Myrina is the main town of the Greek island of Lemnos. With its adjacent natural harbor and promontory with a large hill ideal for its castle, the town’s great location has been taken advantage of for millennia by the communities which have lived there throughout history. In fact, the settlement of Myrina goes all the way back into prehistory.
Prehistoric Myrina was inhabited from the early fourth millennium BCE until the widespread societal collapse which ended many societies in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean in the 12th century BCE, a timeline contemporaneous with that of Poliochni, located 24 km to the east on the opposite coast of the island. Myrina flourished during the second half of the third millennium BCE but was completely destroyed by the same earthquake which ruined Poliochni around 2100 BCE, although both sites continued to be settled until the Bronze Age ended a millennium later.
In the northern part of the modern town, right across the street from the beach, there are two small areas which reveal traces of the prehistoric settlement, first excavated in 1986.
Tips for the Visitor
Myrina is the port of call for ferries which stop at Lemnos on their way to the islands to the south or the mainland of northeastern Greece to the north. The island also has an airport, which is 17 km from Myrina.
The excavated areas are fenced in as part of an organized archaeological site, which provides informational boards posted around the site as well as a small visitor’s center with a model of the site. Like all the archaeological sites in Lemnos which have ticketed admission, the site is open 08:30-15:30 daily except Tuesdays and costs 5 euro.
Location Map