The Dodecanese (UK: /ˌdoʊdɪkəˈniːz/, US: /doʊˌdɛkəˈniːz/; Greek: Δωδεκάνησα, Dodekánisa [ðoðeˈkanisa], lit. 'twelve islands'; Turkish: On İki Ada) are a group of 15 larger and 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Turkey's Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited. This island group generally defines the eastern limit of the Sea of Crete. They belong to the wider Southern Sporades island group.
Dodecanese Δωδεκάνησα | |
|---|---|
Former prefecture | |
 Location of Dodecanese in Greece | |
 Location of municipalities within Dodecanese Prefecture | |
| Coordinates: 36°27′N 27°18′E / 36.45°N 27.30°E | |
| Country | Greece |
| Periphery | South Aegean |
| Capital | Rhodes |
| Subdivisions | List
|
| Area | |
• Total | 2,714 km2 (1,048 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 18th |
| Population (2005) | |
• Total | 200,452 |
| • Rank | 12th |
| • Density | 74/km2 (190/sq mi) |
| • Rank | 14th |
85x xx | |
| Area codes | 2241-2247 |
| ISO 3166 code | GR-81 |
| Vehicle registration | ΚΧ, ΡΚ, PO, ΡΥ |
Rhodes has been the area's dominant island since antiquity. Of the others, Kos and Patmos are historically the most important; the remaining 12 are Agathonisi, Astypalaia, Halki, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kasos, Leipsoi, Leros, Nisyros, Symi, Tilos, and Kastellorizo. Other islands in the chain include Alimia, Arkoi, Farmakonisi, Gyali, Kinaros, Levitha, Marathos, Nimos, Pserimos, Saria, Strongyli and Syrna.
Name
The name "Dodecanese" (older form ἡ Δωδεκάνησος, hē Dōdekanēsos; modern τα Δωδεκάνησα, ta Dōdekanēsa), meaning "The Twelve Islands", or Oniki Adalar in Turkish, denotes today an island group in the southeastern Aegean Sea, comprising 15 major islands (Agathonisi, Astypalaia, Chalki, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kasos, Kastellorizo, Kos, Lipsi, Leros, Nisyros, Patmos, Rhodes, Symi, and Tilos) and 93 smaller islets. Since Antiquity, these islands formed part of the group known as the "Southern Sporades" (Νότιες Σποράδες).
The name Dōdekanēsos first appears in Byzantine sources in the 8th century, as a naval command under a droungarios, encompassing the southern Aegean Sea, which eventually evolved into the Theme of Samos. It was not applied to the current island group, but to the 12 Cyclades islands clustered around Delos. The name may indeed be of a far earlier date, and modern historians suggest that the 12 islands Strabo mentions (Geographica Χ.485) were the origin of the term. The term remained in use throughout the medieval period and was still used for the Cyclades in both colloquial usage and scholarly Greek-language literature until the 18th century.
The transfer of the name to the present-day Dodecanese has its roots in the Ottoman period. Upon the Ottoman conquest in 1522, the two larger islands, Rhodes and Kos, came under direct Ottoman rule, while the others, of which the 12 main islands were usually named, enjoyed extensive privileges pertaining to taxation and self-government. Concerted attempts to abolish these privileges were made after 1869, as the Ottoman Empire attempted to modernize and centralize its administrative structure, and the last vestiges of the old privileges were finally abolished after the Young Turks took power in 1908. It was at that time that the press in the independent Kingdom of Greece began referring to the 12 privileged islands (Astypalaia, Chalki, Ikaria, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kasos, Kastellorizo, Leros, Nisyros, Patmos, Symi and Tilos), in the context of their attempts to preserve their privileges, collectively as the "Dodecanese". Shortly afterward, in 1912, most of the Southern Sporades were captured by the Italians in the Italo-Turkish War, except for Ikaria, which joined Greece in 1912 during the First Balkan War, and Kastellorizo, which came under Italian rule only in 1921. The place of the latter two was taken by Kos and Rhodes, bringing the number of the major islands under Italian rule back to 12. Thus, when the Greek press began agitating for the cession of the islands to Greece in 1913, the term used was still the "Dodecanese". The Italian occupation authorities helped establish the term when they named the islands under their control "Rhodes and the Dodecanese" (Rodi e Dodecaneso), adding Leipsoi to the list of the major islands to make up for considering Rhodes separately.
By 1920, the name had become firmly established for the entire island group, as acknowledged by the Italian government when it appointed the islands' first civilian governor, Count , as "Viceroy of the Dodecanese". As the name was associated with Greek irredentism, from 1924 Mussolini's Fascist regime tried to abolish its use by calling them the "Italian Islands of the Aegean", but this name never acquired any currency outside Italian administrative usage. The islands joined Greece in 1947 following as the "Governorate-General of the Dodecanese" (Γενική Διοίκησις Δωδεκανήσου), since 1955 the "Dodecanese Prefecture" (Νομός Δωδεκανήσου).
Geography
The Dodecanese are in the South East Aegean sea and are bordered by Turkey in the East, Crete in the southwest and the Cyclades in the west.
Climate
Most of the Dodecanese have a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa in the Köppen climate classification) while Karpathos, Kasos and Nisyros have a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSh) with mild winters and hot summers.Rhodes Port, Kasos, Karpathos and Kastellorizo record among the mildest winters in Europe. South East Rhodes experiences a significantly warmer climate with Lindos registering a mean annual temperature of around 22.0 °C (71.6 °F), making it the warmest area in Greece. Moreover, according to the Hellenic National Meteorological Service, South East Rhodes records the highest mean annual sunshine in Greece with over 3,100 hours.
