A Brief History
• The island is inhabited as of 3300 BC
• According to Homer, it is attacked repeatedly by the Achaeans over the course of the Trojan War (12th or 13th century BC)
• The Aeolians settle there in the 10th century BC
• During Archaic Times (7th-6th centuries BC) under Pittacus (589-579 BC), Lesvos and its capital Mytilene become an important commercial and cultural center
• 527-479 BC, the island falls into Persian hands
• Lesvos joins the Achaean League
• It is ruled in succession by the Macedonians, the Ptolemys, the Pontic king Mithridates (88-79 BC) and the Romans
• During the Byzantine Period it is invaded by the Slavs, Saracens and the Catalans
• Levos becomes part of the Latin Empire of Constantinople (1204-1247)
• 1354. Byzantine emperor Michael Palaeologus turns the island over to the Genovese in exchange for their assistance in reclaiming the Byzantine Empire from Frankish rule (1261)
• 1462. Lesvos is conquered by the Turks
• 1912. It is liberated from the Turks and incorporated into the Modern Greek State
• 1922. Ten years later, the Smyrna (Izmir) disaster brings a flood of refugees to the island after a formal population exchange with Turkey