Dimitris and Mariza Krallis reflect on the presence of German archaeologists in late 19^th c. Molyvos.

Johannes Gustav Eduard Robert Koldewey (10 September 1855 – 4 February 1925) was a German archaeologist who conducted excavations in Western Asia, Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. He became famous for his excavation of the ancient city of Babylon in present-day Iraq. Shortly before the end of the 19th century, Robert Koldewey also visited Lesvos and recorded his findings in a book, published in 1890 [1]. Although his book on Lesvos has not been translated into Greek, his maps have been studied, included in many books, and are now well known. 

In one of Koldewey’s maps of Molyvos (Methymna), we see the Limenas (harbour) with its ancient pier, but also the new harbour, ruins of the fortress, Skala, the Turkish cemetery, the administrative building, and Agia Marina. Between the Turkish cemetery and the Konak, he also placed a house about which nothing else is noted.  Which may have been that mansion, already been built at this time, on the road above the harbour at the location marked by Koldewey?

Today one finds such a house on Kepetzi Street (now Alcyonidon). The populous and well-known Kepetzi family – which gave its name to the street – has a history in Molyvos that begins in 1760. Their mansion was built around 1873 and was there in 1890 and is still there today. Our evidence suggests that this is the mansion that Koldewey marks on his map. Descendants of the Kepetzi family were Chrysanthos Molinos, Kleanthis K. Michaelides (a.k.a. Argyris Efthaliotis) and Efterpi Kepetzi (a.k.a.) Pepi Stavrou, who associated their names with journalism, literature, poetry, literature, and the so-called Lesbian Spring.

As we have already seen, Koldewey was not the first archaeology hot shot to pass through Lesvos. In a separate story we already encountered C. T. Newton who had the Halicarnassus and the Constantinople Hippodrome excavations on his CV. Looking into the KFL Archive, we find evidence of two more noted figures from the world of archaeology who find themselves in Molyvos.