| Climate data for Karpathos Airport (Hellenic National Meteorological Service) 1994-2024 | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 16.0 (60.8) | 16.1 (61.0) | 17.2 (63.0) | 19.6 (67.3) | 23.6 (74.5) | 27.3 (81.1) | 29.1 (84.4) | 29.4 (84.9) | 27.7 (81.9) | 24.4 (75.9) | 20.8 (69.4) | 17.6 (63.7) | 22.4 (72.3) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 13.6 (56.5) | 13.7 (56.7) | 14.8 (58.6) | 16.9 (62.4) | 20.6 (69.1) | 24.3 (75.7) | 26.3 (79.3) | 26.8 (80.2) | 25.0 (77.0) | 21.7 (71.1) | 18.3 (64.9) | 15.3 (59.5) | 19.8 (67.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 11.2 (52.2) | 11.3 (52.3) | 12.3 (54.1) | 14.2 (57.6) | 17.7 (63.9) | 21.3 (70.3) | 23.5 (74.3) | 24.1 (75.4) | 22.4 (72.3) | 19.0 (66.2) | 15.9 (60.6) | 13.0 (55.4) | 17.2 (62.9) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 67.4 (2.65) | 42.0 (1.65) | 32.5 (1.28) | 15.0 (0.59) | 11.7 (0.46) | 2.1 (0.08) | 0.01 (0.00) | 0.0 (0.0) | 4.9 (0.19) | 12.2 (0.48) | 31.7 (1.25) | 74.6 (2.94) | 294.11 (11.57) |
| Source: (Nov 1994 - Oct 2024) | |||||||||||||
| Climate data for Rhodes Port 4 m a.s.l. | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 20.8 (69.4) | 20.9 (69.6) | 24.6 (76.3) | 27.6 (81.7) | 36.4 (97.5) | 37.9 (100.2) | 37.4 (99.3) | 37.6 (99.7) | 34.4 (93.9) | 32.6 (90.7) | 26.8 (80.2) | 22.2 (72.0) | 37.9 (100.2) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 16.1 (61.0) | 16.4 (61.5) | 17.3 (63.1) | 20.2 (68.4) | 23.9 (75.0) | 27.9 (82.2) | 30.9 (87.6) | 30.7 (87.3) | 28.6 (83.5) | 25.5 (77.9) | 22.0 (71.6) | 18.4 (65.1) | 23.2 (73.7) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 14.0 (57.2) | 14.3 (57.7) | 15.1 (59.2) | 18.0 (64.4) | 21.4 (70.5) | 25.3 (77.5) | 28.2 (82.8) | 28.4 (83.1) | 26.5 (79.7) | 23.4 (74.1) | 19.9 (67.8) | 16.3 (61.3) | 20.9 (69.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 11.9 (53.4) | 12.2 (54.0) | 12.9 (55.2) | 15.7 (60.3) | 18.9 (66.0) | 22.4 (72.3) | 25.3 (77.5) | 26.0 (78.8) | 24.4 (75.9) | 21.2 (70.2) | 17.7 (63.9) | 14.2 (57.6) | 18.6 (65.4) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 2.9 (37.2) | 4.7 (40.5) | 3.8 (38.8) | 9.4 (48.9) | 14.2 (57.6) | 16.2 (61.2) | 22.4 (72.3) | 23.1 (73.6) | 18.7 (65.7) | 17.1 (62.8) | 13.3 (55.9) | 9.0 (48.2) | 2.9 (37.2) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 113.6 (4.47) | 58.5 (2.30) | 44.5 (1.75) | 19.2 (0.76) | 6.5 (0.26) | 6.3 (0.25) | 0.1 (0.00) | 0.3 (0.01) | 3.0 (0.12) | 26.7 (1.05) | 87.2 (3.43) | 144.1 (5.67) | 510 (20.07) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 151.8 | 184.8 | 238.8 | 269.3 | 326.8 | 374.8 | 393.5 | 363.7 | 311.8 | 260.2 | 190.8 | 157.8 | 3,224.1 |
| Source 1: Municipal Port Fund of South Dodecanese (Jan 2019-Aug 2024) | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Sunshine Rhodes AP | |||||||||||||
| Climate data for Fri 4 m a.s.l. | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 22.5 (72.5) | 25.2 (77.4) | 25.8 (78.4) | 30.5 (86.9) | 36.7 (98.1) | 37.2 (99.0) | 35.7 (96.3) | 36.9 (98.4) | 35.7 (96.3) | 32.8 (91.0) | 27.4 (81.3) | 24.4 (75.9) | 37.2 (99.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 16.0 (60.8) | 16.4 (61.5) | 17.4 (63.3) | 20.0 (68.0) | 23.3 (73.9) | 26.2 (79.2) | 28.1 (82.6) | 28.3 (82.9) | 26.8 (80.2) | 23.8 (74.8) | 20.8 (69.4) | 17.8 (64.0) | 22.1 (71.7) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 13.9 (57.0) | 14.3 (57.7) | 15.1 (59.2) | 17.3 (63.1) | 20.6 (69.1) | 24.0 (75.2) | 26.2 (79.2) | 26.6 (79.9) | 25.0 (77.0) | 21.9 (71.4) | 18.8 (65.8) | 15.8 (60.4) | 20.0 (67.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 11.7 (53.1) | 12.1 (53.8) | 12.8 (55.0) | 14.7 (58.5) | 17.9 (64.2) | 21.7 (71.1) | 24.1 (75.4) | 24.9 (76.8) | 23.2 (73.8) | 19.9 (67.8) | 16.8 (62.2) | 13.7 (56.7) | 17.8 (64.0) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 2.7 (36.9) | 4.3 (39.7) | 5.2 (41.4) | 7.2 (45.0) | 13.6 (56.5) | 16.2 (61.2) | 20.4 (68.7) | 21.1 (70.0) | 17.6 (63.7) | 14.4 (57.9) | 11.1 (52.0) | 6.3 (43.3) | 2.7 (36.9) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 56.5 (2.22) | 31.7 (1.25) | 38.3 (1.51) | 11.6 (0.46) | 8.6 (0.34) | 1.8 (0.07) | 0.9 (0.04) | 0.2 (0.01) | 3.2 (0.13) | 21.2 (0.83) | 27.4 (1.08) | 48.8 (1.92) | 250.2 (9.86) |
| Source 1: Karpathiakanea.gr | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: National Observatory of Athens Monthly Bulletins (Jul 2010-Nov 2024) and World Meteorological Organization | |||||||||||||
| Climate data for Kastellorizo 5 m a.s.l. | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 20.6 (69.1) | 22.3 (72.1) | 26.1 (79.0) | 29.6 (85.3) | 34.8 (94.6) | 40.8 (105.4) | 40.8 (105.4) | 40.1 (104.2) | 36.6 (97.9) | 37.4 (99.3) | 27.7 (81.9) | 23.2 (73.8) | 40.8 (105.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 16.8 (62.2) | 17.1 (62.8) | 18.4 (65.1) | 21.9 (71.4) | 26.2 (79.2) | 30.0 (86.0) | 34.2 (93.6) | 33.7 (92.7) | 31.1 (88.0) | 27.3 (81.1) | 22.8 (73.0) | 18.7 (65.7) | 24.8 (76.7) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 14.6 (58.3) | 14.7 (58.5) | 15.6 (60.1) | 18.7 (65.7) | 22.6 (72.7) | 26.3 (79.3) | 30.1 (86.2) | 30.3 (86.5) | 28.1 (82.6) | 24.5 (76.1) | 20.4 (68.7) | 16.5 (61.7) | 21.9 (71.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 12.3 (54.1) | 12.3 (54.1) | 12.8 (55.0) | 15.6 (60.1) | 19.0 (66.2) | 22.6 (72.7) | 26.1 (79.0) | 26.9 (80.4) | 25.2 (77.4) | 21.7 (71.1) | 17.9 (64.2) | 14.3 (57.7) | 18.9 (66.0) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 4.5 (40.1) | 5.5 (41.9) | 5.2 (41.4) | 10.7 (51.3) | 15.2 (59.4) | 17.8 (64.0) | 22.9 (73.2) | 24.7 (76.5) | 20.3 (68.5) | 15.8 (60.4) | 11.3 (52.3) | 8.3 (46.9) | 4.5 (40.1) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 130.3 (5.13) | 50.2 (1.98) | 45.2 (1.78) | 15.7 (0.62) | 5.3 (0.21) | 7.4 (0.29) | 0.3 (0.01) | 0.0 (0.0) | 7.7 (0.30) | 22.6 (0.89) | 91.1 (3.59) | 176.7 (6.96) | 552.5 (21.76) |
