Hephaestia was a town of Ancient Greece, now an archeological site on the northern shore of Lemnos, Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea.

It was named in the honor of Hephaistos, Greek god of metallurgy, whose cult was maintained on the island. It was once the capital of the island (8th to 6th centuries BCE), of which only the ruins remain.

The Greek theater dates from between the late 5th and early 4th century BC. It underwent reconstruction from 2000 to 2004, and in 2010 the first theater play (Sophocles' Oedipus Rex) was played after 2500 years. The theatre has capacity of 200 people in the main area, and additional 1000 outside.

History

According to the historian Herodotus, the cities of the island of Lemnos, Hephaestia and Myrina, were inhabited by Pelasgians. These Pelasgians had promised to return the island to the Athenians if on any occasion Athenian ships, pushed by the north winds, managed to arrive in less than nine days from Athens to the island. Many years later, the Athenians under Miltiades the Younger made the crossing in eight days. The Pelasgian inhabitants of Hephaestia left the island but those of Myrina resisted and were besieged until they surrendered, around the year 500 BCE.

Enjoy the flight!