History
Ancient History
Lesbos, located on a crucial crossroad between East and West, was in antiqui-
ty the epicenter of the Aeolic civilization. On the island, throughout Greek and
Roman antiquity, flourished several autonomous city-states, including Myt-
ilene, Methymna and Eresos. Lesbos is known as the homeland of renowned
poets, philosophers, and politicians, such as Pittacus, Sappho and Alcaeus,
Theophrastus and Potamon. The city states of Lesbos together with Phocea
founded the first monetary union of the world with common coinage which
dates back to the 7th Century B.C. Aristotle who lived for almost three years
in Lesbos (before becoming the teacher of Alexander the Great), along with
his pupil Theofrastus, a native Lesvian, founded the sciences of zoology and