Rhodes

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 element of the South Aegean administrative region. The principal town of the island & seat of the municipality is Rhodes. The city of Rhodes had 50,636 inhabitants in 2011. this is the located northeast of Crete, southeast of Athens. Rhodes has several nicknames, such as "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.

Name

The island has been requested as Ρόδος Ródos in Greek throughout its history. It was also called Lindos Ancient Greek: Λίνδος. In addition, the island has been called in Italian, in Turkish, and רודי Rodi or רודיס Rodes in Ladino. Other ancient title that the island was called was Ρόδη Rodē, Τελχινίς Telchinis and Ηλιάς Helias.

The pretend of the island comes from the ancient Greek Rhódon rose, and is sometimes called the island of roses.

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville incorrectly reports that Rhodes was formerly called "Collosus", through a conflation of the Colossus of Rhodes and Paul's Epistle to the Colossians, which described to Colossae.

The island's realise might be derived from erod, Phoenician for snake, since the island was home to many snakes in antiquity.