Methymna
A city on Lesbos associated with Arion, the poet-musician rescued from drowning by a dolphin.
The Story of Methymna
Arion of Methymna was the greatest lyre-player of his age — so skilled that he was said to have perfected the dithyramb and given it its name. Returning from a victorious performance tour in Sicily, the sailors on his ship planned to rob and murder him. He asked to be allowed one last performance, played so beautifully that dolphins gathered around the ship, then leaped into the sea. A dolphin carried him safely to Cape Tenarum in the Peloponnese, arriving before the ship. When the ship docked, Arion confronted the sailors before the tyrant Periander, who had the murderers executed. A bronze statue of a man on a dolphin at Tenarum marked the spot.
Explore Further
Lesbos
🏛 placegeography
An Aegean island where the severed head of Orpheus floated ashore, still singing, after the Maenads tore him apart.
Arion
🗡 heroPoet saved by dolphins
Arion was a legendary poet and musician whose life was saved by a dolphin when pirates forced him to jump overboard.
Abydos
🏛 placeGeography
An ancient city on the Hellespont famous as the launching point of Xerxes' bridge and the home of Leander
Sestos
🏛 placeGeography
A city on the European shore of the Hellespont, home of Hero in the tale of Hero and Leander
Abdera
🏛 placegeography
A Thracian coastal city founded in honour of Abderus, companion of Heracles.
Anthedon
🏛 placegeography
A small Boeotian coastal town where the fisherman Glaucus ate a magical herb and became a sea deity.
Leucas
🏛 placeSacred geography
A promontory and island in western Greece associated with a leap of purification and the death of Sappho
Tyre
🏛 placeGeography
The great Phoenician island-city whose princess Europa was abducted by Zeus in the form of a bull
Salamis
🏛 placeGeography
An island in the Saronic Gulf where the Greeks won a decisive naval victory over Persia and where Ajax was king
Cyllene
🏛 placegeography
The highest mountain in the Peloponnese, birthplace of Hermes, where the god fashioned the first lyre.
Aulis
🏛 placeHarbour where the Greek fleet gathered for Troy
Aulis was the harbour in Boeotia where the Greek fleet of over a thousand ships assembled before sailing to Troy — and where Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to gain favourable winds.
Nauplia
🏛 placegeography
The ancient port of Argos, founded by Nauplius, whose son Palamedes was unjustly executed during the Trojan War.