Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: How large is the island of Lesbos?
Lesbos (/ˈlɛzbɒs/, US: /ˈlɛzboʊs/; Greek: Λέσβος Lesbos, pronounced[ˈlezvos]) is an island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of 1,633km2 (631sqmi)[1] with 320 kilometres (199 miles) of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Turkey by the narrow Mytilini Strait and in late Palaeolithic/Mesolithic times[2] was joined to the Anatolian mainland before the end of the last glacial period.
Agios Isidoros () is a village in the municipal unit of Plomari, Lesbos Island, Greece. It is located just one kilometer outside the town of Plomari, South Lesbos. It has a pebbled beach which is one of the longest in Lesbos and voted as the 7th best beach in Greece due to the safety provided, the clean water and care for the environment.
It has been designated as a protected natural monument. The petrified forest of Lesbos was formed from the fossilized remains of plants, which can be found in many localities on the western part of Lesbos Island. The area enclosed by the villages of Eressos, Antissa and Sigri is very dense in fossilized tree trunks and forms the Petrified Forest of Lesbos, which is managed by the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest. Isolated plant fossils can be found in many other parts of the island, including the villages of Molyvos, Polichnitos, Plomari and Akrasi.
While a blinded Misia ends up on the island of Lesbos and taken under the sibyl Sophia ("The Island of Holy Poets - Lesbos"), Elef becomes an apprentice to the blind poet Milos, joining him in his travels until they come upon the ruins of the youth's home. Milos then releases Elef from his service and advises him to go to Lesbos where "an old friend" resides who could ease his heart ("Towards the Other Side of the Distant Horizon - Horizontas").
Plomari () is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is the only sizable coastal settlement in the south, and the second largest town on Lesbos. The municipal unit of Plomari is the southernmost on Lesbos island and has a land area of 122.452 km² and a 2011 census population of 5,602. Its largest towns or villages are Plomári, the former municipal seat (pop. 2,996), Plagiá (529), Palaiochóri (314), Megalochóri (325), and Akrási (214).
The "gay" connotation of the term is considered offensive to many Lesbos islanders to such a degree that, in 2008, a group of Lesbos islanders litigated unsuccessfully a court case against the LGBT community of Greece. The islander group had requested a legal injunction to ban groups from using the word lesbian in their names, which the petitioners claim violated their human rights as it is "insulting" and disgraces them around the world.[17][18]
Lesbos wine is wine made on the Greek island of Lesbos in the Aegean Sea. The island has a long history of winemaking dating back to at least the 7th century BC when it was mentioned in the works of Homer. During this time the area competed with the wines of Chios for the Greek market. An apocryphal account details one of the brothers of the poet Sappho as a merchant trading Lesbos wine with the Greek colony of Naucratis in Egypt. The most noted Lesbos wine was known as "Pramnian" which draws similarities today to the Hungarian wine Eszencia. The popularity of Lesbos wine continued into Roman times where it was highly valued along with other Aegean wines of Chios, Thasos and Kos.
Gera or Yera () is a town on the Aegean island of Lesbos in Greece. 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 mentions a Lesbian city called Hiera, which was abandoned before his time.
In Roman mythology, Epopeus (; 'all-seer', derived from "epopao" "to look out", "observe", from "epi" "over" and "ops" "eye"), was a king of Lesbos (the large island in the Aegean Sea opposite the coast of Asia Minor) who committed incest with his daughter Nyctimene.
Lesbos Prefecture () was one of the prefectures of Greece. It comprised three main islands: Lesbos itself, Lemnos, and the smaller island of Agios Efstratios. Its capital was the town of Mytilene, on Lesbos. In 2011 the prefecture was abolished and the territory was divided between the regional units of Lesbos and Lemnos."Note:" Provinces no longer hold any legal status in Greece.
Macareus fled to Lesbos, where he became king, and took over many of the neighboring islands. Lesbos, son of Lapithes and grandson of Aeolus, after whom the island came to be named, married Macareus' daughter, Methymna (eponym of Methymna, a city at Lesbos); alternately, Methymna married Lepetymnus, eponym of a mountain on Lesbos, and had by him two sons, Hicetaon and Hypsipylus, who were slain by Achilles during the sack of the city of Methymna. Among Macareus' other daughters were Mytilene, Agamede, Antissa, and Arisbe, all eponyms of cities at Lesbos. His sons were entrusted by him the leadership of the colonies he founded on the neighbouring islands: Cydrolaus was sent to Samos, Neandrus to Cos, Leucippus to Rhodes (where the colonists mixed with the local population), and an unnamed son to Chios. Yet another son of Macareus, Eresus, gave his name to a town on Lesbos (modern Eresos).
Lesbos is a separate regional unit of the North Aegean region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, the regional unit Lesbos was created out of part of the former Lesbos Prefecture. At the same reform, the current municipality of Lesbos was created out of the 13 former municipalities on the island:[14]
In Algernon Charles Swinburne's 1866 poem "Sapphics", the term "lesbian" appears twice but capitalized both times after twice mentioning the island of Lesbos, and so could be construed to mean 'from the island of Lesbos'. In 1875, George Saintsbury, in writing about Baudelaire's poetry refers to his "Lesbian studies" in which he includes his poem about "the passion of Delphine" which is a poem simply about love between two women which does not mention the island of Lesbos, though the other poem alluded to, entitled "Lesbos", does. "Lesbianism", to describe erotic relationships between women, had been documented in 1870. In 1890, the term "lesbian" was used in a medical dictionary as an adjective to describe tribadism (as "lesbian love"). The terms "lesbian", "invert" and "homosexual" were interchangeable with "sapphist" and "sapphism" around the turn of the 20th century. The use of "lesbian" in medical literature became prominent; by 1925, the word was recorded as a noun to mean the female equivalent of a sodomite.
