Lemnos

, an island in the Ægean sea between Tenedos, Imbros, and Samothrace. It was sacred to Vulcan, called Lemnius pater , who fell there when kicked down from heaven by Jupiter. See: Vulcan us . It was celebrated for two horrible ma acres; that of the Lemnian women murdering their husbands [ See: ♦ Hypsipyle ], and that of the Lemnians, or Pelasgi, in killing all the children they had had by some A then i an women, whom they had carried away to become their wives. These two acts of cruelty have given rise to the proverb of Lemnian actions , which is applied to all barbarous and inhuman deeds. The first inhabitants of Lemnos were the Pelasgi, or rather the Thracians, who were murdered by their wives. After them came the children of the Lemnian widows by the Argonauts, whose descendants were at last expelled by the Pelasgi, about 1100 years before the christian era. Lemnos is about 112 miles in circumference, according to Pliny, who says that it is often shadowed by mount Athos, though at the distance of 87 miles. It has been called ♦ Hypsipyle , from queen ♦ Hypsipyle. It is famous for a certain kind of earth or chalk, called terra Lemnia or terra sigillata , from the seal or impre ion which it can bear. As the inhabitants were blacksmiths, the poets have taken occasion to fix the forges of Vulcan in that island, and to consecrate the whole country to his divinity. Lemnos is also celebrated for a labyrinth, which, according to some traditions, surpa ed those of Crete and Egypt. Some remains of it were still visible in the age of Pliny. The island of Lemnos, now called Stalimene , was reduced under the power of Athens by Miltiades, and the Carians, who then inhabited it, were obliged to emigrate. Virgil , Æneid , bk. 8 , li. 454 .— Homer , Iliad , bk. 1 , li. 593 .— Cornel i us Nepos , Miltiades .— Strabo , bks. 1, 2, & 7.— Hero dot us , bk. 6 , ch. 140 .— Mela , bk. 2 , ch. 7 .— A poll on i us , bk. 1 , Argonautic a .— Flaccus , bk. 2 , li. 78 .— Ovid , Ars Am at or i a , bk. 3 , li. 672 .— Statius , bk. 3 , Thebiad , li. 274 . ♦ ‘Hipsipyle’ replaced with ‘Hypsipyle’ for consistency