Listed 6 sub titles with search on: History for wider area of: "RHODES Town DODEKANISSOS" .
RODOS (Ancient city) DODEKANISSOS
The present city was founded at the time of the Peloponnesian War by the same architect, as they say, who founded the Peiraeus.
...Also the inhabitants of the island of Rhodes left the cities of Ielysus, Lindus, and Cameirus and settled in one city, that which is now called Rhodes.
The island was inhabited as early as the late Neolithic period (4000
B.C.). In 408 B.C. the three major cities of the island - Ialyssos, Kamiros and
Lindos - founded the city of Rhodes. The three centuries that followed were the
golden age of Rhodes. Sea trade, skilled shipbuilders and the careful and open-minded
political and diplomatic manoeuvres of the city kept it strong and prosperous
until Roman times.
In the same period, Rhodes produced excellent artistic work. The most
celebrated of all was the Colossus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World,
made between 304 and 293 B.C. by the Lyndian sculptor Hares. The construction
of the Colossus took 12 years and was finished in 282 BC. For years, the statue,
representing their sun god Helios, stood at the harbour entrance, until a strong
earthquake hit Rhodes about 226 BC. The city was badly damaged, and the Colossus
was demolished.
The urban plan of ancient Rhodes reflects directly the urban and philosophical
ideas of the famous ancient Greek planner, Hippodamus. The street plan of the
ancient city is known due to decades of archaeological excavations. The building
blocks (insulae) measure 47.70X26.50 m and all have the same dimensions. They
included 3 houses each and were surrounded by streets 5-6 meters wide. Greater
units constituted areas surrounded by wider streets (8-11 meters). Every area
included 36 insulae or 108 houses. The ancient city had an extended and well-constructed
sewage system as well as a water supply network.
This extract is cited October 2004 from the Municipality of
Rodos URL, which contains image
Article by Diodorus of Sicily
In 305, Antigonus Monophthalmus, one of the Diadochi (successors of Alexander
the Great), sent out his son Demetrius Poliorcetes to capture the city and island of Rhodes.
It controlled the entrance to the Aegean
Sea, and its capture was necessary if Antigonus wanted to liberate Greece
and Macedonia. Diodorus of
Sicily tells about the siege
in his World History 20.81 and 20.100. The translation was made by M.M. Austin.
After this year Euxenippus became archon at Athens
[1] [...]. During his year of office war broke out between the Rhodians and Antigonus
for more or less the following reasons. The city of Rhodes had a powerful navy
and enjoyed the finest government in Greece,
and so was an object of competition between the dynasts and kings, as each sought
to win it over to his friendship. Seeing ahead where its advantage lay, it concluded
friendship with each of the protagonists separately and took no part in the wars
the dynasts fought against each other [2]. And so it happened that it was honored
by each of them with royal presents, and prospered greatly by remaining at peace
for a long time. It had reached such a peak of power that it took up on its own,
on behalf of the Greeks, the war against the pirates and cleared the sea of that
scourge.
Alexander, the most powerful man in human memory, honored it above
all cities, deposited there his will concerning the whole kingdom [3] and in general
admired it and enhanced its preeminence.
The Rhodians, then, by establishing friendship with all the dynasts,
kept themselves immune from any justifiable complaint, but their sympathies inclined
most towards Ptolemy. For it so happened that they derived the majority of their
revenues from the merchants sailing to Egypt and that in general their city was
sustained by that kingdom. [...]
The Rhodians, then, brought the war to a close after a siege of one
year. They honored with appropriate presents those who had shown bravery in the
face of danger and conferred freedom and citizenship on the slaves who had displayed
courage. They also set up statues of king Cassander and king Lysimachus, who although
they held second place in the general estimation had yet made a great contribution
to the salvation of the city [4].
But as for Ptolemy, they wished to repay his favor with an even greater
one, and sent sacred ambassadors to Africa to ask the oracle of Ammon whether
he advised the Rhodians to honor Ptolemy as a god. When the oracle had given its
assent they consecrated a square enclosure in the city, which they called the
Ptolemaeum, and constructed on each of its sides a galery 200 meters long. They
also rebuilt the theater, the parts of the wall that had collapsed and the other
buildings that had been destroyed, all far more beautifully than before.
Note 1: The year 305/304.
Note 2: Rhodes was a mercantile state, that benefited from peace.
Note 3: This is fiction.
