Listed 9 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "DODEKANISSOS Island complex GREECE".
In the following WebPages you can find interactive maps with all the monuments and museums of the Prefecture, with relevant information and photos.
Physical Description
The Dodecanese (Twelve Islands) are a group of islands in the southeastern
Aegean just off the coast of Asia Minor. Extending from Patmos to Rhodes, the
islands make up the southern Sporades (see Sporades). The modern district is divided
into four countries: Kalymnos, which includes Patmos, Lipsos, Leros, and Astypalaia;
Karpathos, which includes Kasos; Kos, which includes Nisyros; and Rhodes, which
includes Telos, Syme, Chalki and Megisti. The name Dodecanese is a thoroughly
modern term and was applied in 1908 when twelve "privileged" islands of the Eastern
Aegean, excluding Rhodes, Kos and Lipsos, united to protest against the deprivation
by Turkey of special privileges that they had enjoyed since the sixteenth century
under Suleiman the Magnificent (1495-1566). The name Dodecanese stuck despite
the fact that the Dodecanese are made up of fourteen islands which have independent
local governments.
As a group, the Dodecanese enjoy a favorable climate because the heat
of the long summers is alleviated by westerly winds. Kasos lacks water, and has
always depended on fishing, while Karpathos exports olives, wine, and fruit. Rhodes,
the largest island, is rich in agricultural produce and exports of oil, wine,
fruits, and vegetables. Rhodes also boasts a peak, Mt. Atavyros (1215 m), which
has long served as a conspicuous landmark for mariners. In antiquity Mt. Atavyros
was forested with cypress and conifers which were used extensively for ship building.
Rhodes is a diamond shaped island, and it measures 78 km in length
and 30 km in width, making it the fourth largest island in Greece, preceded only
by Crete, Euboea, and Lesbos. It is part of the volcanic island arc that extends
from the Peloponnese through Crete and Karpathos to Asia Minor. Rhodes is only
20 km from the mainland of Asia Minor. The rock-rose is so plentiful and exuberant
that Rhodes is often called the "Island of Roses."
Its harbors on the east coast not only control entry into the Aegean
Sea but also form the meeting-point of the sea routes converging from the Greek
peninsula and islands, from Phoenicia and the southeast, and from the Hellespont
along the coast of Asia Minor.
History
Mycenaean Greeks settled on the Island of Rhodes in c. 1400 B.C.,
and were followed by Dorian-speaking Greeks after c. 1100 B.C. The Dorians formed
three city-states on the island: Ialysos, Lindos, Kameiros. From the early the
fifth century B.C. until c. 412-411, Rhodes was a member of the Athenian Confederacy.
Shortly after this (c. 408 B.C.) a unified state was established on the island
with Rhodes as its capital, but the three original cities kept as much local autonomy
as possible. When Rhodes withstood an attack by the Macedonian King Demetrios
Poliorketes in 305 B.C., a colossal bronze statue of the sun god was erected by
the sculptor Chares, a pupil of Lysippos, at the entrance to Mandraki harbor:
the famous Colossus of Rhodes served as a lighthouse. The statue was destroyed
by an earthquake in 227 B.C., making it the shortest lived of the seven wonders
of the ancient world. In the second century B.C. Rhodes became a center of intellectual
life with the establishment of a university which was attended in the first century
by Cicero, Pompey and Caesar. The Rhodian School of sculptors also flourished
in the first century. The prosperity of Rhodes throughout history is attributed
to trade.
Sites
The town of Rhodes, on the northernmost tip of the island, has been
the capital since 408 B.C. Within the town is a third century B.C. Temple of Aphrodite,
and a Hospital of the Knights dated to c. A.D. 1440-89 which currently serves
as an archaeological museum. Although most of the buildings in the town of Rhodes
are from the Middle Ages, the ancient acropolis can still be distinguished. It
lies to the southwest of the old town, and was once occupied by a temple to Apollo,
and a second century B.C. theater and stadium. One of the three original Dorian
cities, bearing the name of Ialysos, sites 15 km inland from the Classical and
Medieval town of Rhodes.
Lindos, the chief city of the three original cities on the island
of Rhodes, is situated in the middle of the east coast. The acropolis occupies
a rectangular outcrop of rock accessible only from the north side. The sanctuary
of Athena Lindia takes up most of the area, and includes a large double-winged
stoa (c. 280 B.C.), a propylaea (c. 407 B.C.), and a small temple which was rebuilt
in 384 B.C. after a fire destroyed the original structure. Southeast of the acropolis
sits the ancient town of Lindos which includes a temple dating from between the
second and first centuries B.C.. There is also a theater. On the west coast of
Rhodes sits the third of the three original cities, Kameiros. The city had neither
fortifications nor an acropolis, it did have, however, an agora, a Doric temple,
a peripteral temple to Athena, and a temenos and a Doric stoa, both from the third
century B.C.
Kos is the second largest island in the Dodecanese group after Rhodes,
measuring 43 km in length and between 2 and 11 km in width. The northeastern tip
of Kos comes within 4 km of the Halicarnassus peninsula in Turkey while the eastern
part of the island is hilly and rises to its height on Mt. Oromedon (846 km).
The most fertile land on Kos is on the northern slopes of Mt. Oromedon and in
the plain around the capital city, Kos. Kos is famous for the Asklepieion, a sanctuary
of Asclepius, which lies 6 km from the main town. The island was renowned for
its physicians in antiquity.
Patmos is the northernmost of the Dodecanese, and is volcanic in origin.
A narrow isthmus on the north side of the island, on which the harbor lies, separates
the northern and southern portions of Patmos. Patmos is famous for the Monastery
of St. John. It is said that St. John wrote the Book of Revelation there in the
late first century A.D.
Text by: Curtis Runnels
This text is cited May 2003 from Perseus Project URL bellow, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!