:''This article is about the Greek island of Rhodes. For other uses, see
Rhodes (disambiguation).''
'Rhodes' (
Greek: Ρόδος ''Rhódhos'';
Italian ''Rodi'';
Ladino: ''Rodi'' or ''Rodes''; ''Rodos'') is the largest of the
Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, situated in eastern
Aegean Sea. This Greek
island lies approximately 11 miles (18 km) to the west of the Turkish shores, situated between the Greek mainland and the island of
Cyprus. As of
2001, it has a population of 117,007 of which 53,709 reside in the
capital city of the island.
Historically, Rhodes was famous worldwide for the
Colossus of Rhodes, one of the
Seven Wonders of the World. The medieval Old Town of the City of Rhodes has been declared a
World Heritage Site. Today Rhodes is a major international tourist destination.
Geography
Topography of Rhodes
The island of Rhodes is shaped like a spearhead, 79.7 km long and 38 km wide with a total area of approximately 1,400.684 km² (541 square miles) and a coastline of approximately 220 km. The city of Rhodes is located at the far northern end of the island, including the site of the ancient and modern commercial harbor. The main air gateway (
Diagoras International Airport, IATA code: RHO) is located 14 km to the southwest of the city in Paradisi. The road network radiates from the city along the east and west coasts.
In terms of
flora and
fauna, Rhodes is closer to Asia Minor than to the rest of Greece. The interior of the country is mountainous, sparsely inhabited and covered with forests of
Pine (''Pinus brutia'') and
Cypress (''Cupressus sempervirens''). The island is home to Rhodian deer. In
Petaludes Valley, known in English as the Valley of the Butterflies, large numbers of
tiger moths gather in the summer. Mount Attavyros, at 3,990 ft (1,216 m), is the island's highest point of elevation. While the shores are stony, the island has arable strips of land where
citrus fruit,
wine grapes, vegetables, olives and other crops are grown.
Outside of the city of Rhodes, the island is dotted with small villages and beach resorts, among them
Faliraki,
Lindos,
Kremasti,
Haraki,
Pefkos,
Archangelos,
Afandou,
Koskinou,
Embona (Attavyros),
Paradisi, and
Trianta (Ialysos). Tourism is the island's primary source of income.
History
Ancient Times
The island was inhabited in the
Neolithic period, although little remains of this culture. In the
16th century BC the
Minoans came to Rhodes, and later Greek mythology recalled a Rhodian race they called the
Telchines, and associated Rhodes with
Danaus; it was sometimes nicknamed ''Telchinis''. In the
15th century the
Achaeans invaded. It was, however, in the
11th century that the island started to flourish, with the coming of the
Dorians. It was the Dorians who later built the three important cities of Lindos,
Ialyssos and
Kameiros, which together with
Kos,
Cnidus and
Halicarnassus (on the mainland) made up the so-called
Dorian Hexapolis.
In
Pindar's ode, the island was said to be born of the union of
Helios the sun god and the nymph
Rhode, and the cities were named for their three sons. The ''rhoda'' is a pink
hibiscus native to the island.
Invasions by the Persians eventually overran the island, but after their defeat by the forces from
Athens in
478 BC, the cities joined the
Athenian League. When the
Peloponnesian War broke out in
431 BC, Rhodes remained largely neutral, although it remained a member of the League. The war lasted until
404 BC, but by this time Rhodes had withdrawn entirely from the conflict and had decided to go her own way.
In
408 BC the cities united to form one territory, and built a new capital on the northern end of the island, the city of Rhodes: its regular plan was superintended by the Athenian architect
Hippodamus. However the Peloponnesian War had so weakened the entire Greek culture that it lay open to invasion. In
357 BC the island was conquered by the king
Mausolus of Caria, then fell to the Persians
340 BC. But their rule was also short and to the great relief of its citizens, Rhodes became a part of the growing empire of
Alexander III of Macedon in
332 BC after he defeated the Persians.
The Acropolis of Lindos
Following the death of Alexander his generals vied for control of the kingdom. Three of them,
Ptolemy,
Seleucus, and
Antigonus, succeeded in dividing the kingdom among themselves. Rhodes formed strong commercial and cultural ties with the Ptolemies in
Alexandria, and together they formed the Rhodo-Egyptian alliance which controlled trade throughout the Aegean in the 3rd century BC. The city developed into a maritime, commercial and cultural center and its coins were in circulation almost everywhere in the Mediterranean. Its famous schools of philosophy and science and literature and rhetoric, shared masters with Alexandria: the Athenian rhetorician
Aeschines who formed a school at Rhodes;
Apollonius of Rhodes; the astronomers
Hipparchus and Geminus, the rhetorician
Dionysios Trax. Its school of sculptors developed a rich, dramatic style that can be characterized as "
Hellenistic Baroque".
