Human presence at Mithymna goes back to prehistoric times. The name of the ancient city is pre-Greek, and in the writings of ancient authors, on ancient coins and in inscriptions it appears in the Aeolic form of "Mathymna" and the Attic "Methymna" or "Methymna". In the antiquity the city was an important military, commercial and manufacturing centre, with links with Thrace, the Hellespont, and Asia Minor, where, after 770 BC, It founded colonies.

In the Byzantine period (312-1355), it was the target of frequent pirate raids, or served as a refuge for warring rivals. From Byzantine times down to the present, Molivos has remained and developed in the same geographical position. In the Middle Ages, in order to deal with raids from the sea, and because of a considerable reduction in its population, the town was gradually concentrated in a part only of its initial site and of necessity clustured in the caste area.

From the eleventh century, trade in the Aegean came into the hands of the Genoese and the Venetians. for the former, after Gateluzzi (1355-1462) had established, by peaceful means, their rule in Lesvos, Mithymna was an important commercial port. Having safeguarded their control by building fortifications, they encouraged the cultivation of the olive and the development of the trade in olive oil. It was in this period that the town became known as Molivos.

Source Publication of Municipality of Molivos 2001