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In its long existence (more than 2.400 years of documented
history), the island of
Rhodes has always been the central point
in the major events concerning mankind. Born independent, it
managed to keep as such for centuries, only surrendering to
Alexander the Great’s dream and later to the expansion of the
Roman Empire. When the capital city of the Empire was shifted
from Rome to Constantinople,
Rhodes passed under the hegemony of
Byzantium. Later occupied by the Arabs, the Venetians and the
Franks, under the rule of the Knights of St. John (the Hospitallers), it acquired again its former importance as a sea
and trade power. After the departure of the Knights of
Rhodes,
(later Knights of Malta), it was annexed to the Ottoman Empire.
In the early 20th century it was occupied by the
Italian army, and only at the end of the Second World War,
together with the other isles of the Dodecanese,
Rhodes
eventually |
