(G. Sa.)
LES ANDELYS, a town of northern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Eure about 30 m. S.E. of Rouen by rail. Pop. (1906) 3955. Les Andelys is formed by the union of Le Grand Andely and Le Petit Andely, the latter situated on the right bank of the Seine, the former about half a mile from the river. Grand Andely, founded, according to tradition, in the 6th century, has a church (13th, 14th and 15th centuries) parts of which are of fine late Gothic and Renaissance architecture. The works of art in the interior include beautiful stained glass of the latter period. Other interesting buildings are the hôtel du Grand Cerf dating from the first half of the 16th century, and the chapel of Sainte-Clotilde, close by a spring which, owing to its supposed healing powers, is the object of a pilgrimage. Grand Andely has a statue of Nicolas Poussin, a native of the place. Petit Andely sprang up at the foot of the eminence on which stands the château Gaillard, now in ruins, but formerly one of the strongest fortresses in France (see [Fortification and Siegecraft] and [Castle]). It was built by Richard Cœur de Lion at the end of the 12th century to protect the Norman frontier, was captured by the French in 1204 and passed finally into their possession in 1449. The church of St Sauveur at Petit Andely also dates from the end of the 12th century. Les Andelys is the seat of a sub-prefect and of a tribunal of first instance, has a preparatory infantry school; it carries on silk milling, and the manufacture of leather, organs and sugar. It has trade in cattle, grain, flour, &c.
LES BAUX, a village of south-eastern France, in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône, 11 m. N.E. of Arles by road. Pop. (1906) 111. Les Baux, which in the middle ages was a flourishing town, is now almost deserted. Apart from a few inhabited dwellings, it consists of an assemblage of ruined towers, fallen walls and other débris, which cover the slope of a hill crowned by the remains of a huge château, once the seat of a celebrated “court of love.” The ramparts, a medieval church, the château, parts of which date to the 11th century, and many of the dwellings are, in great part, hollowed out of the white friable limestone on which they stand. Here and there may be found houses preserving carved façades of Renaissance workmanship. Les Baux has given its name to the reddish rock (bauxite) which is plentiful in the neighbourhood and from which aluminium is obtained. In the middle ages Les Baux was the seat of a powerful family which owned the Terre Baussenques, extensive domains in Provence and Dauphiné. The influence of the seigneurs de Baux in Provence declined before the power of the house of Anjou, to which they abandoned many of their possessions. In 1632 the château and the ramparts were dismantled.
LESBONAX, of Mytilene, Greek sophist and rhetorician, flourished in the time of Augustus. According to Photius (cod. 74) he was the author of sixteen political speeches, of which two are extant, a hortatory speech after the style of Thucydides, and a speech on the Corinthian War. In the first he exhorts the Athenians against the Spartans, in the second (the title of which is misleading) against the Thebans (edition by F. Kiehr, Lesbonactis quae supersunt, Leipzig, 1907). Some erotic letters are also attributed to him.
The Lesbonax described in Suidas as the author of a large number of philosophical works is probably of much earlier date; on the other hand, the author of a small treatise Περὶ Σχημάτων on grammatical figures (ed. Rudolf Müller, Leipzig, 1900), is probably later.
LESBOS (Mytilene, Turk. Midullu), an island in the Aegean sea, off the coast of Mysia, N. of the entrance of the Gulf of Smyrna, forming the main part of a sanjak in the archipelago vilayet of European Turkey. It is divided into three districts, Mytilene or Kastro in the E., Molyvo in the N., and Calloni in the W. Since the middle ages it has been known as Mytilene, from the name of its principal town. Strabo estimated the circumference of the island at 1100 stadia, or about 138 m., and Scylax reckoned it seventh in size of the islands of the Mediterranean. The width of the channel between it and the mainland varies from 7 to 10 m. The island is roughly triangular in shape; the three points are Argennum on the N.E., Sigrium (Sigri) on the W., and Malea (Maria) on the S.E. The Euripus Pyrrhaeus (Calloni) is a deep gulf on the west between Sigrium and Malea. The country though mountainous is very fertile, Lesbos being celebrated in ancient times for its wine, oil and grain. Homer refers to its wealth. Its chief produce now is olives, which also form its principal export. Soap, skins and valonea are also exported, and mules and cattle are extensively bred. The sardine fishery is an important trade, and antimony, marble and coal are found on the island. The surface is rugged and mountainous, the highest point, Mount Olympus (Hagios Elias) being 3080 ft. The island has suffered from periodical earthquakes. The roads were remade in 1889, and there is telegraphic communication on the island, and to the mainland by cable. The ports are Sigri and Mytilene. The Gulf of Calloni and Hiera or Olivieri can only be entered by vessels of small draught.