Pyrrha on Lesbos
A member of the "pentapolis" - the five cities of ancient Lesbos, Pyrrha is the single one
no longer in existence today.
Parts of its walls can be seen in the shallow waters of the Bay of
Kalloni, and nearby stand remains of a mysterious site mentioned as far back as
Homer's Odyssey.
Believed to have been a shrine, interestingly enough, honoring a
trinity of gods - Zeus, Hera and Dionysos - it's subsequent layers serve as a unique testimony
to all the following eras and cultural trends.
In addition, Pyrrha
is the only city of the five not named after one of the children of Makareus, the son of Helios and
legendary
first settler of the island. Rather, it seems to honor an earlier ancestor of theirs - Pyrrha,
the sole female survivor of the cataclysmic flood (also daughter of Pandora, best known for
her box full of nasties).
The very rare small bronze coins of this city have a goat on the reverse along with a female head on obverse, usually thought to represent her.