| Source 1: National Observatory of Athens Monthly Bulletins (Sep 2018-Aug 2024) | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Kastellorizo N.O.A station and World Meteorological Organization | |||||||||||||
| Climate data for Lindos 65 m a.s.l. | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 21.9 (71.4) | 24.8 (76.6) | 25.9 (78.6) | 32.4 (90.3) | 36.2 (97.2) | 43.6 (110.5) | 42.7 (108.9) | 43.1 (109.6) | 39.8 (103.6) | 37.9 (100.2) | 27.2 (81.0) | 22.5 (72.5) | 43.6 (110.5) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 16.2 (61.2) | 17.1 (62.8) | 18.6 (65.5) | 22.5 (72.5) | 26.9 (80.4) | 31.8 (89.2) | 35.5 (95.9) | 35.0 (95.0) | 31.6 (88.9) | 26.7 (80.1) | 22.0 (71.6) | 18.3 (64.9) | 25.2 (77.3) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 13.6 (56.5) | 14.4 (57.9) | 15.7 (60.3) | 19.1 (66.4) | 23.2 (73.8) | 27.9 (82.2) | 31.5 (88.7) | 31.4 (88.5) | 28.2 (82.8) | 23.7 (74.7) | 19.4 (66.9) | 15.8 (60.4) | 22.0 (71.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 11.1 (52.0) | 11.8 (53.2) | 12.8 (55.0) | 15.7 (60.3) | 19.5 (67.1) | 24.1 (75.4) | 27.6 (81.7) | 27.8 (82.0) | 24.8 (76.6) | 20.7 (69.3) | 16.8 (62.2) | 13.2 (55.8) | 18.8 (65.9) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 1.1 (34.0) | 3.3 (37.9) | 3.1 (37.6) | 9.4 (48.9) | 13.8 (56.8) | 16.8 (62.2) | 21.1 (70.0) | 24.0 (75.2) | 16.3 (61.3) | 13.1 (55.6) | 10.5 (50.9) | 4.3 (39.7) | 1.1 (34.0) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 107.8 (4.24) | 70.9 (2.79) | 45.1 (1.78) | 10.8 (0.43) | 11.0 (0.43) | 2.5 (0.10) | 1.4 (0.06) | 0.04 (0.00) | 5.4 (0.21) | 24.7 (0.97) | 84.0 (3.31) | 117.4 (4.62) | 481.04 (18.94) |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 67.4 | 66.5 | 64.6 | 61.2 | 57.9 | 52.7 | 46.7 | 50.1 | 51.6 | 58.0 | 66.1 | 68.5 | 59.3 |
| Source 1: National Observatory of Athens (May 2014- Jan 2025) | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: World Meteorological Organization | |||||||||||||
| Climate data for Rhodes Airport | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 22.0 (71.6) | 22.6 (72.7) | 27.6 (81.7) | 30.6 (87.1) | 34.8 (94.6) | 36.2 (97.2) | 39.0 (102.2) | 41.2 (106.2) | 35.4 (95.7) | 33.2 (91.8) | 28.4 (83.1) | 23.4 (74.1) | 41.2 (106.2) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 15.1 (59.2) | 15.2 (59.4) | 17 (63) | 20.0 (68.0) | 24.1 (75.4) | 28.3 (82.9) | 30.4 (86.7) | 30.7 (87.3) | 28.1 (82.6) | 24.5 (76.1) | 20.2 (68.4) | 16.7 (62.1) | 22.5 (72.6) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 12.0 (53.6) | 12.0 (53.6) | 13.5 (56.3) | 16.3 (61.3) | 20.0 (68.0) | 24.2 (75.6) | 26.4 (79.5) | 26.7 (80.1) | 24.4 (75.9) | 20.7 (69.3) | 16.7 (62.1) | 13.5 (56.3) | 18.9 (66.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 9.2 (48.6) | 9.1 (48.4) | 10.5 (50.9) | 13 (55) | 16.3 (61.3) | 20.4 (68.7) | 22.7 (72.9) | 23.2 (73.8) | 21 (70) | 17.4 (63.3) | 13.7 (56.7) | 10.8 (51.4) | 15.6 (60.1) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −4.0 (24.8) | −1.6 (29.1) | 0.2 (32.4) | 5.2 (41.4) | 8.6 (47.5) | 12.6 (54.7) | 16.8 (62.2) | 17.0 (62.6) | 10.6 (51.1) | 7.2 (45.0) | 2.4 (36.3) | 1.2 (34.2) | −4.0 (24.8) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 151.8 (5.98) | 101.7 (4.00) | 68.9 (2.71) | 29.4 (1.16) | 16.4 (0.65) | 1.8 (0.07) | 0.3 (0.01) | 0.2 (0.01) | 6.3 (0.25) | 56.9 (2.24) | 89.6 (3.53) | 152.8 (6.02) | 676.1 (26.63) |
| Average rainy days | 15.5 | 12.7 | 10.5 | 7.6 | 4.6 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 6.7 | 9.5 | 15.4 | 85.5 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 70.1 | 69.1 | 68.7 | 66.5 | 64.4 | 58.5 | 57.6 | 59.9 | 61.4 | 67.5 | 71.4 | 72.4 | 65.6 |
| Mean daily sunshine hours | 5.0 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 9.0 | 11.0 | 13.0 | 14.0 | 13.0 | 11.0 | 8.0 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 9.0 |
| Source 1: Hellenic National Meteorological Service (1955–2010 averages) | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: NOAA (1961–1977 temperatures taken from Maritsa Airport and 1977–1990 from Rhodes International Airport), Weather Atlas (sunshine data) | |||||||||||||
History
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 the second millennium BC). Following the downfall of the Minoans, the islands were ruled by the Mycenaean Greeks 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. After the Athenians defeated the Persians in 478 BC, the cities joined the Athenian-dominated Delian League. When the Peloponnesian War broke out in 431 BC, they remained largely neutral, though they were still members of the League.
