RHODES (rodz), (Gr. 'Paos, hrod'os, rose).
An island in the Mediterranean, near the coast of Asia Minor, celebrated from the remotest an tiquity as the seat of commerce, navigation, litera ture, and the arts, but now reduced to a state of abject poverty by the devastations of war and the tyranny and rapacity of its Turkish rulers. It is of a triangular form, about forty-four leagues in circumference, twenty leagues long from north to south, and about six broad. It was famed in ancient times, and is still celebrated for its delight ful climate and the fertility of its soil. It con tains two cities—Rhodes, the capital, inhabited chiefly by Turks, and a small number of Jews; and the ancient Lindus, now reduced to a hamlet, peopled by Greeks, who are almost all engaged in commerce. Besides these, there are five vil lages occupied by Turks and a small number of Jews; and five towns and forty-one villages, in habited by Greeks. The whole population is esti mated at 20,000, residing chiefly in the capital.
The city of Rhodes is famous for its huge bra zen statue of Apollo, called Colossus, which stood at the mouth of the harbor, and was so high that ships passed in full sail between its legs. It stood at the right of the port as vessels entered, and not astride the channel, as so generally represented in pictures. It was erected B. C. 29o, and over thrown by an earthquake B. C. 224. The city had also a beautiful temple of Apollo, built by Herod the Great. St. Paul appears to have vis ited Rhodes while on his journey to Jerusalem, A. D. 58 (Acts xxi :1).
The antiquities of Rhodes reach no further back than the residence of the knights of St. John of
Jerusalem. The remains of their fine old fort ress,of great size and strength. are still to be seen; the cells of the knights are entire, but the sanctu ary has been converted by the Turks into a maga zine for military stores.
In modern times Rhodes has been chiefly cele brated as one of the last retreats of this military order, under whom it obtained great celebrity by its heroic resistance to the Turks ; but in the time of Solyman the Great a capitulation was agreed upon, and the island was finally surrendered to the Turks, under whom it has since continued.
G. M. B.
RIB (Heb. tsay-law', or nearly always rendered side.
1. Sec Exod. xv :12, the side of the Ark of the Covenant; also Exod. xvi :20, 26, 27, 35; xxvii :7 ; x xxvi :25, 31 ; xxxvii :3, 5; xxxviii :7. Hillside in2 Sam. xvi :13. His side, Job xviii:iz. In Ezek. h x, it is ten times rendered side chamber.
2. The part taken from Adam to form Eve (Gen. ii :21, 22). This Hebrew word is used thirty-eight times in the Old Testament, and is only twice rendered "rib," although in three in stances (I Kings vi :5 ; vii :3 ; Exod. xxx :4) the marginal reading is ribs.
Figuratit,'e. (I) Eve's being formed of a fleshed rib taken out of Adam's side denoted the equality and strong affection that ought to exist between husbands and their wives (Gen. ii 22). (2) The three kingdoms of Lydia, Babylon, Egypt, conquered by Cyrus and his Medo-Persian troops, are likened to "three ribs in the mouth of a bear" (Dan. vii :5).