Note 4: Cassander and Lysimachus had sent blockade-runners. The most famous
statue erected after the siege was not dedicated to these kings, but to the Sun:
the famous Colossus of Rhodes.
This text is cited August 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
While these things were going on (Mithridates massacre of Romans in
Asia) the Rhodians strengthened their walls and their harbor and erected engines
of war everywhere, receiving some assistance from Telmessus and Lycia. All the
Italians who escaped from Asia collected at Rhodes, among them Lucius Cassius,
the proconsul of the province. When Mithridates approached with his fleet, the
inhabitants destroyed the suburbs in order that they might not be of service to
the enemy. Then they put to sea for a naval engagement with some of their ships
ranged for an attack in front and some on the flank. Mithridates, who was sailing
around in a quinquereme, ordered his ships to extend their wing out to sea and
to quicken the rowing in order to surround the enemy, for they were fewer in number.
The Rhodians were apprehensive of this man?uvre and retired slowly. Finally they
turned about and took refuge in the harbor, closed the gates, and fought Mithridates
from the walls. He encamped near the city and continually tried to gain entrance
to the harbor, but failing to do so he waited for the arrival of his infantry
from Asia. In the meantime there was continual skirmishing going on among the
soldiers in ambush around the walls. As the Rhodians had the best of it in these
affairs, they gradually plucked up courage and kept their ships well in hand in
order to dart upon the enemy whenever they should discover an opportunity.
As one of the king's merchantmen was moving near them under sail a
Rhodian two-bank ship advanced against it. Many on both sides hastened to the
rescue and a severe naval engagement took place. Mithridates outweighed his antagonists
both in fury and in the multitude of his fleet, but the Rhodians circled around
and rammed his ships with such skill that they took one of his triremes in tow
with its crew and tackle and much spoil, and brought it into the harbor. Another
time, when one of their quinqueremes had been taken by the enemy, the Rhodians,
not knowing this fact, sent out six of their swiftest ships to look for it, under
command of their admiral, Demagoras. Mithridates despatched twenty-five of his
against them. Demagoras retired before them until sunset. When it began to grow
dark and the king's ships turned around to sail back, Demagoras fell upon them,
sunk two, drove two others into Lycia, and returned home on the open sea by night.
This was the result of the naval engagement, as unexpected to the Rhodians on
account of the smallness of their force as to Mithridates on account of the largeness
of his. In this engagement while the king was sailing about in his ship and urging
on his men, an allied ship from Chios ran against his in the confusion with a
severe shock. The king pretended not to mind it at the time, but later he punished
the pilot and the lookout man, and conceived a hatred for all Chians.
About the same time the land forces of Mithridates set sail in merchant
vessels and triremes, and a storm, blowing from Caunus, drove them toward Rhodes.
The Rhodians promptly sailed out to meet them, fell upon them while they were
still scattered and suffering from the effects of the tempest, captured some,
rammed others, and burned others, and took about 400 prisoners. Thereupon Mithridates
prepared for another naval engagement and siege at the same time. He built a sambuca,
an immense machine for scaling walls, and mounted it on two ships. Some deserters
showed him a hill that was easy to climb, where the temple of Zeus Atabyrius was
situated, surrounded by a low wall. He placed a part of his army in ships by night,
distributed scaling ladders to others, and commanded both parties to move silently
until they should see a fire signal given from Mount Atabyrius; and then to make
the greatest possible uproar, and some to attack the harbor and others the wall.
Accordingly they approached in profound silence. The Rhodian sentries knew what
was going on and lighted a fire. The army of Mithridates, thinking that this was
the fire signal from Atabyrius, broke the silence with a loud shout, the scaling
party and the naval contingent shouting all together. The Rhodians, not at all
dismayed, answered the shout and rushed to the walls in crowds. The king's forces
accomplished nothing that night, and the next day they were beaten off.
The Rhodians were most dismayed by the sambuca, which was moved against
the wall where the temple of Isis stands. It was operating with weapons of various
kinds, both rams and projectiles. Soldiers in numerous small boats circled around
it with ladders, ready to mount the wall by means of it. Nevertheless the Rhodians
awaited its attack with firmness. Finally the sambuca collapsed of its own weight,
and an apparition of Isis was seen hurling a great mass of fire down upon it.
Mithridates despaired of his undertaking and retired from Rhodes. (Appian, Mith. 4.22)
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