In
305 BC, Antigonus had his son,
Demetrius besiege Rhodes in an attempt to break its alliance with Egypt. Demetrius created huge
siege engines including a 180 foot battering ram and a
siege tower named
Helepolis that weighed 360,000 pounds. Despite this engagement, in
304 BC, after only one year he relented and signed a peace agreement, leaving behind a huge store of military equipment. The Rhodians sold the equipment and used the money to erect a statue of their sun god,
Helios, the statue now known as Colossus of Rhodes.
In
164 BC, Rhodes signed a treaty with Rome, and became a major schooling center for Roman noble families, and was especially noted for its teachers of rhetoric, such as
Hermagoras and the author of the
Rhetorica ad Herennium. At first the state was an important ally of Rome and enjoyed numerous privileges, but these were later lost in various machinations of Roman politics. Cassius eventually invaded the island and sacked the city.
In the
1st century AD, the Emperor
Tiberius spent a brief term of exile on Rhodes, and
Saint Paul brought
Christianity to the island. Rhodes reached her zenith in the third century, and was then by common consent the most civilized and beautiful city in
Hellas. In 395, the long
Byzantine Empire period began for Rhodes, when the
Roman empire was split and the eastern half gradually became a Greek empire. Although part of Byzantium for the next thousand years, Rhodes was nevertheless repeatedly attacked by various forces. It was first occupied by Muslim forces of
Muawiyah I in 672. Much later, Rhodes was retrieved for the
Byzantine Emperor
Alexius I Comnenus during the
First Crusade.
Medieval Period
Deer statues in Mandraki harbor, where the Colossus of Rhodes possibly once stood
In 1309 the Byzantine era came to an end when the island was subjugated by forces of the
Knights Hospitaller. Under the rule of the newly named "Knights of Rhodes,", the city was rebuilt into a model of the European mediaeval ideal. Many of the city's famous monuments, including the
Palace of the Grand Master , were built during this period.
The strong walls which the Knights had built withstood the attacks of the
Sultan of
Egypt in 1444, and of
Mehmed II in 1480. Ultimately, however, Rhodes fell to the large army of
Suleiman the Magnificent in December 1522. The few remaining Knights were permitted to retire to the
Kingdom of Sicily. The Knights would later move their base of operations to Malta. The island was thereafter a possession of the
Ottoman Empire for nearly four centuries.
Modern History and Religion
In 1912, Rhodes was seized from the Turks by the
Italians, and in 1948, together with the other islands of the
Dodecanese, was united with Greece. It thus bypassed many of the events associated with the
"exchange of the minorities" between Greece and
Turkey. Therefore it retains a Turkish minority today, unlike many other Aegean islands. There is also a
Catholic [1]minority on the island many of whom are
Italians who remained after the end of the Italian occupation of the island. The
Greek Orthodox Church is of course the predominant religion throughout Greece.
Landmarks
Archeological sites
In ancient times, Rhodes was home to one of the Seven Wonders of the World - the Colossus of Rhodes. This giant bronze statue once stood in the harbour. It was completed in 280 BC but was destroyed in an earthquake in 224 BC. No trace of the statue remains today.
Palace of the (Prince) Grand Master - Rhodes.
Historical sites on the island of Rhodes include the
Acropolis of
Lindos, the
Acropolis of Rhodes, the Temple of Apollo, ancient Ialysos, ancient Kamiros, the Governor's Palace, Rhodes Old Town (walled medieval city), the Palace of the Grand Masters, Kahal Shalom Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter, the Archeological Museum, the ruins of the castle of Monolithos, the castle of Kritinia and St. Catherine Hospice.
Museums
Historical events
★ The
Rhodes blood libel in February 1840 was one of many false accusations against the Jews of Europe. The Jews of Rhodes were accused of ritually murdering a Christian boy.
★ In 1949, Israel signed an armistice agreement with Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria on the island of Rhodes.