By the time the Peloponnesian War ended in 404 BC, the Dodecanese were mostly 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 dominated 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.
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 King Mausolus of Caria, then in 340 BC by the Persians. But this second period of Persian rule proved 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.
After Alexander's death, 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 extent with the Roman Republic 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. Titus made Rhodes capital of the Provincia Insularum, and eventually the islands 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 in AD 395 into Eastern and Western halves, the islands became part of the Eastern part, which later evolved into the 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 reemerge as an independent entity, and the term Dodecanese itself dates to around the 8th century. Copious evidence of the Eastern Roman period remains on the islands today, most notably in hundreds of churches from the period in various states of preservation.
In the 10th and 11th centuries, on behalf the Roman Empire of Constantinople, the area was controlled and secured with trade duty rights by powerful maritime city-state fleets of Genoa (with the clan of Vignolo de'Vignoli) and Venice (with the clan of Cornaros); When the Genoese snatched a treaty from the Paleologos Emperors of Constantinople, they began invading portions of the Dodecanese and other eastern isles from Chios to Rhodes that had remained under the nominal power of the Empire of Nicea; Genoese family clans (Moresco, Vignoli, Giustiniani, Spinola and others) each held some islands and were granted rights to rule, trade and to exploit raw materials (masticha, etc.), in exchange for maritime protection, while Orthodox monks ruled on Patmos and Leros. The Byzantine era came to an end when the islands were rented and sold by Genoeses for the venue of the Knights Hospitaller (Knights of St John): Rhodes was reinforced in 1309, and in the rest of the islands the Knights gradually built castles and fortress over the next few decades, while the Genoese fleet remained in charge of the sea routes and kept its bases and trading stores (Empori). The Knights made Rhodes their stronghold, transforming its capital into a grandiose medieval city dominated by an impressive fortress, with scattered other fortresses and citadels throughout the rest of the islands.
These massive fortifications proved sufficient to repel invasions by the Sultan of Egypt in 1444 and Mehmed II in 1480. Finally, the citadel at Rhodes fell to the 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 Dodecanese formed a separate province within the Eyalet of the Archipelago. The population was allowed to retain a number of privileges provided it 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. The overwhelmingly Greek population (only Rhodes and Kos had Turkish communities) leaned heavily toward Greece following its declaration of independence in 1822, and many of the islanders joined the Greek War of Independence, with the result that the northern portion of the Dodecanese (including Samos) became briefly the Greek provinces of the Eastern Sporades and Southern Sporades. Kasos in particular played a prominent role due to its skilled mariners, until its destruction by the Egyptians in 1824. Most of the islands were slated to become part of the new Greek state in the London Protocol of 1828, but when Greek independence was recognized in the London Protocol of 1830, the islands were left outside the new Kingdom of Greece. The 19th century turned out to be one of the islands' most prosperous, and a number of mansions date from this era.
Turks of the Dodecanese
A Turkish Muslim minority lives in Rhodes and Kos. Sources have variously estimated the Turkish population of Kos and Rhodes to be 5,000, 6,000, or 7,000.
Italian rule
After the outbreak of the Italian-Turkish war over Libya in early 1912, Italy, in order to apply pressure on the Ottoman government closer to its metropolitan territories, occupied all the present-day Dodecanese except for Kastellorizo.
After the end of the war according to the Treaty of Ouchy, Italy maintained the occupation of the islands as guarantee for the execution of the treaty. The occupation continued after Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire (21 August 1915) during World War I.
During the war, the islands became an important naval base for Britain and France; Italy was allied with both nations. The Dodecanese were used as a staging area for numerous campaigns, most famously the one at Gallipoli. The French and British occupied some of the smaller islands, but Rhodes remained under Italian occupation. In 1915, the French also occupied Kastellorizo.
After the war, the Tittoni–Venizelos agreement, signed on 29 July 1919, called for the smaller islands to join with Greece while Italy maintained control of Rhodes. The treaty further outlined an exchange where Italy would receive Antalya for southwest Anatolia. The Greek defeat in the Greco-Turkish War and the foundation of modern Turkey prevented the exchange. Italy formally annexed the Dodecanese as the Possedimenti Italiani dell'Egeo under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne. 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 in the Levant. The islands were overwhelmingly Greek-speaking, with a Turkish-speaking minority and a smaller Ladino-speaking Jewish minority. Immigrant Italian speakers were a marginal language community.
Although the Italian state placed the islands under the direction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, their governance was strongly tied to the project for an Italian empire in the Mediterranean and to the Italian colonies in Libya, Somalia, Eritrea, and after 1936, in Ethiopia.
As part of securing sovereignty in the islands, Italy created and applied a form of imperial citizenship for the local population unique to its overseas empire. Called Italian Aegean citizenship (cittadinanza egea italiana), this form of citizenship was inclusive of local political rights and exclusive of military service. After 1934, Dodecanese citizens could complete military service and apply to become full Italian citizens, an option many locals chose while supporting Italian Fascism and seeing the Italian empire as promoting their financial well-being. Italian Aegean citizenship also ensured the islands were exempted from the exchange of Greek and Turkish minority populations in the Aegean, a provision of the Second Lausanne Treaty that ended the Greco-Turkish War. After 1934, it was also possible to acquire Italian Aegean citizenship from abroad and to transmit Italian Aegean citizenship on the principle of patrilineal descent. This reform mirrored the principle of jus sanguinis which provides the basis of Italian citizenship and was especially intended for the large Greek-speaking Dodecanese-origin emigrant community in Egypt.
