Dodecanese
The
Dodecanese (
Greek: Î"ωδεκάνησα,
Dodekánisa, meaning "twelve islands"; see also
List of traditional Greek place names) are a group of
Greek islands in the
Aegean Sea, off the southwest coast of
Turkey. They have a rich history, and many of even the smallest inhabited islands boast dozens of
Byzantine churches and
medieval castles.
The current
Greek administrative region of the Dodecanese (a subdivision of the
South Aegean periphery) consists of 163 total islands of which 26 are inhabited. Twelve of these are major, giving the chain its name. The most historically important and well-known is
Rhodes (
Rodos), which for millennia has been the island from which the region is controlled. Of the others,
Kos is the historically most important; the remaining ten are
Astipalea,
Kalimnos,
Karpathos,
Kasos,
Kastellorizo,
Leros,
Nisyros,
Patmos,
Simi, and
Tilos.
Other notable islands in the chain include
Agathonisi,
Chalki,
Lipsi,
Pserimos, and
Telendos.
Pre-history and the Archaic Period
The Dodecanese have been inhabited since prehistoric times. In the Neopalatial period on Crete, the islands were heavily Minoanized (contact beginning in MMIIIB). Following the downfall of the Minoans, the islands were ruled by the
Achaeans from circa
1400 BC, until the arrival of the
Dorians circa
1100 BC. It is in the Dorian period that they began to prosper as an independent entity, developing a thriving economy and culture through the following centuries. By the early
Archaic Period Rhodes and Kos emerged as the major islands in the group, and in the
6th century BC the Dorians founded three major cities on Rhodes (
Lindos,
Kameiros and
Ialyssos); together with the island of Kos and the cities of
Knidos and
Halicarnassos on the mainland of
Asia Minor, these made up the
Dorian Hexapolis.
Classical Period
This development was interrupted around
499 BC by the
Persian Wars, during which the islands were captured by the Persians for a brief period. Following the defeat of the Persians by the
Athenians in
478 BC, the cities joined the Athenian-dominated
Delian League. When the
Peloponnesian War broke out in
431 BC, they remained largely neutral although they were still members of the League.
By the time the Peloponnesian War ended in
404 BC, the Dodecanese were largely removed from the larger Aegean conflicts, and had begun a period of relative quiet and prosperity. In
408 BC the three cities of Rhodes had united to form one state, which built a new capital on the northern end of the island, also named
Rhodes; this united Rhodes was to dominate the region for the coming millennia. Other islands in the Dodecanese also developed into significant economic and cultural centers; most notably, Kos served as the site of the school of
medicine founded by
Hippocrates.
However, the Peloponnesian War had so weakened the entire Greek civilization's military strength that it lay open to invasion. In
357 BC the islands were conquered by
Mausolus of Halicarnassus, then in
340 BC by the Persians. But this second period of Persian rule proved to be nearly as short as the first, and the islands became part of the rapidly growing
Macedonian Empire as
Alexander the Great swept through and defeated the Persians in
332 BC, to the great relief of the islands' inhabitants.
Following the death of Alexander, the islands, and even Rhodes itself, were split up among the many generals who contended to succeed him. The islands formed strong commercial ties with the
Ptolemies in
Egypt, and together they formed the
Rhodo-Egyptian alliance which controlled trade throughout the Aegean in the
3rd century BC. Led by Rhodes, the islands developed into maritime, commercial and cultural centers: coins of Rhodes circulated almost everywhere in the Mediterranean, and the islands' schools of philosophy, literature and rhetoric were famous. The
Colossus of Rhodes, built in
304 BC, perhaps best symbolized their wealth and power.
In
164 BC, Rhodes signed a treaty with
Rome, and the islands became aligned to greater or lesser extents with the
Roman Empire while mostly maintaining their autonomy. Rhodes quickly became a major schooling center for Roman noble families, and, as the islands (and particularly Rhodes) were important allies of Rome, they enjoyed numerous privileges and generally friendly relations. These were eventually lost in
42 BC, in the turmoil following the assassination of
Julius Caesar in
44 BC, after which
Cassius invaded and sacked the islands. Thereafter they became part of the Roman Empire proper, and eventually were joined with
Crete as part of the 18th Province of the Roman Empire.
In the
1st century,
Saint Paul visited the islands twice, and
Saint John visited numerous times; they succeeded in converting the islands to Christianity, placing them among the first dominantly Christian regions. Saint John eventually came to reside among them, being exiled to Patmos, where he wrote his famous
Revelation.
Middle Ages
As the Roman Empire split into Eastern (Byzantine) and Western (Roman) halves, the islands became part of the Greek-speaking
Byzantine Empire. They would remain there for nearly a thousand years, though these were punctuated by numerous invasions. It was during this period that they began to re-emerge as an independent entity, and the term
Dodecanese itself dates to around the
8th century. Copious evidence of the Byzantine period remains on the islands today, most notably in hundreds of churches from the period which can be seen in various states of preservation.
