Gera or Yera ( el, Γέρα) is a town on the Aegean island of

Lesbos Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) 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. It is separated from Anatolia, Asia Minor ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. It once stood as one of the largest ports of the island. According to scholars the ancient name may have been Portus Hieraeus;

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

mentions a Lesbian city called Hiera, which was abandoned before his time.Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854)
accessed August 7, 2014

History

The 1st-century Roman historian and naturalist

recorded the existence of an ancient city on

known as Hiera. Scholars argue that the name is derived from the Greek goddess

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; grc-gre, Ἥρα, Hḗrā; grc, Ἥρη, Hḗrē, label=none in Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she ...

, and there is evidence that the island of Lesbos followed the cult of Hera during the time of

Sappho Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her Greek lyric, lyric poetry, written to be sung while ...

around the 7th century B.C.Robbins, Emmet "Thalia Delighting in Song: Essays on Ancient Greek Poetry" University of Toronto Press. 2013

Geography and administration

The Municipality of Gera was established with the

Kapodistrias reform Kapodistrias reform ( el, Σχέδιο Καποδίστριας, "Kapodistrias Plan") is the common name of law 2539 of Greece, which reorganised the country's administrative divisions. The law, named after 19th-century Greek statesman Ioannis Kapod ...

in 1997, with the capital at Pappados, covering a surface of 86.350 km2 (33.340 sq mi) and with a population of 6,101 in the 2011 census. Its largest towns are

Skopelos Skopelos ( el, Σκόπελος, ) is a Greek island in the western Aegean Sea. Skopelos is one of several islands which comprise the Northern Sporades island group, which lies east of the Pelion peninsula on the mainland and north of the island ...

(1,530), Palaiokipos (976), Mesagros (631),

Perama Perama ( el, Πέραμα) is a suburb of Piraeus. It is part of Athens urban area and belogs to the Piraeus regional unit. It lies on the southwest edge of the Aegaleo mountains, on the Saronic Gulf coast. It is 8 km northwest of Piraeus, ...

(726), Pappados (pop. 1,442). It was again abolished in the 2010

Kallikratis reform The Kallikratis Programme ( el, Πρόγραμμα Καλλικράτης, Prógramma Kallikrátis) is the common name of Greek law 3852/2010 of 2010, a major administrative reform in Greece. It brought about the second major reform of the count ...

. Since the 2019 local government reform, it is part of the municipality

Mytilene Mytilene (; el, Μυτιλήνη, Mytilíni ; tr, Midilli) is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University of ...

Bay of Gera

The Bay of Gera is a wider area of Lesbos, with the main port today at

. The name has changed throughout history, and has been variously called Ieremidia, Gieremia, Geremia, Lichremadia, Maliae, Iero, Hiera, Giera, Keramia, Iera, Gera, Eleon, Olivier.
Ο Κόλπος Γέρας και οι υφάλμυρες υγρές περιοχές του σε κίνδυνο

External links

Official website

Bibliography

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References

{{Mytilene div Populated places in Lesbos