Written by Konstantinos Konstantinidis Amphiktyon<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The events that I will tell you date back to prehistoric times around +-7,000 B.C. The Lemnians were native women on Lemnos, and because they did not honor the goddess Aphrodite for her infidelity with the god Hephaestus. They angered the goddess and she inflicted bad breath on them. It was so great that no one could approach them, both men and their wives and children and their mothers. Others say that this was the work of Medea who passed by and threw medicine on the island, because she was jealous of women. And that she threw the stench of her mouth at the Lemnian women to avenge them. Then they said that this happened one day of the year and neither their husbands nor their children could approach them. While fighting the Lemnians with the Thracians, they captured women prisoners and used them as wives and mistresses, while their Lemnian women as slaves. After this, they could not bear this shame and the Lemnians secretly agreed to kill all the men without exception. For this purpose, they got the men drunk during the day and the execution took place at night. They killed everyone: fathers, husbands, children and the captive women from Thrace. They had such passion that the proverb “Lemnians are evil” remained in the Panhellenic language from then on. Only Hypsipyle, the king’s daughter, secretly fled her father to Chios. Since they had declared female rule on the island, they made Hypsipyle their queen. When they saw the ships of the Argonaut expedition coming towards Lemnos, they thought that the Thracians were their enemies and prepared for defense to prevent their landing on the shore. However, when they were informed that they were the Argonauts, they received them favorably on condition that they would remain permanently on the island. They initially refused, but then promised to stay for two years. Indeed, this is what happened. The Lemnian women all had children. Hypsipyle gave birth to Evinus and Neurophonus by Jason, and others. Only Hercules did not leave the Argo because he disagreed about the delay in the expedition. If he had not been there, the Argonauts might have remained permanently in Lemnos and thwarted the expedition for the Golden Fleece. When they were informed that Hypsipyle had fled her father, the king, they expelled her from Lemnos. These Minyans were expelled from Lemnos by the Pelasgians and came to Lacedaemon, and settled on Mount Taygetus. When the Lacedaemonians saw the fire in the evening, they sent messengers to find out who they were. They replied that they were descendants of the Argonauts and had been driven out by the Pelasgians, and they thought it appropriate to come to their ancestors, because the Dioscuri were there officials of the Argonauts. They did indeed receive them as citizens, dividing them into tribes and giving them lots for cultivation and space to settle. The Minyan men mated with Lacedaemonian women and the Lacedaemonian men with Minyan women and had children. Soon they appeared ungrateful, unruly and abusive towards the Lacedaemonians and asked to take the kingdom as well. (22\/7\/25)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
*Amphiktyon Major General (retd) Konstantinos Konstantinidis Author, Member of the Society of Greek Writers amphiktyon@gmail.com http:\/\/amphiktyon.blogspot.com\/ http:\/\/amphiktyon.org Anyone wishing to be deleted should return this with the indication “deletion” “in accordance with article 14 of law 2672\/98<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Written by Konstantinos Konstantinidis Amphiktyon The events that I will tell you date back to prehistoric times around +-7,000 B.C. The Lemnians were native women on Lemnos, and because they did not honor the goddess Aphrodite for her infidelity with the god Hephaestus. They angered the goddess and she inflicted bad breath on them. It … <\/p>\n