In the
13th century, Italians began invading portions of the Dodecanese;
Venetians and
Genoese each held some islands for brief periods. Finally, in the
14th century, the Byzantine era came to an end when the islands were taken by forces of the
Knights Hospitaller (Knights of St. John): Rhodes was conquered in
1309, and the rest of the islands fell gradually over the next few decades. The Knights made Rhodes their stronghold, transforming its capital into a grandiose medieval city dominated by an impressive fortress, and scattered fortresses and citadels through the rest of the islands as well.
These massive fortifications proved sufficient to repel invasions by the Sultan of Egypt in
1444 and
Mehmed II in
1480. Finally, however, the citadel at Rhodes fell to the large army of
Suleiman the Magnificent in
1522, and the other islands were overrun within the year. The few remaining Knights fled to
Malta.
Ottoman Rule
Thus began a period of several hundred years in the
Ottoman Empire. The islands were allowed to retain a number of privileges provided they submitted to Ottoman rule. By Suleiman's edict, they paid a special tax in return for a special autonomous status that prohibited Ottoman generals from interfering in their civil affairs or mistreating the population. These guarantees, combined with a strategic location at the crossroads of Mediterranean shipping, allowed the islands to prosper. Although sympathies of the overwhelmingly-Greek population leaned heavily towards Greece following its declaration of independence in
1822, the islanders did not join the
Greek War of Independence, continuing instead a semi-autonomous existence as an archipelago of Greek merchants within the Ottoman Empire. Indeed, the
19th century turned out to be one of the islands' most prosperous, and a number of mansions date from this era.
Italian Rule
Against the backdrop of the
First Balkan War (which pitted
Greece against
Turkey) and a simultaneous
Italian-Turkish war over nearby
Libya, the islands finally declared independence from the Ottoman Empire in
1912, proclaiming an independent state as the Federation of the Dodecanese Islands. This nascent state was quashed almost immediately by the invasion of
Italy, which wanted the islands, and particularly the fortress of Rhodes, to control the Mediterranean.
Italy established a military protectorate over the islands headquartered at Rhodes, and formed them into the province of
Rodi. Following the entrance of Italy into
World War I on the side of
France and
Britain in
1915, the islands became an important British and French
naval base, used as a
staging area for numerous campaigns, most famously the one at
Gallipoli. During the war some of the smaller islands were occupied by the French and British, with Rhodes continuing as Italian-occupied.
Following the war, the
Treaty of Sevres in
1919 called for most of the smaller islands to join with Greece, with Rhodes and several other islands remaining Italian. Italy, however, occupied all the islands, including those from which the French and British had now withdrawn; the
Treaty of Lausanne in
1923 gave international recognition to the continued Italian administration, as the
Possedimenti Italiani dell'Egeo.
The rise to power of
Benito Mussolini and his
Fascist Party in
1922 led to a period of repressive rule. Mussolini embarked on a program of
Italianization, hoping to make Rhodes a modern transportation hub that would serve as a focal point for the spread of Italian culture through a planned Mediterranean empire. Although the islands were overwhelmingly Greek-speaking, punctuated only by a small Turkish-speaking minority (~10,000) and even smaller
Ladino-speaking
Jewish minority (with virtually no Italian speakers), schools were required to teach in Italian, and the
Greek Orthodox religion of most of the inhabitants was strongly discouraged. These measures caused a good deal of Greek emigration from the island, replaced by a moderate (but relatively small) amount of Italian immigration. Despite this, the Fascist program did have some positive effects in its attempts to modernize the islands, resulting in the eradication of
malaria, the construction of hospitals, aqueducts, a power plant to provide Rhodes' capital with electric lighting and the establishment of the Dodecanese Cadastre. The main castle of the Knights of St. John was also repaired. However, the concrete-dominated Fascist architectural style detracted significantly from the islands' picturesque scenery (and also reminded the inhabitants of Italian rule), and has consequently been largely demolished or remodeled, apart from the famous example of the
Leros town of Lakki, which remains a prime example of the architecture.
During
World War II, Italy joined the
Axis Powers, and used the Dodecanese as a naval staging area for its invasion of
Crete in
1940. In
1943 the islands came under
German occupation, and, although the Germans were driven out of mainland Greece in
1944, the Dodecanese remained occupied by Germany until the end of the war in
1945, during which time nearly the entire Jewish population was deported and killed in the
Holocaust.
Post World War II
Following the war, the islands became a British military protectorate, and were almost immediately allowed to run their own civil affairs, upon which the islands became informally united with Greece, though under separate sovereignty and military control. Despite objections from
Turkey, which desired the islands as well, they were formally united with Greece by the
1947 Peace Treaty with Italy, ending a seven-
century long era of non-Greek rule over the islands. As a legacy of its former status as a jurisdiction separate from Greece, it is still considered a separate "entity" for
amateur radio purposes, with the
prefix SV5.
Today Rhodes and the Dodecanese are favorite travel destinations. The Old City of
Rhodes, repaired and functioning as a living community behind its medieval walls, is particularly interesting.
See also:
List of settlements in the Dodecanese prefecture''
*
Dodecanese guide*
Pictures from the Dodecanese islands*
Dodecanese island pictures
