Rhodes (redirected from Isle of Rhodes)

Rhodes (rōdz) or Ródhos (rô`thôs), island (1990 est. pop. 90,000), c.540 sq mi (1,400 sq km), SE Greece, in the Aegean Sea; largest of the Dodecanese, near Turkey.

Land and Economy

The island has fertile coastal strips where wheat, tobacco, cotton, olives, wine grapes, oranges, and vegetables are grown. The interior is mountainous, rising to 3,986 ft (1,215 m) on Mt. Attavyros. Tourism is the island's most important industry, and fishing and winemaking are pursued. There is a large tourist industry.

History

Rhodes was early influenced by the Minoan civilization of Crete and was colonized before 1000 B.C. by Dorians from Árgos. By the 7th cent. B.C. it was dominated by the three city-states of Camirus, Lindus, and Ialysus, all commercial centers. In the early 7th cent. Rhodes established Gela, in Sicily, as its principal colony; other colonies were founded on the eastern coast of Italy and in Spain. Rhodes retained its independence until the Persian conquest in the late 6th cent. B.C. and joined (c.500 B.C.) the Ionian revolt that led to the Persian Wars. Rhodes later joined the Delian League (led by Athens) but fell away from Athens in 411 B.C. during the Peloponnesian War. In 408 B.C. the three city-states of Rhodes united in a confederacy, whose capital was the newly founded city of Rhodes.

The island was occupied by Macedon in 332 B.C., but it asserted its independence after the death of Alexander the Great (323 B.C.) and entered the period of its greatest prosperity, power, and cultural achievement. The arts and sciences flourished on the island; major figures included the painter Protogenes and the astronomer Hipparchus. However, in the 2d cent. B.C. its commerce—and hence its power—declined sharply, and Rhodes became a minor ally of Rome. The island became involved in Rome's civil wars of the 1st cent. B.C., and in 43 B.C. it was seized and sacked by Caius Cassius, the Roman conspirator. At the same time, Rhodes was the seat of a famous school of rhetoric. Julius Caesar studied on the island.

Through the early Christian era Rhodes retained a reputation for the high quality of its literary output. Rhodes remained in the Byzantine Empire until the capture of Constantinople (1204) during the Fourth Crusade. It then passed under local lords, was held by Genoa (1248–50), was annexed (1256) by the emperor of Nicaea, and was conquered (c.1282) by the Knights Hospitalers. The knights defended the island against Ottoman attack until 1522–23, when it was captured by the forces of Sulayman I. The island had prospered under the knights, but it was neglected by the Ottoman Empire. Rhodes, along with the other Dodecanese, was taken by Italy from the Ottomans in 1912 and was ceded by Italy to Greece in 1947.

The City of Rhodes

The modern city of Rhodes or Ródhos (1991 pop. 98,181), located at the northeastern tip of the island, is the capital of the Dodecanese prefecture and is an industrial center and port. It has a variety of light industries. It is near the site of ancient Rhodes, planned in 408 B.C. by Hippodamus of Miletus. After repulsing a siege by Demetrius I of Macedon in 305 B.C., the citizens of ancient Rhodes erected (292–280 B.C.) in the harbor the Colossus of Rhodes, a bronze statue of Helios counted as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The colossus was destroyed in 224 B.C. by an earthquake. Rhodes declined in the 2d cent. B.C. with the rise of the free port of Delos. The present city was built largely by the Knights Hospitalers.

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Rhodes

 Greek Ródhos

Island of Greece. It is the largest island of the Dodecanese group and the most easterly in the Aegean Sea. Its main city, Rhodes (pop., 2001: 53,709), lies at the northern tip of the island. The earliest known settlers were the Dorians c. 1000 BC. During the Classical period the island's affiliations vacillated between Athens, Sparta, and Persia in attempts to preserve a balance of power. A devastating earthquake c. 225 BC destroyed the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. In the medieval period Rhodes was occupied by the Byzantines, Muslims, and Knights of St. John (see Knights of Malta). The knights converted the island into a fortress and held it for two centuries until 1523, when the Turks took control. In 1912 it was taken from Turkey by Italy, and in 1947 it was awarded by treaty to Greece. A year-round tourist industry has brought prosperity to the island.

