an island in the Aegean Sea, belonging to the Turkish empire, lying off the S.W. coast of Asia Minor, between N. Lat. 35.52° and 36.28°, E. Long. 27.40° and 28.15°; about 10 miles S. of Cape Alepo. Its length is about 45 miles from N.E. to S.W., its greatest breadth 18 miles, and its area nearly 424 square miles.

The island is diversified in its surface, and contains in its centre an elevated mountain named Artemira (anciently Atabyris) which commands a view of the whole island. From this height there is a most extensive prospect of the island around its base; of the elevated coast of Asia Minor on the N.; on the N.W. the Archipelago, studded with its numerous islands; on the S.W. is seen Mount Ida in Crete, veiled in clouds; and on the S. and S.E. the vast expanse of waters which wash the African shore. Here and there on the island are seen ranges of moderately elevated hills, on which are found numbers of ancient pines, planted by the hand of nature. These forests were formerly very thick, but they are now greatly thinned by the Turks, who cut them down, and take no care to plant others in their place. On the farther side of the nearest range of hills the surface of the island falls lower, and several hills in the form of amphitheatres extend their bases as far as the sea.

Rhodes was famed in ancient times for its delightful climate, and it still maintains its former reputation. The air is pure and salubrious, and there is hardly a day throughout the year in which the sun is not visible. The winds are liable to little variation; they blow from the west often with great violence for nine months in the year, and at other times from the north; and they moderate the summer heats, which are chiefly felt during the months of July and August, when the hot winds blow from the coast of Anatolia.

addition to its fine climate, is blessed with a fertile soil, and produces a variety of the finest fruits and vegetables. Numerous streams and rivulets, which take their rise from the summit of Mount Artemira, water the surrounding plains and valleys of the island. The inhabitants have a great taste for gardens; and around the villages are several cultivated fields and orchards, containing fig, pomegranate, and orange trees. On the sloping hills carob-trees, and others both useful and agreeable, still grow abundantly; the vine also holds its place, and produces a species of wine which was highly valued by the ancients, though it seems to have degenerated greatly in modern times. The valleys afford rich pastures, and the plains produce every species of grain: the wheat is of an excellent quality; and, but for the extortions of its barbarian rulers, the island might be the seat of agriculture as well as commerce, and might export large quantities of corn.

The commerce of the island has been, since 1846, increasing at a rapid rate. Many British manufactures are imported by indirect routes, through Smyrna, Constantinople, Beyrouth, and other places. Cotton stuffs, calicoes, and gray linen are among the goods most in demand. It is not so much, however, the peasantry of the island who use these British goods, for they prefer their own homemade stuffs; but they are exported to the neighbouring coast of Anatolia, between Boundroum and Adalia, and thence conveyed into the interior. The following table exhibits the shipping and trade of Rhodes from 1851 to 1855:

| Year | Number of Vessels | Tonnage | Crews | Value of Imports | Value of Exports | |------|-------------------|---------|-------|-----------------|-----------------| | 1851 | 2031 | 160,027 | 9,130 | L39,561 | L15,477 | | 1852 | 2116 | 112,847 | 15,101| 140,721 | 30,770 | | 1853 | 2257 | 114,222 | 15,985| 143,577 | 22,337 | | 1854 | 2156 | 116,882 | 15,615| 187,545 | 109,923 | | 1855 | 2803 | 194,562 | 18,063| 181,704 | 108,884 |

The expansion of the trade has been very much owing to the establishment of steam navigation direct to the island. As yet there are no British steamers that call here; but there are many which ply regularly on this line under the French, Austrian, and Turkish flags.

The only town of any importance in the island is the capital, Rhodes, which stands at the north-east extremity. It rises in an imposing manner from the sea, on a gentle slope in the form of an amphitheatre. It is surrounded with walls and towers, and defended by a large moated castle of great strength. These fortifications are all the work of the Knights of St John. Above them rise the domes and minarets of the mosques, and the tuted stems of the palm-trees, which adorn this like most other oriental towns. The interior of the city does not correspond to its outward appearance. Those ancient streets which were laid out with such art and on so great a scale, and that uniform series of buildings which were monuments of taste, have been succeeded by narrow winding streets, and buildings without grace, ornament, or regularity. There are still some monuments which testify that the island was once possessed by the Knights of Rhodes, namely, their arms, which still adorn the fronts of several buildings; and their tombstones in the church of St John; the walls and towers also bear marks of their heroic resistance to the Ottoman arms. But there is no longer any monument of its grandeur in times of antiquity; there is no theatre, no magnificent temple or spacious portico. The statues and paintings for which Rhodes was famed in the early ages of Greece and Rome have all been removed. Not a vestige is to be seen of the Colossus, described as 70 cubits high, and reckoned one of the wonders of the world. The streets bear everywhere marks of desolation. One half of the houses in the city are in ruins, and one half in the suburbs are uninhabited, though those occupied by the Greek inhabitants are generally good stone buildings, surrounded with gardens well stocked with all the fruits of the climate. The principal buildings which remain are the church of St John, which is become the principal mosque; the hospital, whence the charity of the knights was liberally dispensed to the faithful from all quarters of the world, and which has been transformed into public granaries; the palace of the grand-master, now the residence of the pasha; and the senate-house, which still contains some marbles and ancient columns. Of the streets, the best and widest is a long street which is still called the Street of the Knights. It is perfectly straight, and formed of old houses, on which remain the armorial bearings of the members of the order. On some of these buildings are still seen the arms of the Popes and of some of the royal and noble houses of Europe.

