RHODES 



RHODIAN LAW 



693 



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 be- 

 tween the three ancient continents, a position 

 highly favourable to the development of com- 

 mercial enterprise, the Rhodians at an early period 

 became very prosperous and affluent. Their three 

 most ancient towns were Liming, lalysns, 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 Penta- 

 polis, 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 Pei'xian. 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. Liming, 

 lalysus, 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 ^Egean, their ships being 

 well built, and always splendidly manned and 

 manoeuvred. As allies of the Romans, they 

 opposed the Macedonians, and later the empire of 

 Syria, especially Antiochus the Great ; but on the 

 w'hole they preserved a steady neutrality. Later 

 still they won great glory by beating off Mith- 

 ridates the Great, who laid siege (88 B.C. ) to the 

 city. After coquetting with Ptolemy, the Rhodians 

 finally sided with Ca-sar ; 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, ubject to Byzantium after the 

 division of the Roman empire, until it was captured 

 by the Saracens in 653 (or 672) ; who kept it, how- 

 ever, only five or six years. When the Crusades 

 l>egan, 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 sur- 

 prised 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 Hospitallers (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 g7'and- 

 master, De Lisle Adam, to capitulate on honour- 

 able 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 cir- 

 cumstance that it was the work of one man, 

 Hippodamns of Miletus, the builder of the Pirreus. 

 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 de- 

 struction by the earthquakes. The arts were 

 prosecuted with assiduity, the city being remark- 

 able for the number and excellence of its paintings, 

 sculptures, and statues ; the most important sur- 

 vivals are the Laocoon (q.v.) and the rarnese 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, Lysip- 

 pus, Chares, Agesander, Polydorus, Athenodorus 

 amongst her sculptors, and Cleobulus (one of the 

 seven wise men), Timocreon (the scurrilous poet), 

 Eudemus (the Aristotelian ), Pametius ( the philo- 

 sopher), 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 gun- 

 powder explosion in 1856), the Knights' hospital, 

 and the grand-master's palace. The city walls 

 still stand ; but the harbours are neglected and 

 partly choked with sand. Rhodes is the seat of a 

 Greek archbishop. There is a little trade. Pop. 

 about 10,000. See C. Terr's excellent Rhodes in 

 Ancient Times ( 1885) and Rhodes in Modern Times 

 ( 1887), where other books are referred to. 



Rhodes, the RT. HON. CECIL JOHN, statesman, 

 was born 5th July 1853, the fourth son of the vicar 

 of Bishop-Stortford in Hertfordshire, and after 

 attending the local grammar-school was sent for 

 his health to Natal, where his brother was a 

 planter. He subsequently went to the Kimberley 

 diamond diggings ; there he soon became con- 

 spicuous and amassed a fortune. He came back 

 to England and entered at Oriel College, Oxford, 

 and though his residence was cut short by ill- 

 health, he ultimately took his degree. He entered 

 the Cape House of Assembly as member for 

 Barkly. In 1884 General Gordon asked him to go 

 with him to Khartoum as secretary ; but Rhodes 

 had just taken uffioe in the Cape ministry. He 

 sent 10,000 to Mr Parnell to forward the cause 

 of Irish Home Rule. In 1890-94 he was prime- 

 minister of Cape Colony ; but even before this he 

 had become the ruling spirit in recent extensions 

 of British territory, as in securing the charter for 

 the British South Africa Company (see MATA- 

 BELELAND). Zambesia (q.v.) is not unfairly called 

 Rhodesia. For the Jameson raid into the Trans- 

 vaal, which he was believed to have prompted, see 

 JAMESON ( L. S. ). Since 1898 lie has strenuously 

 promoted an African Continental telegraph and a 

 Cape to Cairo railway. There is a ( eulogistic I Hing- 

 raphy and A)>f>reciation by ' Imperialist ' ( 1897 i. 



Rliodian Law was compiled by the Rhodians 



