethaleia'', sometimes applied to it, points to its [[volcanic island|volcanic]] character. It is said that fire occasionally blazed forth from Mosychlos, one of its mountains. The ancient geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] relates that a small island called [[Chryse Island|Chryse]], off the Lemnian coast, was swallowed up by the sea. All volcanic action is now extinct.

The earliest inhabitants are said to have been a Thracian tribe, whom the Greeks called ''[[Sintians]]'', "robbers". The name ''Lemnos'' is said by [[Hecataeus of Miletus|Hecataeus]] to have been applied in the form of a title to [[Cybele]] among the [[Thrace|Thracians]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/anewsystemorana08bryagoog |title=A New System: Or, An Analysis of Antient Mythology |last=Bryant |author-link=Jacob Bryant |first=Jacob |page=[https://archive.org/details/anewsystemorana08bryagoog/page/n433 420] |publisher=J. Walker |year=1807 |access-date=12 August 2016 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> The worship of Cybele was characteristic of Thrace, where it had spread from [[Asia Minor]] at a very early period. Hypsipyle and Myrina (the name of one of the chief towns) are Amazon names, which are always connected with Asiatic Cybele-worship.

According to the epitome of the ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' traditionally attributed to Apollodorus (''Epitome'' I:9), when [[Dionysus]] found [[Ariadne]] abandoned on [[Naxos Island|Naxos]], he brought her to Lemnos and there fathered [[Thoas (king of Lemnos)|Thoas]], [[Staphylus (son of Dionysus)|Staphylus]], [[Oenopion]], and Peparethus. [[Pliny the Elder]] in his ''[[Pliny's Natural History|Natural History]]'' (xxxvi. 13) speaks of a remarkable [[labyrinth]] in Lemnos, which has not been identified in modern times.

According to a Hellenic legend, the women were all deserted by their husbands for Thracian women, and in revenge they murdered every man on the island. From this barbarous act, the expression ''[[Lemnian deeds]]'' became proverbial among the Hellenes. According to [[Apollonius of Rhodes]]' ''[[Argonautica]]'' the [[Argonauts]] landing soon after found only women in the island, ruled by [[Hypsipyle]], daughter of the old king Thoas. From the Argonauts and the Lemnian women were descended the race called [[Minyans]], whose king [[Euneus]], son of [[Jason]] and Hypsipyle, sent wine and provisions to the Achaeans at [[Troy]]. According to later Greek historians, the Minyans were expelled by a [[Pelasgians|Pelasgian]] tribe who came from [[Attica, Greece|Attica]].

The historical element underlying these traditions is probably that the original Thracian people were gradually brought into communication with the Greeks as navigation began to unite the scattered islands of the Aegean; the Thracian inhabitants were technologically primitive in comparison with the Greek mariners.

In another legend, [[Philoctetes]] was left on Lemnos by the Greeks on their way to Troy; and there he suffered ten years' agony from his wounded foot, until [[Odysseus]] and [[Neoptolemus]] induced him to accompany them to Troy. According to [[Sophocles]], he lived beside Mount Hermaeus, which [[Aeschylus]] makes one of the beacon points to flash the news of Troy's downfall home to [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]].