Eresos on Lesbos
Situated in the far west of the island, Eresos was the birthplace of Theophrastos, one of
Aristotle's closest associates and disciples, as well as the
most famous native of Lesbos - Plato's "tenth muse", the lyricist Sappho. The city
was famed in antiquity for the
quality of its wheat, as attested by the words of an ancient chronicler who stated that
"if the gods eat bread they send Hermes to buy it at Eresos". Perhaps this explains the
appearance of the messenger-god and ear of wheat
on the otherwise very scarce numismatic issues of this city.