Roman Period

Roman Period

In 88 B.C., the Romans dominated the island. In the various battles that occurred during the siege of Mitilini, the young Julius Caesar distinguished himself by his bravery. The fall of the town was considered a great event and the Roman orator Cicero sang the praises of Mitilini from the floor of the Roman senate, characterizing it as “a town made gorgeous by it’s natural surroundings, it’s site, the facades of it’s buildings and it fertile fields”. These praises could be equally appropriate today. Pompey came to Mitilini in 62 B.C. In order to honour him, the inhabitants of Mitilini organized magnificent games that glorified his military exploits. Pompey granted a certain amount of autonomy to the inhabitants of Mitilini as well as other privileges in order to satisfy the historian Theophanes the Mitilenean, his friend and advisor to whom he gave the rights of a Roman citizen. In 48 B.C., following the battle of Pharsala, Pompey visited Mitilini for a second time. During this period, in Mitilini lived the sophist and rhetorician Lesbonax, the orator Lesbocles and the epigrammatic poet Krinagoras. Strabo lists these people among the great men of Mitilini. The Apostle Paul came to the island in 52 A.D. In 70 A.D. Lesvos became again a Roman province and its privileges were abolished. During the Roman occupation the island was used as a place of exile for eminent figures that had fallen into disfavour.

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