The Fascist administration sought to modernize the islands, eradicating malaria, constructing hospitals, aqueducts, a power plant to provide Rhodes' capital with electric lighting, and establishing the Dodecanese cadastre. The main castle of the Knights of St. John was also rebuilt. 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.
From 1936 to 1940 Cesare Maria De Vecchi acted as governor of the Italian Islands of the Aegean promoting the official use of the Italian language and favoring a process of Italianization, interrupted by the beginning of World War II. In the 1936 Italian census of the Dodecanese islands, the total population was 129,135, of whom 7,015 were Italians.
World War II
During World War II, Italy joined the Axis Powers, which used the Dodecanese as a naval staging area for their invasion of Crete in 1941. After Italy surrendered in September 1943, the islands briefly became a battleground between the Germans and Allied forces, including the Italians. The Germans prevailed in the Dodecanese Campaign, and although they were driven out of mainland Greece in 1944, the Dodecanese remained occupied until the end of the war in 1945, during which time nearly the entire Jewish population of 6,000 was deported and killed. Only 1,200 of these Ladino-speaking Jews survived by escaping to the nearby coast of Turkey.[citation needed] On 8 May 1945 the German garrison commander Otto Wagener surrendered the islands to the British on Rhodes, handing over 5,000 German and 600 Italian military personnel.
Post-World War II
After the war, the islands became a British military protectorate and were almost immediately allowed to run their own civil affairs, whereupon they 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.
As a legacy of its former status as a jurisdiction separate from Greece, it is still considered a separate "entity" for amateur radio purposes, essentially maintaining its status as an independent country "on the air." Amateur radio call signs in the Dodecanese begin with the prefix SV5 instead of SV for Greece.
The 70th anniversary of the Dodecanese enosis was marked in 2017, with the Greek Parliament holding a special celebratory session for the event.
Today, Rhodes and the Dodecanese are popular travel destinations.
Administration
The Dodecanese Prefecture was one of the prefectures of Greece. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis reform, the prefecture was abolished, and its territory was divided into four regional units, within the South Aegean administrative region:
- Kalymnos
- Karpathos-Kasos
- Kos
- Rhodes
Municipalities and communities
The prefecture was subdivided into the following municipalities and communities. These have been reorganised at the 2011 Kallikratis reform as well.
| Municipality | YPES code | Seat (if different) | Postal code | Area code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afantou | 1205 | 851 03 | 22410-50 through 53, 56, 57 | |
| Archangelos | 1202 | 851 02 | 22440-2 | |
| Astypalaia | 1203 | 859 00 | 22430-4 | |
| Attavyros | 1204 | Empona | 851 09 | 22460-5 |
| Chalki | 1227 | 851 10 | 22460-45 | |
| Dikaio | 1206 | Zipari | 853 00 | |
| Ialysos | 1208 | 851 01 | 22410-90 through 98 | |
| Irakleides | 1207 | Antimacheia | 853 02 | 22420-6 |
| Kallithea | 1209 | Kalythies | 851 05 | 22410–6, 84 through 87 |
| Kalymnos | 1210 | 852 00 | 22430–2, 50, 59 | |
| Kameiros | 1211 | Soroni | 851 06 | 22410-40 through 42 |
| Karpathos | 1212 | 857 00 | 22450–2, 3 | |
| Kasos | 1213 | 858 00 | 22450-4 | |
| Kos | 1214 | 853 00 | 22420-2 | |
| Lipsi | 1215 | 850 01 | 22470-4 | |
| Leros | 1216 | 854 00 | 22470-2 | |
| Lindos | 1217 | 851 07 | 22440–2,3 | |
| Megisti/Kastellorizo | 1218 | 851 11 | 22460-49 | |
| Nisyros | 1219 | 853 03 | 22420-3 | |
| Patmos | 1222 | 855 00 | 22470-3 | |
| Petaloudes | 1223 | Kremasti | 851 04 | 22410-90 through 98 |
| Rhodes | 1224 | 851 00 | 22410–2,3,4,6,7,8 | |
| South Rhodes | 1220 | Gennadi | 851 09 | 22440-4 |
| Symi | 1225 | 856 00 | 22460-70 through 72 | |
| Tilos | 1226 | 850 02 | 22460-44 | |
| Community | YPES code | Seat (if different) | Postal code | Area code |
| Agathonisi | 1201 | Agathonissi | 850 01 | 22470 |
| Olympos | 1221 | 857 00 | 22450 |
Provinces
Until 1997, the Prefecture of the Dodecanese was subdivided into provinces:
Cuisine
Local specialities of the Dodecanese include:
- Avranies
- Koulouria (Κουλουρία)
- Pitaroudia
- Pouggia (Πουγγιά)
- Tsirigia
- Fanouropita (dessert)
- Katimeria (dessert)
- Melekouni (dessert)
- Pouggakia (dessert)
- Takakia or Mantinades (dessert)
See also
- List of settlements in the Dodecanese
- List of islands of Greece
References
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- Ahrweiler 1966, pp. 79–81.
- Strabo, Geographica, .html X, 485: "Now at first the Cyclades are said to have been only twelve in number, but later several others were added".
- Giannopoulos 2006, pp. 276–278.
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- "Rhodes, Greece – Climate data". Weather Atlas. Archived from the original on 25 March 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
- AKPM, Rodos ve İstanköy Türkleri için adım attı - Dünya Haberleri Archived 6 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine. SABAH, 13 March 2012
- "Yunanistan'daki Türk Varlığı". Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
- The Rough Guide to the Greek Islands, p. 638, at Google Books
- "Η ιταλοκρατία στα Δωδεκάνησα". NewsIT. 13 July 2019. Archived from the original on 4 November 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
- Valerie McGuire, Italy's Sea: Empire and Nation in the Mediterranean Archived 22 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine, 1895-1945. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2020, 142-170.