Rhodes has at present two harbours. The least of these lies towards the east, and its entrance is obstructed by a barrier of rocks, so as to admit the entrance of but one ship at a time. It is sufficiently sheltered, but by the negligence of the Turks the sand has been suffered to accumulate until it has been gradually almost choked up. The other harbour is larger, and also in a bad condition; here frigates of thirty guns may anchor, and are sheltered from the west winds, though they are exposed to the north and north-east winds. The two harbours are separated by a mole which runs obliquely into the sea. At the eastern entrance is the fort of St Elmo, with a light-house; but the light is very feeble, and visible only a few miles. The town contains a Turkish library and three Mohammedan colleges. Manufactures of red leather and shoes are carried on here. Pop. about 15,000. The sites of Lindus, Jalysus, and Camirus, which in ancient times were the chief towns in the island, are now marked by insignificant villages, with a few remains of antiquity.

In the very earliest times the beauty and fertility of the island seem to have brought it into notice: it is said to have had several names; and the one that it has since retained signifies probably the Island of Roses, from πόρος, a rose, which was its symbol. After various poetical legends about its original inhabitants, we learn that it was colonized by the Dorians, who emigrated from their native land; and that its cities, Lindus, Jalysus, and Camirus, formed, along with Cos, Cnidus, and Halicarnassus, the Dorian Confederacy, or Hexapolis, worshipping at the common sanctuary of Apollo on the Triopian headland. The island was then divided among the three confederate towns, and soon attained a flourishing condition, sending out colonies to the coasts of Lycia, Cilicia, Sicily, Italy, Spain, and the Balearic Islands. It was not till a later period, however, that Rhodes became one of the great maritime and political powers in Greece. After the Persian wars it belonged to the Athenian confederacy, and remained in subjection to it for the most part of the Peloponnesian war. But in 412 the aristocratic party gained the ascendancy, and the Rhodians deserted the Athenian cause. In 408 the new capital, Rhodes, was built and peopled by the other three cities. The architect was Hippodamus of Miletus, who had planned and embellished the Piraeus at Athens; and the new city soon became one of the most splendid in the world, adorned with magnificent buildings and exquisite works of art. When Conon and his fleet restored the Athenian power by his victory off Cnidus, Rhodes again embraced the victorious cause; but her fidelity during the subsequent contests was not very great. Sparta afterwards received the allegiance of the island; and in the Social War (B.C. 157-5) it joined the alliance against Athens; and, with the assistance of the Carian monarch Mausolus, succeeded in achieving independence. But finding the power of that king dangerous to their liberties, the Rhodians once more sued for the Athenian protection, which they obtained through the eloquence of Demosthenes. But neither they nor the rest of Greece could resist the overwhelming power of Macedonia, though Memnon, a Rhodian, was one of the ablest generals under the last Persian king, and attempted to check the career of Alexander. Rhodes received a Macedonian garrison; but it was expelled after the death of Alexander, and a resolute resistance was begun to the Macedonian power. This formed one of the most illustrious periods in the history of the island. The capital was besieged in 303 B.C. by Demetrius Poliorcetes, with a large army and a complete train of the artillery of that age. Although a breach was effected in the walls, the desperate valour of the defenders foiled all the attempts to carry it by assault, and cost the besiegers the lives of some of their generals and a great number of their soldiers. This heroic resistance obtained for the Rhodians great renown; they enjoyed the friendship of Rome, and obtained possession of some of the adjacent islands and coasts. For arts as well as arms the island was then renowned: Æschines, who had contended in eloquence with the greatest of orators, opened a school of rhetoric here; Protogenes embellished the city with his paintings; and Chaere of Lindus with the celebrated statue, in which

"the gigantic king of day On his own Rhodes looks down;" But in 1401 Smyrna was taken by Timour; in 1480 Mahomet II. besieged Rhodes with a vast train of artillery; and, though then averted by the courage of its few defenders, the downfall of the place could not long be averted. The last and most famous siege of Rhodes took place in 1522, when, after a desperate resistance for four months to the overwhelming numbers of the Ottomans, the knights, being left unassisted by all the European powers, capitulated on honourable terms, and evacuated the island. On the first day of 1523, Villiers de Lisle Adam, the grandmaster, embarked, the last of the small band, carrying away all the property of the order, and leaving the ruins of their city to the enemy. The knights subsequently settled in Malta, where they also gained great renown. Rhodes has since been in the possession of the Turks, and is now the residence of the pasha of the Archipelago. Pop. 20,000, chiefly Greeks, but including 5000 Turks and about 1000 Jews.