Rhodes
A large island in the southeastern Aegean, sacred to the sun god Helios and site of the Colossus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The Story of Rhodes
Rhodes was sacred to Helios, the sun god, who claimed the island as his portion when the gods divided the world. The Rhodians honoured him with an annual festival in which a chariot and four horses were driven into the sea as an offering. The island's most famous monument was the Colossus of Rhodes, a bronze statue of Helios over thirty metres tall, erected around 280 BCE to celebrate a military victory. It stood for only fifty-six years before an earthquake brought it down, but even fallen it was a wonder — Pliny records that few people could wrap their arms around its thumb. Three ancient cities on the island — Lindos, Kamiros, and Ialysus — united in 408 BCE to found the city of Rhodes, which became a major naval and commercial power. The island's maritime law, the Lex Rhodia, was so respected that the Romans adopted it as the basis of their own admiralty law, and its principles persist in maritime codes worldwide.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Rhodian maritime law, developed by the island's merchant sailors, was adopted by Rome and through it became the foundation of modern international admiralty law.
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