- Dubin, Marc (2002). The Dodecanese and the East Aegean ... Rough Guides. p. 436. ISBN 978-1-85828-883-3. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
- Hearfield, John. "German surrender of the Dodecanese islands". Archived from the original on 28 November 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
- "European DXCC Entities". ng3k.com. Archived from the original on 14 February 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
- "His beatitude, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, at the ceremony of the 70th incorporation anniversary of the dodecanese within Greece". Official News Gate (Press release). Jerusalem Patriarchate. 3 June 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2017. [permanent dead link]
- "Η μακρά περιπέτεια των Δωδεκανήσων μέχρι να έρθουν στην Ελλάδα". NewsIT. 19 October 2019. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
- Special session celebrating Dodecanese incorporation to Greek state. Protothema News (video). Greece. 1 March 2017. Archived from the original on 11 March 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
- "Ρόδος! Ταξίδι σε μια άλλη παραμυθένια εποχή…". NewsIT. 23 April 2012. Archived from the original on 4 November 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
- "ΦΕΚ A 87/2010, Kallikratis reform law text" (in Greek). Government Gazette.
- Ahrweiler, Hélène (1966). Byzance et la mer. La marine de guerre, la politique et les institutions maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe- XVe siècless (in French). Paris: Presses universitaires de France.
- Carabott, P. J. (1993). "The Temporary Italian Occupation of the Dodecanese: A Prelude to Permanency". Diplomacy and Statecraft. 4 (2): 285–312. doi:10.1080/09592299308405886.
- Doumanis, Nicholas (2005). "Italians as Good Colonizers: Speaking Subalterns and the Politics of Memory in the Dodecanese". In Ben-Ghiat, Ruth; Fuller, Mia (eds.). Italian Colonialism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-23649-2.
- Giannopoulos, Giannis (2006). "Δωδεκάνησος, η γένεση ενός ονόματος και η αντιμετώπισή του από τους Ιταλούς" [Dodecanese, the genesis of a name and the Italian approach]. Ἑῶα καὶ Ἑσπέρια (in Greek). 6: 275–296. doi:10.12681/eoaesperia.78. ISSN 2241-7540.
- McGuire, Valerie (2020). Italy's Sea: Empire and Nation in the Mediterranean, 1895-1945. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.
External links
- Dodecanese Official website of the Greek National Tourism Organisation
The Dodecanese UK ˌ d oʊ d ɪ k e ˈ n iː z US d oʊ ˌ d ɛ k e ˈ n iː z Greek Dwdekanhsa Dodekanisa dodeˈkanisa lit twelve islands Turkish On Iki Ada are a group of 15 larger and 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean off the coast of Turkey s Anatolia of which 26 are inhabited This island group generally defines the eastern limit of the Sea of Crete They belong to the wider Southern Sporades island group Dodecanese DwdekanhsaFormer prefectureLocation of Dodecanese in GreeceLocation of municipalities within Dodecanese PrefectureCoordinates 36 27 N 27 18 E 36 45 N 27 30 E 36 45 27 30CountryGreecePeripherySouth AegeanCapitalRhodesSubdivisionsList 5 provinces25 municipalities2 communitiesArea Total2 714 km2 1 048 sq mi Rank18thPopulation 2005 Total200 452 Rank12th Density74 km2 190 sq mi Rank14th85x xxArea codes2241 2247ISO 3166 codeGR 81Vehicle registrationKX RK PO RY Rhodes has been the area s dominant island since antiquity Of the others Kos and Patmos are historically the most important the remaining 12 are Agathonisi Astypalaia Halki Kalymnos Karpathos Kasos Leipsoi Leros Nisyros Symi Tilos and Kastellorizo Other islands in the chain include Alimia Arkoi Farmakonisi Gyali Kinaros Levitha Marathos Nimos Pserimos Saria Strongyli and Syrna NameThe name Dodecanese older form ἡ Dwdekanhsos he Dōdekanesos modern ta Dwdekanhsa ta Dōdekanesa meaning The Twelve Islands or Oniki Adalar in Turkish denotes today an island group in the southeastern Aegean Sea comprising 15 major islands Agathonisi Astypalaia Chalki Kalymnos Karpathos Kasos Kastellorizo Kos Lipsi Leros Nisyros Patmos Rhodes Symi and Tilos and 93 smaller islets Since Antiquity these islands formed part of the group known as the Southern Sporades Noties Sporades The name Dōdekanesos first appears in Byzantine sources in the 8th century as a naval command under a droungarios encompassing the southern Aegean Sea which eventually evolved into the Theme of Samos It was not applied to the current island group but to the 12 Cyclades islands clustered around Delos The name may indeed be of a far earlier date and modern historians suggest that the 12 islands Strabo mentions Geographica X 485 were the origin of the term The term remained in use throughout the medieval period and was still used for the Cyclades in both colloquial usage and scholarly Greek language literature until the 18th century Satellite image from NASA Visible Earth The transfer of the name to the present day Dodecanese has its roots in the Ottoman period Upon the Ottoman conquest in 1522 the two larger islands Rhodes and Kos came under direct Ottoman rule while the others of which the 