A large Aegean Greek island off the southwest coast of Anatolia, settled by Dorian Greeks who established three city-states, lalysos, Lindos and Kameiros. They produced local pottery, which was traded widely in the Greek world. In 408/7 BC they were united into one state, with its capital at Rhodes, a planned city with streets radiating from the harbour. At its wealthiest and most powerful in the period c323-167 BC Rhodes developed a new form of house colonnaded court (peristyle) with one row of columns higher than the others; provided a grand entrance to the Lindos acropolis sanctuary of Athena, and produced sculptures of quality, including a colossus overlooking the harbour (no longer surviving). Under the Romans it prospered less.
Rhodes became important again during the Crusader period, when it was chosen for an important military base. The crusaders first passed through Rhodes in 1097, but it was not until 1309 that the Knights of St John and the Knights Templar captured it from the Genoese and turned it into a strongly defended colony. For the next 213 years it remained in the control of the Knights, and Rhodes town still retains much of the appearance of those times. It was walled by a massive stone enceinte, while inside the knights of different orders built a series of hospitals, palaces and churches. The harbour still retains parts of its medieval defences. In 15 23 Rhodes fell to Suleiman the Magnificent.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied