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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: RAY-RHU |
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RHODES , the most easterly of the islands of the Aegean Sea, about ro m. S. of Cape Alypo in Asia Minor. It forms, with the islands of Syme, Casos, Carpathos, Castelorizo, Telos and Charki, one of the four sanjaks into which the Archipelago vilayet of Turkey is divided. The governor-general of the vilayet resides at the town of Rhodes. The length of the island is about 45 M. from N.E. to S.W., its greatest breadth 22 m., and its area nearly 424 sq. m. The population of the island comprises 7000 Moslems, 21,000 Christians, and 2000 Jews. The island is diversified in its surface, and is traversed from north to south by an elevated mountain range, the highest pint of which is called Atairo (anc. Atabyris or Atabyrium) (4560 ft.). It commands a view of the elevated coast of Asia Minor towards the north, and of the Archipelago, studded with its numerous islands, on the north-west; while on the south-west is seen Mount
Rhodes was famed in ancient times for its delightful climate, and it still maintains its former reputation. The winds are liable to little variation; they blow from the west, often with great violence, for nine months in the year, and at other times from the north; and they moderate the summer heats, which are chiefly felt during the months of July and August, when the hot winds blow from the coast of Anatolia. Rhodes, in addition to its. fine climate, is blessed with a fertile soil, and produces a variety of the finest fruits and vegetables. Around the villages are extensive cultivated fields and orchards, containing fig, pomegranate and orange trees. On the sloping hills carob trees, and others both useful and agreeable, still grow abundantly; the vine also holds its place, and; produces a species of wine which was highly valued by the ancients, though it seems to have degenerated greatly in modern times. The valleys afford rich pastures, and the plains produce every species of grain. The commerce of the island has been of late years increasing at a rapid rate. Many British manufactures are imported by indirect routes, through Smyrna, Constantinople, Beyrout and other places. Cotton
establishment of steam navigation direct to the island, which is now visitedregularly by French and Austrian steamers, as well as by some from England to Symrna.The only town of any importance in the island is the capital , Rhodes, which stands at the north-east extremity. It rises in an imposing manner from the sea, on a gentle slope in the form of an amphitheatre. It is surrounded with walls and towers, and defended by a large moated castle of great strength. These fortifications are all the work of the Knights of St John. The interior of the city does not correspond to its outward appearance. No trace exists of the splendour of the ancient city, with its regular streets, well-ordered plan and numerous public buildings. The modern city of Rhodes is in general the work of the Knights of St John, and has altogether a medieval aspect. The picturesque fortifications also by which the city is surrounded remain almost unaltered as they were in the 15th century. The principal buildings which remain are the church of St John, which is become the principal mosque; the hospital, which has been transformed into public granaries
marbles
The pnly relics of classical antiquity are the numerous inscribed altars and bases of statues, as well as architectural fragments, which are found scattered in the courtyards and gardens of the houses in the extensive suburbs which now surround the town, the whole of which were comprised within the limits of the ancient city. The foundations also of the moles that separate the harbours are of Hellenic work, though the existing moles were erected by the Knights of St John. Rhodes has two harbours. The lesser of these lies towards the east, and its entrance is obstructed by a barrier of rocks, so as to admit the entrance of but one ship at a time. It is sufficiently sheltered, but by the negligence of the Turks the sand has been suffered to accumulate until it has been gradually almost choked up. The other harbour is larger, and also in a bad condition; here small ships may anchor, and are sheltered from the west winds, though they are exposed to the north and north-east winds. The two harbours are separated by a mole which runs obliquely into the sea. At the eastern entrance is the fort of St Elmo, with a lighthouse. History.It is as yet difficult to determine the part which Rhodes played in prehistoric days during the naval predominance of the neighbouring island of Crete; but archaeological remains dating from the later Minoan age prove that the early Aegean culture maintained itself there comparatively unimpaired until the historic pefiod. A similar conclusion may be drawn