12 main islands were usually named enjoyed extensive privileges pertaining to taxation and self government Concerted attempts to abolish these privileges were made after 1869 as the Ottoman Empire attempted to modernize and centralize its administrative structure and the last vestiges of the old privileges were finally abolished after the Young Turks took power in 1908 It was at that time that the press in the independent Kingdom of Greece began referring to the 12 privileged islands Astypalaia Chalki Ikaria Kalymnos Karpathos Kasos Kastellorizo Leros Nisyros Patmos Symi and Tilos in the context of their attempts to preserve their privileges collectively as the Dodecanese Shortly afterward in 1912 most of the Southern Sporades were captured by the Italians in the Italo Turkish War except for Ikaria which joined Greece in 1912 during the First Balkan War and Kastellorizo which came under Italian rule only in 1921 The place of the latter two was taken by Kos and Rhodes bringing the number of the major islands under Italian rule back to 12 Thus when the Greek press began agitating for the cession of the islands to Greece in 1913 the term used was still the Dodecanese The Italian occupation authorities helped establish the term when they named the islands under their control Rhodes and the Dodecanese Rodi e Dodecaneso adding Leipsoi to the list of the major islands to make up for considering Rhodes separately By 1920 the name had become firmly established for the entire island group as acknowledged by the Italian government when it appointed the islands first civilian governor Count it as Viceroy of the Dodecanese As the name was associated with Greek irredentism from 1924 Mussolini s Fascist regime tried to abolish its use by calling them the Italian Islands of the Aegean but this name never acquired any currency outside Italian administrative usage The islands joined Greece in 1947 following as the Governorate General of the Dodecanese Genikh Dioikhsis Dwdekanhsoy since 1955 the Dodecanese Prefecture Nomos Dwdekanhsoy GeographyThe Dodecanese are in the South East Aegean sea and are bordered by Turkey in the East Crete in the southwest and the Cyclades in the west Climate Most of the Dodecanese have a hot summer Mediterranean climate Csa in the Koppen climate classification while Karpathos Kasos and Nisyros have a hot semi arid climate Koppen climate classification BSh with mild winters and hot summers Rhodes Port Kasos Karpathos and Kastellorizo record among the mildest winters in Europe South East Rhodes experiences a significantly warmer climate with Lindos registering a mean annual temperature of around 22 0 C 71 6 F making it the warmest area in Greece Moreover according to the Hellenic National Meteorological Service South East Rhodes records the highest mean annual sunshine in Greece with over 3 100 hours Climate data for Karpathos Airport Hellenic National Meteorological Service 1994 2024Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearMean daily maximum C F 16 0 60 8 16 1 61 0 17 2 63 0 19 6 67 3 23 6 74 5 27 3 81 1 29 1 84 4 29 4 84 9 27 7 81 9 24 4 75 9 20 8 69 4 17 6 63 7 22 4 72 3 Daily mean C F 13 6 56 5 13 7 56 7 14 8 58 6 16 9 62 4 20 6 69 1 24 3 75 7 26 3 79 3 26 8 80 2 25 0 77 0 21 7 71 1 18 3 64 9 15 3 59 5 19 8 67 6 Mean daily minimum C F 11 2 52 2 11 3 52 3 12 3 54 1 14 2 57 6 17 7 63 9 21 3 70 3 23 5 74 3 24 1 75 4 22 4 72 3 19 0 66 2 15 9 60 6 13 0 55 4 17 2 62 9 Average rainfall mm inches 67 4 2 65 42 0 1 65 32 5 1 28 15 0 0 59 11 7 0 46 2 1 0 08 0 01 0 00 0 0 0 0 4 9 0 19 12 2 0 48 31 7 1 25 74 6 2 94 294 11 11 57 Source Nov 1994 Oct 2024 Climate data for Rhodes Port 4 m a s l Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high C F 20 8 69 4 20 9 69 6 24 6 76 3 27 6 81 7 36 4 97 5 37 9 100 2 37 4 99 3 37 6 99 7 34 4 93 9 32 6 90 7 26 8 80 2 22 2 72 0 37 9 100 2 Mean daily maximum C F 16 1 61 0 16 4 61 5 17 3 63 1 20 2 68 4 23 9 75 0 27 9 82 2 30 9 87 6 30 7 87 3 28 6 83 5 25 5 77 9 22 0 71 6 18 4 65 1 23 2 73 7 Daily mean C F 14 0 57 2 14 3 57 7 15 1 59 2 18 0 64 4 21 4 70 5 25 3 77 5 28 2 82 8 28 4 83 1 26 5 79 7 23 4 74 1 19 9 67 8 16 3 61 3 20 9 69 6 Mean daily minimum C F 11 9 53 4 12 2 54 0 12 9 55 2 15 7 60 3 18 9 66 0 22 4 72 3 25 3 77 5 26 0 78 8 24 4 75 9 21 2 70 2 17 7 63 9 14 2 57 6 18 6 65 4 Record low C F 2 9 37 2 4 7 40 5 3 8 38 8 9 4 48 9 14 2 57 6 16 2 61 2 22 4 72 3 23 1 73 6 18 7 65 7 17 1 62 8 13 3 55 9 9 0 48 2 2 9 37 2 Average rainfall mm inches 113 6 4 47 58 5 2 30 44 5 1 75 19 2 0 76 6 5 0 26 6 3 0 25 0 1 0 00 0 3 0 01 3 0 0 12 26 7 1 05 87 2 3 43 144 1 5 67 510 20 07 Mean monthly sunshine hours 151 8 184 8 238 8 269 3 326 8 374 8 393 5 363 7 311 8 260 2 190 8 157 8 3 224 1Source 1 Municipal Port Fund of South Dodecanese Jan 2019 Aug 2024 Source 2 Sunshine Rhodes AP Climate data for Fri 4 m a s l Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high C F 22 5 72 5 25 2 77 4 25 8 78 4 30 5 86 9 36 7 98 1 37 2 99 0 35 7 96 3 36 9 98 4 35 7 96 3 32 8 91 0 27 4 81 3 24 4 75 9 37 2 99 0 Mean daily maximum C F 16 0 60 8 16 4 61 5 17 4 63 3 20 0 68 0 23 3 73 9 26 2 79 2 28 1 82 6 28 3 82 9 26 8 80 2 23 8 74 8 20 8 69 4 