Rhodes Island
Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is also the island group’s historical capital. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the South Aegean administrative region. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Rhodes. It is located northeast of Crete, southeast of Athens.
Rhodes has several nicknames such as the island of the Sun due to its patron sun god Helios, The Pearl Island, and The Island of the Knights, named after the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, who ruled the island from 1310 to 1522.


Historically, Rhodes Island was very famous worldwide for the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Medieval Old Town of the City of Rhodes has been declared a World Heritage Site. Today, it is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.
The island has been known as Rodos in Greek throughout its history. It was also called Lindos. Other ancient names that the island was called was Rodhi, Telchinis, and Helias. The name of the island comes from the ancient Greek Rhodon (rose), and is sometimes called the island of roses. The island’s name might be derived from erod, Phoenician for a snake, since the island was home to many snakes in antiquity.

In Greek Mythology the name of the island derives from the nymph Rhodos who bore seven sons to the sun god Helios, the patron of the island. Three grandsons of these offspring were the heroes of the three principal cities on the island: Camirus, Ialysus, and Lindus which were named after them. In honor of Helios, Panhellenic games, the Halieia, were held on the island every five years, and each year a chariot and four horses were thrown into the sea as an offering to the god.
The Colossus of Rhodes
The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the Greek sun-god Helios, erected in the city of Rhodes, on the Greek island of the same name, by Chares of Lindos in 280 BC. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it was constructed to celebrate the successful defense of Rhodes city against an attack by Demetrius Poliorcetes, who has besieged it for a year with a large army and navy.
According to most contemporary descriptions, the Colossus stood approximately 70 cubits, or 33 meters high. It collapsed during the earthquake of 226 BC, although parts of it were preserved. By a certain oracle, the Rhodians did not build it again.
