Lesbos, << LEHZ bos, >> also spelled Lesvos, is a mountainous Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It covers 630 square miles (1,632 square kilometers) and has about 85,000 people. Mitilini (also spelled Mytilene) is its largest city. The entire island is sometimes called Mitilini. The economy of Lesbos is centered around agriculture. The island produces olives, olive oil, grapes, and tobacco. Other economic activities include tourism, soapmaking, and the quarrying of marble.
A local legend says that Lesbos’s people descend from the mythical Greek warrior Agamemnon. The legend says Agamemnon conquered Lesbos in the Trojan War, which probably took place about 1200 B.C. From the late 1100’s through the 900’s B.C., many Aeolians from mainland Greece moved to Lesbos. Lesbos was a cultural center from about 600 to 431 B.C. The poet Sappho lived there (see Sappho ). The Ottoman Empire, based in what is now Turkey, controlled Lesbos from 1462 until Greece annexed the island in 1913.
