Homer refers to Lesvos in the Iliad and Odyssey. This is where Menelaos, Diomedes and Ulysses met, after the siege of Troy, to decide how they should return to their homelands after the war. Based on archaeological findings evidence, the island had developed a culture corresponding to that of the Trojans or the Mycenaeans. An extraordinary artistic blossoming took place on Lesvos during ancient times. The famous singer, guitar-player and poet Arion (625-585 BC) was born in Mythimna (Molyvos). Arion reformed dithyramb (a rythmic art of poetry) and contributed to the development of tragedy. The great musician and creator of choral poetry, Terpandros, was born in Antissa in 710 BC. Searching for a more complex musical form, he developed the four-stringed guitar of the time into the seven-stringed guitar.
Lesvos is the homeland of two celebrated people of particular glory in the ancient world, Sappho and Alkaios. They lived during the 6th century BC and were the two most important representatives of aeolian melodic poetry.
World-famous Sappho was born in Eressos about 612 BC and she is remembered till today for her passion, her sensitivity and the subtle lyrical resonance of her poetry. The Syracuseans made a statue of her, while in Lesvos there were coins depicting her face bearing the inscription ’Sappho the Lesbian’.
The popular painter Theofilos lived in Mytilini. Theofilos, who is known as Evzone because of the picturesque fustanella (dress) he wore, was born in 1873 at Varia, near Mytilini and lived a life of deprivation and creation. He died in 1934. For his primitive compositions he used a special natural substance in the mixture of paints which gave his paintings solidity and brilliance. He painted on walls in cafenions, houses, chapels and anywhere else to earn his living and many times without any reward, just for a glass of wine or ouzo.
Theofilos was recognised after his death in the artistic world and some of his works have been exhibited in the museum of Louvre. Today, the museum of Theofilos paintings is located in the capital of Lesvos, in the suburb of Varia and exhibits many of his paintings.
Famous writers from Lesvos include Argiris Eftaliotis, Ilias Venezis, G. Valetas and Stratis Mirivilis, whose well known book ’The mermaid Madonna’ is based in Skala Sykaminia fishing port.
The island of Lesvos gives an impression of soft light and mild chiaroscuro, emerging from the arms of the sea and balancing on the water in a mixture of legend and truth. It is as if time, through a sense of responsibility and respect, stopped in the face of such beauty and left intact this land in worship of the gods of joy and sun. The murmur of the music of Alkaios is still heard in the splendid nature of this divine island.
