Ancient Settlement Of Rhodes

What Is The Ancient Settlement Of Rhodes?

Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece located in the south-eastern Aegaeon. It is the island group’s historical capital. The island played an important role in Greek and Mediterranean affairs throughout the Bronze Age, Archaic, and Classical periods and was very prosperous in Hellenistic times.

It is located northeast of Crete, southeast of Athens. It is also called The Island of the Knights, so named after the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, ruler of the island from 1310 to 1522.

In ancient times, Rhodes island was famous globally for the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Medieval Old Town of the City of Rhodes has been declared a World Heritage Site. Today, it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.

History

There is traces that the history of the island started in the Neolithic period, although not much remained from this period. During the 16^th and 15^th century BC, first the Minoans and then the Mycenaean Greeks invaded the island.

Finally, in the 8^th century BC, the island’s settlements started to form, with the coming of the Dorians, who built several cities. In 408 BC, the cities united to form one territory and the city of Rhodes was built as the new capital.

Rhodes became part of Alexander the Great’s empire in 332 BC. It developed into a maritime, commercial, and cultural centre. Famous schools of philosophy, science, literature, and rhetoric were started.

It was after Demetrius tried to besiege Rhodes that the huge statue of the sun god, Helios, since then called the Colossus of Rhodes, was erected.

During the 3^rd century BC, Rhodes successfully secured her independence and her commerce in the grain trade and flourished with little interference from other nations. This changed with the outbreak of the Third Macedonian War in 171–168 BC. In 164, Rhodes became an ally of Rome, ending it independence.

However, the island did still enjoy a certain economic prosperity and held a reputation as an important cultural centre, notably in sculpture and philosophy. Cicero studied in Rhodes, continuing the island’s literary tradition begun by one of its most famous sons, the writer and poet, Apollonius Rhodius.

In 395 AD the long Byzantine period began for Rhodes. From the early 8^th to the 12^th centuries, Rhodes was the centre for shipbuilding and commerce. In 1306–1310, the Byzantine era of the island’s history came to an end when the island was occupied by the Knights Hospitaller. The city was rebuilt into a model of the European medieval ideal. Many of the city’s famous monuments, including the Palace of the Grand Master, were built during this period.

In December 1522, Rhodes fell into the hands of Suleiman the Magnificent and stayed in its possession for nearly four centuries. Rhodes was seized from the Ottomans by Italy during the Italo-Turkish War in 1912 and in turn the Germans occupied the island in 1943. Two years later Otto Wagener surrendered Rhodes and the Dodecanese to the British. In 1947 all the islands were united with Greece.

Archaeological Remains

The bronze statue of the Colossus of Rhodes was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and stood at the harbour. It was completed in 280 BC but destroyed in an earthquake in 224 BC. No trace of the statue remains today.

The Palace of the Grand Master is probably the most iconic monument of the Hospitaller period. During its restoration in the 1930s, it obtained its present internal layout as the administrative headquarters and residence of the Italian governor during the period of the Italian occupation of the island.

In the apartments of the first floor, visitors can see the ancient mosaic floors installed by the Italians but originally obtained from secular and ecclesiastical monuments excavated in the island of Kosι.

Besides the mosaics, there are also antique columns and capitals, medieval furniture, mirrors and paintings, candelabra and other objects decorating the imposing edifice.

In a sequence of rooms on the ground floor, the permanent exhibition, Rhodes from the 4th c. AD to its Capture by the Ottoman Turks (1522), is housed. It contains representative finds of all kinds from archaeological excavations in the Medieval town.

Another permanent exhibition occupying part of the ground floor and the basement presents the ancient city of Rhodes through the archaeological finds from a half-century of excavation and scholarship on the subject.

Interest For Today

Rhodes town, although widely built upon in later periods, still shows the remains of temples, city walls, a stadium, odeum, and harbour constructions. Excavations have revealed a temple to Athena, stoas, an agora, and extensive private housing remains. lalysus displays Mycenaean tombs, temples to Athena Polias and Zeus Polieus, and a fountain house.

One of the more important archaeological sites on the island is at Lindus, that was once the capital of the island before Rhodes became the capital in about 408 BC. Here archaeologists found a temple to Athena Lindia. This was replaced with a new Doric temple in the 6th century BC during the reign of Cleoboulos. This temple was destroyed by fire, but another rebuilt in 342 BC.

A large propylon or gate and a monumental stairway were added to the sacred site around 300 BC. The remains of the theatre which originally had 26 rows of seats and a capacity for some 18 000 spectators is also of great interest. As is a temple to Dionysos, and rock-cut tombs.

All these monuments are testimony to the wealth and prestige once enjoyed by the island from its role as a trade hub in the eastern Mediterranean.

Location

The Ancient Settlement of Rhodes, Greece at the coordinates 36°10′N 27°56′E

Address: Τ.Κ. 85100, Rhodes, Rhodes (Prefecture of Dodekanissa)

Tourist Information

Access to the Ancient Settlement of Rhodes is free of charge. Drive to the main gates of the town and set of further by foot.

Telephone: +30 22413-65200
Fax: +30 22410 21954
Email: efadod@culture.gr

🇬🇷GREECE

🇬🇷 GREECE

🇬🇷GREECE