For ancient Greeks, the island was sacred to Hephaestus, god of metallurgy, who—as he tells himself in "Iliad" I.590ff—fell on Lemnos when Zeus hurled him headlong out of Olympus. There, he was cared for by the Sinties, according to "Iliad", or by Thetis (Apollodorus, "Bibliotheke" I:3.5), and there with a Thracian nymph Cabiro (a daughter of Proteus) he fathered a tribe called the Kaberoi. Sacred initiatory rites dedicated to them were performed in the island. Its ancient capital was named Hephaistia in the god's honour.