Rhodes (Capital of the island)

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

the capital of the island of Rhodes, situated at its N. E. extremity. It is defended by towers about 800 feet distant from each other, while in the center of the mole there is a square bastion 120 feet high. Rhodes presents at present very few vestiges of its ancient grandeur; its streets are narrow and reg winding, and devoid of elegance larity. It has two good harbors, separated only by a mole running obliquely out into the sea. The principal manufactures are red leather and shoes. It was at the entrance to the harbor of this city that stood the celebrated COLOSSUS OF RHODES (q. v.). Pop. about 3,000. About half are Greeks; the rest Turks and Jews. The ancient Rhodes was taken possession of by a branch of the Doric race, who held it at the time of the Trojan War, 1184 b. c. It was of small political importance among the states of Greece till the city of Rhodes was built and made the capital of the island, 408 Pom- B. C. In the war between Cæsar and pey, the Rhodians, who had long held supremacy at sea, took part with the former 50 b. c.; and continuing their aid to Cassius, were defeated by the Romans and completely subjugated, 42 B. c. They then held their liberties by the caprice of the emperors, and their city was made, by Constantine I., the metropolis of the taken Provincia Insularum in 330. It was by Chosroes II., King of Persia, in 316; 651; and by the by the Saracens in Knights of St. John, Aug. 15, 1309. Moineffectually hammed II. besieged it in 1480, and the Sultan Solyman I. compelled vigorous siege it to capitulate after a and brave defense that lasted from June to December, 1522. An earthquake which occurred in Rhodes, April 22, 1863, destroyed 2,000 houses, and swallowed up thousands or otherwise killed and wounded of the inhabitants. South