Rhodes, an island of the Mediterranean belonging to Turkey, formerly an important, wealthy, and independent state of ancient Greece, lies 12 miles distant off the south-west coast of Asia Minor. It is 49 miles long and 21 broad, and is traversed in the direction of its greatest length—north-east to south-west—by a chain of mountains, which in Mount Artemira (the ancient Atabyris) reach a height of 4070 feet. The soil is on the whole fertile, and produces wine, oranges, figs, olives, and other fruits. Nevertheless, much land lies waste, and the population is decreasing—34,000 in 1843; 28,000 in 1890, all Greeks except 7000 Turks and 2500 Jews. The harbours are neglected, and the trade is inconsiderable (£140,000 a year). Sponges are the most valuable article of export.
The first historic inhabitants of ancient Rhodos were Dorian Greeks from Argos. Situated between the three ancient continents, a position highly favourable to the development of commercial enterprise, the Rhodians at an early period became very prosperous and affluent. Their three most ancient towns were Lindus, Ialysus, and Camirus, and they planted numerous colonies not only on the neighbouring shores, but also on the coasts of Italy, Sicily, and Spain. With Cos and Cnidus these three towns formed the Doric Pentapolis, a religious league. The island submitted to the Persians in 490 B.C., but was freed from their yoke by Themistocles after the battle of Salamis; the Athenian supremacy, however, soon took the place of the Persian. Athens and Sparta supported the democratic and the oligarchical parties in the island respectively, and struggled one against the other for power over it. But in 404 B.C. Lindus, Ialysus, and Camirus founded the city of Rhodes (see below); after this event the history of the island is comprised in that of the new city. The internecine struggle between the oligarchical party (backed by Sparta) and the democratic (supported by Athens) went on until Rhodes submitted to Alexander of Macedon in 332 B.C.; but after his death the Rhodians revolted again. Then began their most prosperous period; they became the first naval power in the Aegean, their ships being well built, and always splendidly manned and manœuvred. As allies of the Romans, they opposed the Macedonians, and later the empire of Syria, especially Antiochus the Great; but on the whole they preserved a steady neutrality. Later still they won great glory by beating off Mithridates the Great, who laid siege (88 B.C.) to the city. After coquetting with Ptolemy, the Rhodians finally sided with Cæsar; but, venturing to oppose Cassius, the city was plundered by him (43 B.C.), and her ships all carried off or destroyed. This struck a fatal blow at her naval power. Under Vespasian Rhodes was made a Roman province, and continued so, subject to Byzantium after the division of the Roman empire, until it was captured by the Saracens in 653 (or 672); who kept it, however, only five or six years. When the Crusades began, Rhodes was a convenient stopping-place for the Christian fleets. In 1125 it was plundered by the Venetians; in 1204 a Rhodian chief asserted the independence of the island, but thirty years later he felt compelled to put himself under the sovereignty of Venice. In 1248 the city was surprised by the Genoese, but they were soon turned out by the Byzantines, and so Rhodes came back to the eastern emperor. In 1309, after a three years' siege, the city fell into the hands of the Knights Hospitalers (q.v.) of St John, and they made it their headquarters. The Turks besieged them there in 1480, and again in 1522-23; on both occasions there was terrible fighting, the Turkish losses being 25,000 and 90,000 to 100,000 men during the two sieges respectively. The Knights, who under their grand-master D'Aubusson (q.v.) beat off their enemies in 1480, were compelled, in spite of their valour and the skill of their grand-master, De Lisle Adam, to capitulate on honourable terms in 1523; they sailed away to Crete. The island has remained a Turkish possession ever since. The city suffered severely from earthquakes in 227 B.C. (when the Colossus was thrown down), 157 A.D., 515, 1364, 1481, 1851, 1856, and 1863.
The city stood at the northern extremity of the island, on the slopes of a natural amphitheatre, and was built on a regular plan, the unity and harmony of its architecture being due to the circumstance that it was the work of one man, Hippodamus of Miletus, the builder of the Piræus. It was girt about by strong walls, surmounted by towers, and was provided with two excellent harbours. At the entrance of one of its ports stood the gigantic statue of Helios, the Colossus (q.v.). Besides this statue, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, 3000 others, of which 100 were colossal, adorned the city, even in the 1st century A.D. The city was rebuilt on the same scale of architectural splendour after each successive destruction by the earthquakes. The arts were prosecuted with assiduity, the city being remarkable for the number and excellence of its paintings, sculptures, and statues; the most important survivals are the Laocoön (q.v.) and the Farnese Bull (at Naples); and intellectual activity manifested itself here long after it had declined in most parts of Greece. Parrhasius and Protogenes are celebrated amongst the painters of Rhodes, Lysippus, Chares, Agesander, Polydorus, Athenodorus amongst her sculptors, and Cleobulus (one of the seven wise men), Timocreon (the scurrilous poet), Eudemus (the Aristotelian), Panætius (the philosopher), and others amongst her writers. Her school of rhetoric was very famous. The first meridian of ancient geographers passed through Rhodes. The island produced also many celebrated athletes. The existing city dates for the most part from the period of the Knights' occupation. The streets are narrow and winding, the houses solidly built, with flat roofs; but the famous street of the Knights, running down to the harbour, is long and comparatively wide. The principal buildings that survive are the church of St John (now a mosque, but in part destroyed by a gunpowder explosion in 1856), the Knights' hospital, and the grand-master's palace. The city walls still stand. Rhodes is the seat of a Greek archbishop. Pop. 10,000. 'Rhodian Law' was a code compiled by the ancient Rhodians while they held the sovereignty of the sea. See Torr's Rhodes in Ancient Times (1885) and Rhodes in Modern Times (1887).