Rhodes

Rhodes, an island and city in Asiatic Turkey, S.W. of Asia Minor, from which it is separated by a channel 10 miles broad. It has a length of 50 miles, and a breadth of 16. Mount Artemira in the centre is 4,068 ft. high, and from it the land, which is fertile, slopes in a series of plains to the sea. The climate is pleasant, and many rivulets water the land. Wine, figs, and oranges are exported, and corn, cotton, and olives are grown. Rhodes was a place of much interest in ancient times, especially for its maritime renown and its excellent maritime laws. Colonised first by a people from Western Asia, and then by Dorians, it sided some-1 times with Athens, sometimes wifck Sparta, in the

Peloponnesian Wars, being afterwards subdued by Alexander the Great and forming a province under the Romans. In 651 it became Mohammedan, and from 1309-1522 it was in the hands of the Knights of St. John, since Which period it has been Turk. The town, which is at the north-east end of the island, has many mosques, a convent, and the palace of the Grand Masters. The noted harbour is now half silted up, and is divided into two by a ruined mole, upon which is a lighthouse. The famous Colossus probably stood between the outer and inner harbours, and was overthrown in 278 B.C. by one of the earthquakes to which the island is subject. After lying for 800 years, it was broken up and the metal sold by the Saracens. Rhodes has undergone many sieges, the last being one of seven months by the Turks in 1522.