RHODES, the capital of the island of' Rhodes, situated at its N. E. extremity. It is defended by towers about 800 feet distant from each other, while in the center of the mole there is a square bas tion 120 feet high. Rhodes presents at present very few vestiges of its ancient grandeur ; its streets are narrow and winding, and devoid of elegance or regu larity. It has two good harbors, sepa rated only by a mole running obliquely out into the sea. The principal manu factures are red leather and shoes. It was at the entrance to the harbor of this city that stood the celebrated COLOSSUS OF RHODES (q. v.). Pop. about 3,000. About half are Greeks; the rest Turks and Jews. The ancient Rhodes was taken possession of by a branch of the Doric race, who held it at the time of the Tro jan War, 1184 B. C. It was of small po litical importance among the states of Greece till the city of Rhodes was built and made the capital of the island, 408 B. C. In the war between Ciusar and Pom
pey, the Rhodians, who had long held supremacy at sea, took part with the former 50 B. C.; and continuing their aid to Cassius, were defeated by the Romans and completely subjugated, 42 B. c. They then held their liberties by the caprice of the emperors, and their city was made, by Constantine I., the metropolis of the Provincia Insularum in 330. It was taken by Chosroes II.; King of Persia, in 316; by the Saracens in 651; and by the Knights of St. John, Aug. 15, 1309. Mo hammed II. besieged it ineffectually in 1480, and the Sultan Solyman I. compelled it to capitulate after a vigorous siege and brave defense that lasted from June to December, 1522. An earthquake which occurred in Rhodes, April 22, 1863, de stroyed 2,000 houses, and swallowed up or otherwise killed and wounded thousands of the inhabitants.