Rhodes

Rhodes, the largest of the Dodecanese group of Greek islands, is located in the southeastern Aegean Archipelago.  

The largest city on the island is called Rodos.  According to Greek mythology when the Gods of Olympus divided Earth, the island was submerged and Helios who was away did not get a lot.  Upon his return Zeus wanted to rectify the error.  While the issue was debated among the Gods, Apollo saw the island of Rhodes surfacing from the sea, requested it and became his.  Since that time the island is called “Helios nymph” and because of her patron god, the sun bathes it with its warm rays on most of the days throughout the year.  The first inhabitants of the island, who were called Telchines (Greek: Τελχῖνες) took their name from greek verb θελγω that means to attract.  They had superhuman powers as they could change their appearance at will, attract clouds and rain on demand.  The island prospered throughtout its history and was home for  one of the Seven Wonders of Antiquity, the statue of the Colossus of Rhodes. 

Lindos is an archeological site at the island of Rhodes founded by the Dorians about the 10th century BC. In classical times a large temple of Athena dominated the acropolis of Lindos while in the Hellenistic and Roman times more buildings were added. In early medieval times these buildings fell into disuse, and in the 14th century they were partly overlaid by a massive fortress built by the Knights of St John to defend the island against the Ottomans.  The influence of the knights on Rhodes was significant so more about their story in a future post.

One of the best ways to travel the small island roads is on Vespa the legendary Italian scooter.  I used this mode of transportation when I visited the island.  I had a great time until the front wheel hit a boulder causing the scooter to end in a ditch and I in the middle of the road.  Luckily no cars were coming on either direction so I am still around to write about my travels.  An alternate and safer mode of transportation is by donkey as two young travellers discovered, describe and depict in the post Oh, The Places You'll Go:Part II

The Colossus of Rhodes

One of the Seven Wonders in classical antiquity was the Colossus of Rhodes.  It was described by several authors of that era most notably Antipater of Sidon (Ἀντίπατρος Σιδώνιος), Philo of Byzantium (Φίλων ὁ Βυζάντιος), Herodotus (Ἡρόδοτος) and most recently by a young traveller in his blog under the title the Colossus of Rhodes.

The statue was constructed in 292 BC and was likely destroyed by an earthquake in 226 BC.  Legend has it that it straddled the entrance to the harbor of the island and stood 30 meters or 98 feet high.  An interesting comparison is with the Statue of Liberty that was constructed two millennia later and stands 93 meters or 305 feet high in New York’s harbor.    

A modern traveller finds statues of a male and a female deer standing on pedestals at the entrance of the harbor of island of Rhodes as is also depicted in the post about the Colossus.