Lemnos

views updated May 14 2018

Lemnos a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea, where in Greek mythology Hephaestus is said to have fallen when thrown out of heaven; its extinct volcano was said to be his forge.

In later legend, Lemnos was associated with two massacres. Firstly, the women of Lemnos offended Aphrodite and in conseqence were deserted by their husbands; in revenge, they killed all the men on the island, and married the Argonauts who spent a year on Lemnos in their travels; their children became the next generation on the island. Secondly, the Pelasgians settled in Lemnos when driven out of Attica; they brought a number of captive Athenian women with them who bore their children. The children grew up speaking the Attic dialect with their mothers, and the Pelasgians grew suspicious of them: the women and children were murdered by them.