Limnos is the island of fire. According to myth, the handicapped son of Zeus, Hephaestus, landed on Mount Mosichlos and broke his hip, after being thrown from Olympus, where the gods resided. On Mosichlos, Hephaestus built his workshop and started teaching the smith's craft to Sindies, who are said to be the first inhabitants of the island. These people took care of Hephaestus after his fall. The first king of Limnos, Thoandras, married Mirina from Thessalia. During his reign, the island was under the state of Matriarcy, as the women of Limnos, in order to seek revenge against their husbands for neglecting them, forced them to drink heavily. After getting the men drunk, the women killed their husbands. After the Argonauts returned from Colchis and resided on the island, the men began to rule again. Ipsitili, the daughter of king Thoandras, loved and married Jason. They lived in Limnos with their children, until they were cast out by Pelasgi who came to Limnos after being prosecuted by the Athenians.

According to Homer, aside from the Sindians who came from Thrace, the other inhabitants of Limnos - ancient Aithalia - were the Tyrians (8th century BC), who were considered by many scientists as being related to the Etrurians. In 513 BC, the island came under Persian rule, and after the end of the Persian wars, it became a member of the Athenian League. During the Archaic period, the island was under Athenian rule except during the Macedonian occupation in between. In the early Byzantine years, the geographical situation of Limnos, in front of the Vosporos straits, upgraded its military position. Its gulfs were ideal in securing the imperial fleet, and it was the first stop after exiting Hellespont. Leo the Tripolian and Damianos of Tyros, who were pirates of the Arabian fleet, caused serious damages, until the ruin of the pirate fleet by the Byzantines in 924. The Enetians and the Genoese, who succeded the Byzantines, produced the biggest financial and commercial prosperity the island ever knew. In 1289, it came under the Byzantine rule, and in 1453, Constantine Palaiologos granted it to the Genoese Ioannis Justiniani, in exchange for his help defending Constantinople. From 1462 onwards Limnos has been the object of quarrels between the Enetians and the Turks, and in 1479, Venice was forced to consign it to the Turks. During the Greek revolution of 1821, Chian ships and fighters participated in various operations under the command of the famous admiral Koundouriotis. But Limnos remained off the map of Greece, like other eastern Aegean islands. It was finally set free in 1912, during the First Balkan War, but the final incorporation to Mother Greece was concluded with the Treaty of 1920.