The history of Rhodes during the Persian wars is quite obscure. In the 5th century the three cities were enrolled in the Delian League, and democracies became prevalent. In 412 the island revolted from Athens and became the head-quarters of the Peloponnesian fleet. Four years later the in-habitants for the most part abandoned their former residences and concentrated in the newly founded city of Rhodes. This town, which was laid out on an exceptionally fine site according to a scientific plan by the architect Hippodamus of Miletus, soon rose to considerable importance, and attracted much of the Aegean and Levantine commerce which had hitherto been in Athenian hands. In the 4th century its political development was arrested by constant struggles between oligarchs and democrats, who in turn brought the city under the control of Sparta (412-395, 391-378), of Athens (395-391, 378-357), and of the Carian dynasty of Maussollus (357-340). It seems that about 340 the island was conquered for the Persian king by his Rhodian admiral Mentor; in 332 it submitted to Alexander the Great. Upon Alexander's death the people expelled their Macedonian garrison, and henceforth not only maintained their independence but acquired great political influence. The expansion of Levantine trade which ensued in the Hellenistic age brought especial profit to Rhodes, whose standard of coinage and maritime law became widely accepted in the Mediterranean. Under a modified type of democracy, in which the chief
chief
In the days of its greatest power Rhodes became famous as a centre of pictorial and plastic art; it gave rise to a school of eclectic oratory whose chief representative was Apollonius Molon, the teacher of Cicero; it was the birthplace of the Stoic philosopher Panaetius; the home of the poet Apollonius Rhodius and the historian Posidonius. Protogenes embellished the city with his paintings, and Chares of Lindus with the celebrated colossal statue of the sun-god, which was 105 ft. high. The colossus stood for fifty-six years, till an earthquake prostrated it in 224 B.C. Its enormous fragments continued to excite wonder in the time of Pliny, and were not removed till A.D. 656, when Rhodes was conquered by the Saracens, who sold the remains for old metal to a dealer, who employed nine hundred camels to carry them away. The notion that the colossus once stood astride over the entrance to the harbour is a medieval fiction. During the later Roman empire Rhodes was the capital of the province of the islands. Itshistory under the Byzantine rule is uneventful,but for some temporary occupations by the Saracens (653-658, 717718), and the gradual encroachment of Venetian traders since io82. In the 13th century the island stood as a rule under the control of Italian adventurers, who were, however, at times compelled to acknowledge the over-lordship of the emperors of Nicaea, and failed to protect it against the depredations of Turkish corsairs. In 1309 it was conquered by the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem at the instigation of the pope and the Genoese, and converted into a great fortress for the protection of the southern seas against the Turks. Under their mild and just rule both the native Greeks and the Italian residents were able to carry on a brisk trade. But the piratical acts of these traders, in which the knights themselves sometimes joined, and the strategic position of the island between Constantinople and the Levant, necessitated its reduction by the Ottoman sultans. A siege in 148o by Mahomet II. led to the repulse of the Turks with severe losses; after a second investment, during which Sultan Suleiman I. is said to have lost 90,000 men out of a force of 200,000, the knights evacuated Rhodes under an honourable capitulation (1522). The population henceforth dwindled in con-sequence of pestilence and emigration, and although the island recovered somewhat in the 18th century under a comparatively lenient rule it was brought to a very low ebb owing to the severity of its governor during the Greek revolution. The sites of Lindus, Ialysus, and Camirus, which in the most ancient times were the principal towns of the island, are clearly marked, and the first of the three is still occupied by a small town with a medieval castle, both of them dating from the time of the knights, though the castle occupies the site of the ancient acropolis, of the walls of which considerable remains are still visible. There are no ruins of any importance on the site of either Ialysus or Camirus, but excavations at the latter place have produced valuable and interesting results in the way of ancient vases and other antiquities, which are now in the British Museum. Rhodes was again famous for its pottery in medieval times; this was a lustre ware at first imitated from Persian, though it afterwards developed into an independent style of fine colouring and rich variety of design.See Pindar, 7th Olympian Ode; Diodorus v. 55-59, xiii.-xX. passim; Polybius
Cambridge , 1885), Rhodes in Modern Times (Cambridge , 1887) ; C. Schumacher, De republica Rhodiorum commentatio (Heidelberg, 1886) ; H. van Gelder, Geschichte der alien Rhodier (Hague, 1900) ; B. V. Head, Historia Numorum (Oxford, 1887), pp. 539-542; and Baron de Balabre, Rhodes of the Knights (1909).(E. H. B.; E.GR.; M. O. B. C.) End of Article: RHODES If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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