Mytilene

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This city is not to be confused with a village in the island of Samos named "Mytilinioi"

Mytilene (Greek: Μυτιλήνη - Mytilíni) is the capital city of Lesbos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea, and the Lesbos Prefecture as well. It has a population of 27,247 (2001 census). Mytilene is linked with a highway numbered (GR-67) linking to Skala Eressou on the other side of the island of Lesbos. Farmlands surround Mytiline, the mountains cover the west and to the north. The airport is located a few kilometres south on the small highway. The city was called Midilli during Ottoman times.

Mytiline has a beautiful port with ferries to the nearby islands of Lemnos and Chios and Ayvalık in Turkey. The port also serves the mainland cities of Piraeus, Athens and Thessaloniki. One ship, named during the 2001 IAAF games in Edmonton Aeolos Kenteris, after Kostas Kenteris, used to serve this city (his hometown) with 6-hour routes from Athens and Thessaloniki. The main port serving Mytiline on the Greek mainland is Piraeus.

The Municipality of Mytilene is the administrative entity that surrounds the town of Mytilene. It is located in the southeastern part of the island, north and east of the Bay of Gera. It has a land area of 107.460 km² and a population of 36,196 inhabitants (2001). With a population density of 336.8/km² it is by far the most densely populated municipality in Lesbos Prefecture. The next largest towns in the municipality are Vareiá (pop. 1,254), Pámfila (1,247), Mória (1,207), and Loutrá (1,118).

Historical population

Year	Communal population	Change	Municipal population	Change
1981	24,991	-	-	-
1991	23,971	-1,020/-4.08%	33,157	-
2001	27,247	+3,276/+13.7%	-	-

Infrastructure

Mytilene has 16 primary schools, seven lyceums, eight gymnasiums, churches, two post offices, a municipal beach, a hospital, a few squares (plateies), and the University of the Aegean.

Archaeological excavations carried out between 1984-1994 in the medieval castle of Mytilene by the University of British Columbia and directed by Caroline and Hector Williams revealed a previously unknown sanctuary of Demeter and Kore of late classical/Hellenistic date and the burial chapel of the Gattelusi, the medieval Genoese family that ruled the northern Aegean from the mid 14th-mid 15th centuries of our era. Other excavations done jointly with the K' Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities near the North Harbour of the city uncovered a multiperiod site with remains extending from a late Ottoman cemetery (including a "vampire" burial, a middle aged man with 20 cm. spikes through his neck, middle and ankles) to a substantial Roman building constructed around a colonnaded courtyard to remains of Hellenistic structures and debris from different Hellenistic manufacturing processes (pottery, figurines, cloth making and dyeing, bronze and iron working) to archaic and classical levels with rich collections of Aeolic grey wares.

Mytilene is famous for its ouzo. There are more than 15 commercial producers on the island. Mytilene is known for and an exporter of sardines from the Bay of Kalloni.

Aristotle travled there for two years with his friend, Theophrastus before becoming the tutor to Alexander, son of King Amyntas of Mytilene.

Sporting teams

• Aiolikos

Famous people from Mytilene

• Eunicus, statuary and silversmith
• Christopher (11th century) poet
• Tériade (1889-1983) art critic, patron, and publisher
• Hermon di Giovanno (c. 1900-1968) painter
• Sappho, an Ancient Greek lyric poet famous for her writings on love affairs between women (lesbianism)
• Pittacus
• Alcaeus (Ancient Greek Poet)
• Oruç Reis (Ottoman-Turkish privateer and Bey of Algiers)
• Barbaros Hayreddin Pasha Ottoman-Turkish privateer and Bey of Algiers, brother of Oruç Reis)
• Tanburi Ali Efendi - 19th century Turkish composer
• Hüseyin Hilmi Pasha (Ottoman grand vizier)
• Cemal Pasha (Ottoman-Turkish soldier and politician),
• Odysseas Elytis (Literature Nobelist)
• Theophilos Hatzimihail (Folklore Painter)
• Kostas Kenteris (Greek athlete)

See also

• Communities of the Lesbos prefecture
• University of the Aegean

References

External links

• Official website
• Map and aerial photos:
• Street map: Street map from Mapquest, MapPoint or Google
• Satellite images: Google

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Last updated on Monday February 18, 2008 at 18:21:45 PST (GMT -0800)
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