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Rhodes¹

Cecil John. 1853--1902, British colonial financier and statesman in South Africa. He made a fortune in diamond and gold mining and, as prime minister of the Cape Colony (1890--96), he helped to extend British territory. He established the annual Rhodes scholarships to Oxford

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Rhodes²

1. a Greek island in the SE Aegean Sea, about 16 km (10 miles) off the Turkish coast: the largest of the Dodecanese and the most easterly island in the Aegean. Capital: Rhodes. Pop.: 117 007 (2001). Area: 1400 sq. km (540 sq. miles)

2. a port on this island, in the NE: founded in 408 bc; of great commercial and political importance in the 3rd century bc; suffered several earthquakes, notably in 225, when the Colossus was destroyed. Pop.: 41 000 (latest est.)

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Rhodes 

(also Rodhos), a Greek island in the eastern Mediterranean, in the Sporades group. Located 18 km from Asia Minor. Area, 1,404 km². The island’s coast is only slightly irregular. The highest point on the island is Mount Attavyros (1,215 m). The island is composed mainly of limestones and marbles. There are small forests of pine, cypress, and evergreen oak and areas covered by Mediterranean vegetation. In the lowlands near the sea there are vineyards, gardens, and citrus and olive groves. Sardines, mackerel, and tuna are caught and sponges are harvested in the coastal waters. The island has tourist and health resorts. The city of Rhodes is on the island.

Rhodes is one of the centers of Aegean culture. The island’s cities engaged in maritime commerce and participated during the eighth and seventh centuries B.C. in the colonization of Sicily, North Africa, and other territories. During the Greco-Persian Wars of 500-449 B.C., Rhodes was captured by Persia; later, it entered the Delian League. In 408–405 B.C., the island’s cities united into a single polis. Ancient Rhodes was a developed, slaveholding state headed by an oligarchy of merchant-craftsmen and farmers. In A.D. 44, Rhodes was conquered by Rome and became part of the Roman province of Asia. From the end of the fourth to the 13th century it belonged to the Byzantine Empire; at the beginning of the 14th century it was seized by the Knights Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem; and in the 16th century it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. In the years 1912–47, Rhodes was a possession of Italy. According to the provisions of the peace treaty with Italy, signed on Feb. 10, 1947, the island passed into the possession of Greece.

Rhodes is rich in monuments and works of art of various epochs. Many works of ancient art have been preserved, for example, the remains of a temple of Aphrodite in the city of Rhodes, which dates from the third century B.C. In the seventh century B.C., a Rhodes school of painted ceramics developed. At the end of the fifth century B.C., the island’s cities, among them Rhodes (408-407 B.C.), were built according to the plans of Hippodamus. Between the third and first centuries B.C. a Rhodes school of sculpture developed, which produced the statue dedicated to Helios known as the Colossus of Rhodes. The statue was erected in 285 B.C. and destroyed by an earthquake in 224 B.C. Another work of this school is the Laocoon group. Medieval monuments include Byzantine churches (11th–15th centuries), buildings constructed by the Knights Hospitalers of St. John of Jerusalem (14th–16th centuries), and examples of Muslim architecture (16th–19th centuries).

REFERENCES

Kolobova, K. M. Iz istorii rannegrecheskogo obshchestva (O. Rodos IX—VII vv. do n.e.). Leningrad, 1951.
Selivanov, V. Ocherki drevnei topografii Rodosa. Moscow, 1963.
Clara Rhodos, vols. 1–10. Rhodes, 1928–41.

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Rhodes 

(also Rodhos), main city and port of the Dodecanese islands in Greece. The city is located on the island of Rhodes, in the Aegean Sea. Population, 32,000 (1971). Rhodes is a commercial center; its industries include the processing of agricultural products and fishing.