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Modern Description: At Kótsinas (3 km) (formerly known as ‘Kokkinos') a mound-like promontory projects into the Bay of Pourniá. Buried in it and visible partially at the western side and along the shoreline are the ruins of a once important Byzantine /Venetian castle.
In 1136, Michael, Archbishop of Lemnos ceded the site to Venetian merchants: within 70 years the Venetians had become overlords of Lemnos, with the installing of the Navigajoso dynasty of rulers. A pre-existing Byzantine fortress must have been built up into a castle by the Venetians in 1397 when this became their garrison headquarters. The (partially) sheltered bay was the roadstead for their ships: the submerged remains of a jetty are still visible. The last Emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XI Dragases, was besieged here, together with his second wife, Caterina Gattilusi, in August 1442.
The modern bronze statue on the summit commemorates a Lemnian heroine, Maroula, sword in hand: she was a Byzantine princess – in a long tradition of warlike Lemnian women – who defended the castle against the Turks in 1476. The flight of steps which descend steeply from the entrance of the Church of the Zoödochos Pigi to the well beneath the mound appear to be Venetian in construction.

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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