Government
Rhodes is the capital of
Dodecanese Prefecture and the most important island of the
South Aegean Region. The local association of municipalities and communities of the
Dodecanese, TEDKD
[2], is responsible for joining efforts and actions for the whole island as well as prefecture. Late talks suggest the incorporation of the 10 municipalities of the island in to one or two metropolitan municipalities in order to achieve flexible administration with profitable outcome for the whole island.
Administrative Division
The island is divided to 10 municipalities that each may contains many towns or villages called municipal departments. These are:
| Municipality | Population | Seat | Municipal Departments | Postal code |
|---|
| Afantou | 6.712 | Afantou | Afantou, Kolympia, Archipoli | 851 03 |
| Archangelos | 7.779 | Archangelos | Archangelos, Malona, Charaki, Massari | 851 02 |
| Attavyros | 2.635 | Empona | Empona, Kritinia, Monolithos, Sianna, Ag. Isidoros | 851 09 |
| Ialysos | 10.107 | Ialysos | Ialysos | 851 01 |
| Kallithea | 10.251 | Kalythies | Kalythies, Koskinou, Faliraki, Psinthos | 851 05 |
| Kameiros | 5.145 | Soroni | Soroni, Apollona, Dimylia, Kalavarda, Platania, Salakos, Fanes | 851 06 |
| Lindos | 3.633 | Lindos | Lindos, Kalathos, Laerma, Lardos, Pylona | 851 07 |
| Petaloudes | 12.133 | Kremasti | Kremasti, Pastida, Maritsa, Paradeisi, Theologos, Damatria | 851 04 |
| Rhodes | 54.000 | Rhodes City | Rhodes City | 851 00 |
| South Rhodes | 4.313 | Gennadi | Gennadi, Apolakkia, Arnitha, Askleipio, Vati, Istrios, Kattavia, Lachania, Mesanagros, Profylia | 851 09 |
Towns and Villages
43 towns and villages exist on the island
Economy
It is a fact that Rhodes economy is tourism-oriented but contrary to general beliefs other sectors also contribute to an above Greek average economic condition. Although the island has scarce raw materials and thus industrial production is almost null there are many small industries that process imported raw materials and offer the final goods to local markets. The most developed sectors include agricultural goods production, stockbreeding, fishery and winery. Finally, the most developed sector, service provision, includes except tourism related activities (hotels, restaurants, bars etc.) a vast majority of large, medium and small scaled services.
Health Structures
Healthcare services on the island are well organized and up to date. Rhodes has two hospitals (one public, one private) and a number of Health Centers (small hospitals) and Community Clinics.
★
"Andreas Papandreou" Rhodes General Hospital [3] is the state hospital of the island. It was relocated to a newly constructed building in
Agioi Apostoloi area and is the biggest in the
Aegean Sea
★
Euromedica Clinic [4] is a private hospital that recently opened
★
Archangelos Health Center (covering south eastern island)
★
Empona Health Center (covering south western island)
★ Community Clinics of:
Gennadi,
Ialysos,
Kalythies,
Ag. Isidoros,
Apollona,
Apolakkia,
Askleipio,
Afantou,
Kattavia,
Koskinou,
Kremasti,
Lardos,
Lindos,
Paradeisi,
Salakos.
Transportation
The road network of the island is mostly modern and paved, with some renovations carried out in recent years. There are four major arteries:
★ Rhodes-Kamiros Province Avenue: Two lane avenue, runs through the west coast north to south and connects Rhodes City with
Diagoras Airport and
Kamiros.
★ Rhodes-Lindos National Avenue (
Greek National Road 95): Four and two lane avenue, runs mainly inland north to south and connects Rhodes City with Lindos.
★ Rhodes-Kallithea Province Avenue: Two lane avenue, runs through the east coast north to south and connects Rhodes City with Faliraki Resort.
★ Tsairi-Airport National Avenue: Four and two lane avenue, runs inland east to west and connects the east coast with the west and the airport.
★ Future plans include further widening of E-95 from Faliraki to Lindos (about 36km., four lane avenue with jersey tupe safety island) with the first part scheduled to start in August 2007. Plans also exist for a new four lane express avenue connecting Rhodes Town with
Diagoras Airport that will de-congest the coastal west avenue and finally the first part of constructions of Rhodes City ringway begun a few years ago but due to slow progress is mentioned as a future road.
