Hephaestia, Lemnos: Where fire was born

The town of the same name was built on the north side of Pournias Bay, and was the second most significant town in Lemnos in historical times, owing its prosperity to its two ports – one natural and one artificial – that made it a maritime junction between Thrace, Macedonia and the Hellespont.

Its heyday occurred from the 7th to the 1st century BC, after which its population began declining, following the Athenian conquest of Lemnos during the Classical period. It was however continuously inhabited until the Byzantine period.

One of the most important monuments unearthed by archaeological excavations is the Sanctuary of the Great Goddess, the Agora, the pottery workshops, the necropoleis, the 4th-century BC baths and the Theater of Hephaistia, built on a natural slope of the peninsula. Its construction probably dates to the early Hellenistic period, but it underwent several modifications during the Roman era.

Its theatre, classified among the oldest in the Greek world, has been restored and has been hosting drama festivals, concerts and performances in the heart of this vibrant archaeological site since 2010.