Interesting Facts about Rhodes Greece by Archeologous
Okay, how many of these things did you know? (It's great to be able to see if you can catch your amazingly educated personal guide with a question she/he might not have heard before).
*** Rhodes is known as the Emerald Island due to the 37% coverage of pine and cypress.
*** In ancient days, Rhodes was famous, 'worldwide', for the Colossus of Rhodes, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
*** What now is Rhodes, in mythical times was the sun god, Helios', island. The myth is that when he fell in love with the nymph Rhodes, and he shone his light on her, she transformed into the island. The island's name Rhodes means 'rose' and is even today known as a flowery place.
*** The islands 'emblem' is the deer. This is because a very rare and protected deer called Dama-Dama lives in the Rhodes forest.
*** Rhodes is the capital and largest of all the Dodecanese (12) islands
***The population of the 44 villages is 120.000 with the Rhodes Town itself having 30,000 residents
*** Hercules was worshipped as the founder of the first settlement on Rhodes
***Rhodes is the holiday mecca for northern Europeans with tourism accounting for 75% of the island's economy.
*** In the 16th century BCE, (3700 years ago) while being in close contact with the Minoan civilisation on Crete, Rhodes became an important Bronze Age center.
*** You can step back either 2600 years visiting the Acropolis of Lindos or 600 years and visit the charming Medieval Old Town which in 1998 was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site
