Rhodes, The Island of Knights
Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. It's nickname The Island of the Knights, named after the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, who ruled the island from 1310 to 1522. Among the sun-seeking tourism and huge medieval capital the island offers plenty of excellent ancient acropolises and other classical antiquity sights.
1. Archaeological Museum of Rhodes
Photo from Flickr, copyright Jorge Lascar
The Archaeological Museum of Rhodes is housed in the monumental edifice that was the hospital of the Knights of Saint John. Construction of it was begun in 1440 and brought to completion in the time of the Grand Master d"Aubusson (1476-1503).
The Museum contains various collections of archaeological artifacts from various parts of Rhodes and the neighbouring islands, including the Statue of the Crouching Aphrodite (1st century BC), which was inspired by a famous prototype work created by the sculptor Doidalsas in the 3rd century BC, and the Pyxis of the Fikellura type (mid-6th century BC ...
2. Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes
Photo from Flickr, copyright Jorge Lascar
The Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes, also known as the Kastello, is one of the few examples of Gothic architecture in Greece. The site was previously a citadel of the Knights Hospitaller that functioned as a palace, headquarters, and fortress.
According to recent study, in the exact spot in which the palace exists today, there was the foundations of the ancient temple of the Sun-god Helios and probably that was the spot where Colossus of Rhodes stood in the Antiquity. The palace was originally built in the late 7th century as a Byzantine citadel. After the Knights Hospital ...
3. Acropolis of Lindos
Photo from Flickr, copyright Chris Parker2012
Above the modern town of rises the acropolis of Lindos, a natural citadel which was fortified successively by the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Knights of St John and the Ottomans. This is the most impressive archaeological site on the island of Rhodes, where the dramatic natural landscape is enhanced by the picturesque quality of the more modern town.
Lindos was founded by the Dorians led by the king Tlepolemus of Rhodes, who arrived in about the 10th century BC. It was one of six Dorian cities in the area known as the Dorian Hexapolis. The eastern location of Rhodes made it a nat ...
4. Medieval City of Rhodes
Photo from Flickr, copyright Vladislav Tep
From 1309 to 1523 Rhodes, the largest island of the Dodecanese, was occupied by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem who had lost their last stronghold in Palestine, in Acre, in 1291. They transformed the island capital into a fortified city able to withstand sieges as terrible as those led by the Sultan of Egypt in 1444 and Mehmet II in 1480. Rhodes finally fell in 1522 after a six-month siege carried out by Suleyman II.
The medieval city is located within a 4 km-long wall. It is divided with the high town to the north and the lower town south-southwest. Originally separated from the lower ...
5. Camirus
Photo from Flickr, copyright GlobalQuiz.org
The ancient city of Camirus was built on three levels. At the top of the hill was the acropolis, with the temple complex of Athena Kameiras and the stoa. A covered reservoir having a capacity of 600 cubic meters of water (enough for up to 400 families) was constructed about the sixth century BC. Later, the stoa was built over the reservoir. The stoa consisted of two rows of Doric columns with rooms for shops or lodgings in the rear.
The main settlement was on the middle terrace, consisting of a grid of parallel streets and residential blocks. On the lower terrace are found a Doric temple, p ...
6. Acropolis of Rhodes
Photo from Flickr, copyright Shadowgate
The Acropolis of Rhodes dates from the Classical Greek period (5th–3rd century BC) and is located approximately 3 kilometers from the centre of the city of Rhodes. The partially reconstructed part of the site consists of the Temple of Apollo (also, as alternatives Athena Polias and Zeus Polieus) below which is a stadium and a small theatre.
In 408 BC, towards the end of the Peloponnesian War, three of the island's ancient cities merged to build an entirely new one – the city of Rhodes – on a site in the Ialysia region of the island. Admired for its beauty and luxury, the city ...
7. Monolithos Castle
Photo from Flickr, copyright seligmanwaite
Outside the Monolithos village is the medieval castle, built on top of a 100m rock. It was built in 1480 by the Knights of Saint John to protect the island from attacks. In fact, this castle was never conquered. The Castle of Monolithos is widely ruined today but it offers great views of the sea and the two islets opposite to it. Inside the castle, there is a small working chapel dedicated to Agios Panteleimon (Saint Pantaleon).
Access to the castle is by a staircase cut into the rock. The steps, whilst not particularly steep, are quite slippery simply due to the numbers of visitors wearing t ...
8. City Walls of Rhodes
Photo from Flickr, copyright Jorge Lascar
The fortifications of the town of Rhodes are shaped like a defensive crescent around the medieval town and consist mostly in a modern fortification composed of a huge wall made of an embankment encased in stone, equipped with scarp, bastions, moat, counterscarp and glacis. The portion of fortifications facing the harbour is instead composed of a crenellated wall. On the moles towers and defensive forts are found.
They were built by the Knights Hospitaller of Saint John by enhancing the existing Byzantine walls starting from 1309, the year in which they took possession of the islan ...