Car/Motorbike
There are 80,000 registered cars and 70.000 motorbikes/scooters on the island. Families in Rhodes often own more than one car, along with a motorbike. Traffic jams are common particularly in the summer months.
Bus
Bus services are handled by two operators
★ RODA:
Rhodes City company that also services suburban areas (Faliraki, Ialysos, Kremasti, Airport, Pastida, Maritsa, Paradeisi) and the entire west coast (blue-white colored).
★ KTEL: Privately-owned buses that serve villages and resorts in the east coast (yellow-orange colored).
Taxi
The island is served by 450 taxis (most of them in Rhodes Town).
Air
Rhodes has three airports but only one is public.
Diagoras Airport, one of the biggest in Greece, is the main entrance /exit point for both locals and tourists. The island is well connected with other major Greek cities and islands as well as with major European capitals and cities via charter flights. Since last year
GB Airways, a subsidiary of
British Airways, offers scheduled flights from
London-Gatwick and this year
Aegean Airlines connects daily Rhodes with
Rome-Fiumicino and
Cyprus Airways with
Larnaca.
★
Diagoras International Airport: Public airport, 16km south west of
Rhodes City, third in international passenger volume and fourth in total passenger volume in Greece
★ Maritsa Air Force Airfield: Closed to public, near Maritsa village used to be the public airport of the island until 1977. Nowadays serves the Greek Army and is sometimes used for car races.
★ Kalathos Air Strip: Served as a landing strip during
World War II, near the village of Kalathos. Currently inoperative.
Two pilot schools offer aviation services (small plane rental, island hopping).
Sea
Rhodes has five ports, three of them in
Rhodes City, one in the west coast near
Kamiros and one in east coast near
Lardos.
★ Central Port: Located in the city of Rhodes serves domestic and international traffic
★ Kolona Port: Opposite the central port, serves intra Dodecanese traffic and large yachts
★ Akandia Port: The new port of the island next to the central port, being built since 1960s, destined both domestic and international traffic. At the moment serves cruise ships on high peak days.
★ Kamiros Skala Dock: Some 30km south west of the city near
Ancient Kamiros ruins serves mainly the island of
Halki
★ Lardos Dock: Formerly servicing local industries, now under development as an alternative port for times when the central port is inaccessible due to weather conditions. It is situated in a rocky shore near the village of
Lardos in south east Rhodes.
Land Lines
Automated dialing/calling center corresponding to three area codes (
22410, 22440, 22460).
Sports
The island in general boosts and evolves a wide variety of sports either in professional or in amateur level.
★ Football:
AS Rodos and
PAO Diagoras, both Rhodes City based teams, compete in professional national level. Local football leagues (organized in prefecture base) are well developed and contain three divisions with more than 50 teams. Many stadiums currently are pitched in grass.
★ Basketball:
Colossus BC develops professional basketball and has currently joined the top Greek league. Local championship includes two divisions and some 14 teams. Indoor halls exist in Rhodes City(2), Ialysos and Kremasti while several are planned (Rhodes City Pales De Sports, Faliraki, Afantou, South Rhodes).
★ Volleyball: Not so much promoted, few national presences, is currently under a new effort of re development.
★ Water Polo: Mostly amateur based, can not be further developed due to the lack of a single indoor pool in the whole island.
★ Rugby: Introduced the last years, competes in national level.
★ Tennis/Table Tennis: Tennis has a long history on the island and from time to time develops competitive players.
★ Sailing: Widely developed, offers success in international level.
★ Cycling: For a long period of time Rhodes had the only cycling track in Greece thus it was very developed and oferred Olympics level athletes.
Trivia
★ Many of the outdoor scenes of ''
The Guns of Navarone'' (starring
Gregory Peck,
David Niven and
Anthony Quinn) and ''
Escape to Athena'' (starring
Roger Moore and
Telly Savalas) were filmed on the Island of Rhodes.
★ In ancient times there was a saying: "
Hic Rhodus, hic salta!" -- "Rhodes is here, here perform your jump", an admonition to prove one's idle boasts by deed rather than talk. It comes from an
Aesop's fable called "The Braggart," and was cited by
Hegel and
Marx.
★ In the popular
Playstation 2 game
God of War II, both Rhodes and the Colossus of Rhodes are featured at the start of the game, offering a mythological theory as to how the Colossus was destroyed.
See also
★
Rhodes blood libel
★
Colossus of Rhodes
Photos
References
External links
★
★
City of Rhodes Official Website
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