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

Lesbos 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 List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, eighth largest ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. 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 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

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 (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

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

Sappho Sappho (; ''Sapphṓ'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; ) was an Ancient Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by music. In ancient times, Sapph ...

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 (, "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 Kapodistrias), passed the Hellenic Parliamen ...

in 1997, with the capital at Pappados, covering a surface of 86.350 km2 (33.340 sq mi) and with a population of 5,592 in the 2021 census. Its largest towns are

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

, Palaiokipos, Mesagros,

Perama Perama () is a coastal town and a suburb of Piraeus and belongs to the Piraeus regional unit and is the southwestern limit of Athens urban area. It lies on the southwest edge of the Aegaleo mountains, on the Saronic Gulf coast. It is 8 km ...

, Pappados. It was again abolished in the 2010

Kallikratis reform The Kallikratis Programme () 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 country's administrative divisions following the 1997 Kapodistrias reform. ...

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

Mytilene Mytilene (; ) is the capital city, capital of the Greece, 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 the Aegean. It was fo ...

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

History

Geography and administration

Bay of Gera

Bibliography

References

External links