The 2017 Lesbos earthquake occurred at 12:28:39 UTC on 12 June. The earthquake's epicentre was 5 km south of Plomari on the Greek island of Lesbos off the Aegean coast of Turkey. It had a magnitude of 6.3 on the moment magnitude scale and a maximum perceived intensity of IX ("Violent") on the Mercalli intensity scale. Extensive damage was caused on parts of southern Lesbos, where there was one fatality and 10 people were injured. The earthquake was also felt in Turkey but no significant damage or injuries were reported.
Until the Kallikratis reform, the region consisted of the three prefectures of Samos, Chios and Lesbos. Since 1 January 2011 it is divided into five regional units, formed around: Chios, Ikaria, Lemnos, Lesbos and Samos. The total number of islands in the North Aegean region are nine: Lesbos, Chios, Psara, Oinousses, Ikaria, Fournoi Korseon, Lemnos, Agios Efstratios and Samos.
The Fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the young and ambitious Ottoman sultan Mehmed II was a turning point for the wider region. The Gattilusi took advantage of the event to seize the island of Lemnos, but the Sultan now demanded of the rulers of Lesbos an annual tribute of 3,000 gold coins, and a further 2,325 gold coins for Lemnos. The position of vassalage was confirmed in 1455, when an Ottoman fleet under Hamza Bey toured the islands of the eastern Aegean: Domenico Gattilusio, the ruler of Lesbos, sent his Greek secretary, the historian Doukas, to meet the fleet with rich gifts and protestations of friendship and devotion. Domenico had recently succeeded his father; when he sent Doukas to the Sultan with the usual tribute shortly after Hamza's visit, Doukas was met with the demand that Domenico himself come before Mehmed to have his succession confirmed. Domenico complied, but was forced to cede Thasos, accept an increase in the tribute for Lesbos to 4,000 gold coins, and undertake to pursue the Catalan pirates that infested the Anatolian shore opposite Lesbos.
The 1st-century Roman historian and naturalist Pliny the Elder recorded the existence of an ancient city on Lesbos known as Hiera. Scholars argue that the name is derived from the Greek goddess Hera, and there is evidence that the island of Lesbos followed the cult of Hera during the time of Sappho around the 7th century B.C.
Petra (Greek: Πέτρα meaning rock) is a former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is located at the northwest of Lesbos and comprises the villages Petra, Skoutaros, Stypsi, Lafionas, Ypsilometopo and the settlements Petri and Anaxos.
Mytilene ( "" ) is a city founded in the 11th century BC. Mytilene is the capital city and port of the island of Lesbos and also the capital of the North Aegean Region. The seat of the governor of the North Aegean Region is Mytilene. Mytilene is also one of 13 municipalities (counties) on the island of Lesbos. Mytilene is built on the southeast edge of the island. It is also the seat of a metropolitan bishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
George was born in c. 776 into a wealthy family on the coast of Anatolia, opposite the island of Lesbos. Following his parents' death, George donated his inheritance to the poor and, at age eighteen, became a monk at a local monastery, where he resided for two years. He later moved to the island of Lesbos and became an ascetic. George gained renown for his piety and after the death of the bishop of the island, was chosen by the people of Lesbos to succeed him, and was ordained Archbishop of Mytilene in 804.
In the beginning of the 19th century the spread of phylloxera to Lesbos as well as the island's specialization in ouzo led to the stagnation of Lesbian wine production. After this point in time, wine was only privately produced on the island by farmers, until 1997, when Methymnaeos, the first winery producing bottled wine in the history of Lesbos, began operations in the village of Chidira. Methymnaeos solely produces organic wine made exclusively from the revived "Chidiriotiko" grape variety of the island. This variety, saved from extinction by phylloxera because of its use by the winery, is cultivated on the sulfuric lava which formed the Petrified Forest of Lesbos. This soil favors organic farming. The resulting organic wine has a rather distinct taste, characteristic of modern Lesbos Wine and attributable both to the unique Chidiriotiko grape variety of the island and to the terroir where it is grown.
Sigri is a small fishing village near the western tip of Lesbos Island. Its name derives through Greek σίγουρος from the Venetian word "siguro", meaning "safe", based on the fact that it has a safe harbour. Sigri has a Turkish castle, built in 1746 during the Ottoman occupation, which looks over the bay and the long island of Nissiopi, which stretches across the mouth of the bay and acts as a buffer to the prevailing winds. The port of Sigri is able to accommodate large vessels, even cruise ship-size ferry boats coming from the mainline. Almost all shipping to Lesbos, however, comes into the east of the island.
This is a list of settlements in the island of Lesbos in Greece:
Agia Marina () is village on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality of Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit.
Lesbos is also the name of a regional unit of the North Aegean region, within which Lesbos island is one of five governing islands. The others are Chios, Ikaria, Lemnos, and Samos. The North Aegean region governs nine inhabited islands: Lesbos, Chios, Psara, Oinousses, Ikaria, Fournoi Korseon, Lemnos, Agios Efstratios and Samos. The capital of the North Aegean Region is Mytilene. The population of Lesbos is approximately 86,000, a third of whom live in its capital, Mytilene, in the southeastern part of the island. The remaining population is distributed in small towns and villages. The largest are Plomari, Kalloni, the Gera Villages, Agiassos, Eresos, and Molyvos (the ancient Mythimna).