Hephaestia and Hephaistia ( grc, Ἡφαιστία), or Hephaestias or Hephaistias (Ἡφαιστίας), was a town of Ancient Greece, now an

archeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...

on the northern shore of Lemnos, Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. It was named in the honor of Hephaistos, Greek god of metallurgy, whose cult was maintained on the island. It was once the capital of the island (8th to 6th centuries BCE), of which only the ruins remain. The Greek theater dates from between the late 5th and early 4th century BCE. It underwent reconstruction from 2000 to 2004, and in 2010 the first theater play ( Sophocles' ''

Oedipus Rex ''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' ( grc, Οἰδίπους Τύραννος, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles that was first performed around 429 BC. Originally, to the ancient Gr ...

'') was played after 2,500 years. The theatre has capacity of 200 people in the main area, and additional 1,000 outside.

History

According to the historian Herodotus, the cities of the island of Lemnos, Hephaestia and Myrina, were inhabited by

Pelasgians The name Pelasgians ( grc, Πελασγοί, ''Pelasgoí'', singular: Πελασγός, ''Pelasgós'') was used by classical Greek writers to refer either to the predecessors of the Greeks, or to all the inhabitants of Greece before the emergenc ...

. These Pelasgians had promised to return the island to the

Athenians Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

if on any occasion Athenian ships, pushed by the north winds, managed to arrive in less than nine days from Athens to the island. Many years later, the Athenians under

Miltiades the Younger Miltiades (; grc-gre, Μιλτιάδης; c. 550 – 489 BC), also known as Miltiades the Younger, was a Greek Athenian citizen known mostly for his role in the Battle of Marathon, as well as for his downfall afterwards. He was the son of Cimon C ...

made the crossing in eight days. The Pelasgian inhabitants of Hephaestia left the island but those of Myrina resisted and were besieged until they surrendered, around the year 500 BCE. The town was recorded by later writers, including Pliny the Elder, Ptolemy, and

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethni ...

. Coins of Hephaestia survive.

Discovery

In August and September 1926, members of the Italian School of Archaeology at Athens conducted trial excavations on the island. The overall purpose of the excavations was to shed light on the island's "Etrusco-Pelasgian" civilization. The excavations were conducted on the site of the city of Hephaistia (i.e. Palaiopolis) where the Pelasgians, according to Herodotus, surrendered to

Miltiades Miltiades (; grc-gre, Μιλτιάδης; c. 550 – 489 BC), also known as Miltiades the Younger, was a Greek Athenian citizen known mostly for his role in the Battle of Marathon, as well as for his downfall afterwards. He was the son of Cimon C ...

of Athens. There, a

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

() was discovered, revealing bronze objects, pots, and over 130 ossuaries. The ossuaries contained distinctly male and female funeral ornaments. Male ossuaries contained knives and axes whereas female ossuaries contained earrings, bronze pins, necklaces, gold-diadems, and bracelets. The decorations on some of the gold objects contained spirals of Mycenaean origin, but had no Geometric forms. According to their ornamentation, the pots discovered at the site were from the Geometric period. However, the pots also preserved spirals indicative of Mycenaean art. The results of the excavations indicate that the Early Iron Age inhabitants of Lemnos could be a remnant of a Mycenaean population and, in addition, the earliest attested refer to Lemnos is the Mycenaean Greek ''ra-mi-ni-ja'', "Lemnian woman", written in

Linear B Linear B was a syllabic script used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries. The oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1400 BC. It is descended from ...

syllabic script.Palaeolexicon
Word study tool of ancient languages

References

External links

1926 archaeological discoveries Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Greece Cities in ancient Greece Buildings and structures in the North Aegean Theatres in Greece Populated places in the ancient Aegean islands Former populated places in Greece Ancient Lemnos Hephaestus Pelasgians {{Greece-archaeology-stub