17 8 64 0 22 1 71 7 Daily mean C F 13 9 57 0 14 3 57 7 15 1 59 2 17 3 63 1 20 6 69 1 24 0 75 2 26 2 79 2 26 6 79 9 25 0 77 0 21 9 71 4 18 8 65 8 15 8 60 4 20 0 67 9 Mean daily minimum C F 11 7 53 1 12 1 53 8 12 8 55 0 14 7 58 5 17 9 64 2 21 7 71 1 24 1 75 4 24 9 76 8 23 2 73 8 19 9 67 8 16 8 62 2 13 7 56 7 17 8 64 0 Record low C F 2 7 36 9 4 3 39 7 5 2 41 4 7 2 45 0 13 6 56 5 16 2 61 2 20 4 68 7 21 1 70 0 17 6 63 7 14 4 57 9 11 1 52 0 6 3 43 3 2 7 36 9 Average rainfall mm inches 56 5 2 22 31 7 1 25 38 3 1 51 11 6 0 46 8 6 0 34 1 8 0 07 0 9 0 04 0 2 0 01 3 2 0 13 21 2 0 83 27 4 1 08 48 8 1 92 250 2 9 86 Source 1 Karpathiakanea grSource 2 National Observatory of Athens Monthly Bulletins Jul 2010 Nov 2024 and World Meteorological Organization Climate data for Kastellorizo 5 m a s l Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high C F 20 6 69 1 22 3 72 1 26 1 79 0 29 6 85 3 34 8 94 6 40 8 105 4 40 8 105 4 40 1 104 2 36 6 97 9 37 4 99 3 27 7 81 9 23 2 73 8 40 8 105 4 Mean daily maximum C F 16 8 62 2 17 1 62 8 18 4 65 1 21 9 71 4 26 2 79 2 30 0 86 0 34 2 93 6 33 7 92 7 31 1 88 0 27 3 81 1 22 8 73 0 18 7 65 7 24 8 76 7 Daily mean C F 14 6 58 3 14 7 58 5 15 6 60 1 18 7 65 7 22 6 72 7 26 3 79 3 30 1 86 2 30 3 86 5 28 1 82 6 24 5 76 1 20 4 68 7 16 5 61 7 21 9 71 4 Mean daily minimum C F 12 3 54 1 12 3 54 1 12 8 55 0 15 6 60 1 19 0 66 2 22 6 72 7 26 1 79 0 26 9 80 4 25 2 77 4 21 7 71 1 17 9 64 2 14 3 57 7 18 9 66 0 Record low C F 4 5 40 1 5 5 41 9 5 2 41 4 10 7 51 3 15 2 59 4 17 8 64 0 22 9 73 2 24 7 76 5 20 3 68 5 15 8 60 4 11 3 52 3 8 3 46 9 4 5 40 1 Average rainfall mm inches 130 3 5 13 50 2 1 98 45 2 1 78 15 7 0 62 5 3 0 21 7 4 0 29 0 3 0 01 0 0 0 0 7 7 0 30 22 6 0 89 91 1 3 59 176 7 6 96 552 5 21 76 Source 1 National Observatory of Athens Monthly Bulletins Sep 2018 Aug 2024 Source 2 Kastellorizo N O A station and World Meteorological Organization Climate data for Lindos 65 m a s l Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high C F 21 9 71 4 24 8 76 6 25 9 78 6 32 4 90 3 36 2 97 2 43 6 110 5 42 7 108 9 43 1 109 6 39 8 103 6 37 9 100 2 27 2 81 0 22 5 72 5 43 6 110 5 Mean daily maximum C F 16 2 61 2 17 1 62 8 18 6 65 5 22 5 72 5 26 9 80 4 31 8 89 2 35 5 95 9 35 0 95 0 31 6 88 9 26 7 80 1 22 0 71 6 18 3 64 9 25 2 77 3 Daily mean C F 13 6 56 5 14 4 57 9 15 7 60 3 19 1 66 4 23 2 73 8 27 9 82 2 31 5 88 7 31 4 88 5 28 2 82 8 23 7 74 7 19 4 66 9 15 8 60 4 22 0 71 6 Mean daily minimum C F 11 1 52 0 11 8 53 2 12 8 55 0 15 7 60 3 19 5 67 1 24 1 75 4 27 6 81 7 27 8 82 0 24 8 76 6 20 7 69 3 16 8 62 2 13 2 55 8 18 8 65 9 Record low C F 1 1 34 0 3 3 37 9 3 1 37 6 9 4 48 9 13 8 56 8 16 8 62 2 21 1 70 0 24 0 75 2 16 3 61 3 13 1 55 6 10 5 50 9 4 3 39 7 1 1 34 0 Average rainfall mm inches 107 8 4 24 70 9 2 79 45 1 1 78 10 8 0 43 11 0 0 43 2 5 0 10 1 4 0 06 0 04 0 00 5 4 0 21 24 7 0 97 84 0 3 31 117 4 4 62 481 04 18 94 Average relative humidity 67 4 66 5 64 6 61 2 57 9 52 7 46 7 50 1 51 6 58 0 66 1 68 5 59 3Source 1 National Observatory of Athens May 2014 Jan 2025 Source 2 World Meteorological Organization Climate data for Rhodes AirportMonth Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high C F 22 0 71 6 22 6 72 7 27 6 81 7 30 6 87 1 34 8 94 6 36 2 97 2 39 0 102 2 41 2 106 2 35 4 95 7 33 2 91 8 28 4 83 1 23 4 74 1 41 2 106 2 Mean daily maximum C F 15 1 59 2 15 2 59 4 17 63 20 0 68 0 24 1 75 4 28 3 82 9 30 4 86 7 30 7 87 3 28 1 82 6 24 5 76 1 20 2 68 4 16 7 62 1 22 5 72 6 Daily mean C F 12 0 53 6 12 0 53 6 13 5 56 3 16 3 61 3 20 0 68 0 24 2 75 6 26 4 79 5 26 7 80 1 24 4 75 9 20 7 69 3 16 7 62 1 13 5 56 3 18 9 66 0 Mean daily minimum C F 9 2 48 6 9 1 48 4 10 5 50 9 13 55 16 3 61 3 20 4 68 7 22 7 72 9 23 2 73 8 21 70 17 4 63 3 13 7 56 7 10 8 51 4 15 6 60 1 Record low C F 4 0 24 8 1 6 29 1 0 2 32 4 5 2 41 4 8 6 47 5 12 6 54 7 16 8 62 2 17 0 62 6 10 6 51 1 7 2 45 0 2 4 36 3 1 2 34 2 4 0 24 8 Average rainfall mm inches 151 8 5 98 101 7 4 00 68 9 2 71 29 4 1 16 16 4 0 65 1 8 0 07 0 3 0 01 0 2 0 01 6 3 0 25 56 9 2 24 89 6 3 53 152 8 6 02 676 1 26 63 Average rainy days 15 5 12 7 10 5 7 6 4 6 1 2 0 2 0 1 1 5 6 7 9 5 15 4 85 5Average relative humidity 70 1 69 1 68 7 66 5 64 4 58 5 57 6 59 9 61 4 67 5 71 4 72 4 65 6Mean daily sunshine hours 5 0 6 0 7 0 9 0 11 0 13 0 14 0 13 0 11 0 8 0 6 0 5 0 9 0Source 1 Hellenic National Meteorological Service 1955 2010 averages Source 2 NOAA 1961 1977 temperatures taken from Maritsa Airport and 1977 1990 from Rhodes International Airport Weather Atlas sunshine data HistoryThe Doric temple of Athena Lindia LindosPre 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 the second millennium BC Following the downfall of the Minoans the islands were ruled by the Mycenaean Greeks 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 Colossus of Rhodes one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World This development was interrupted around 499 BC by the Persian Wars during which the islands were captured by the Persians for a brief period After the Athenians defeated the Persians in 478 BC the cities joined the Athenian dominated Delian League When the Peloponnesian War broke out in 431 BC they remained largely neutral though they were still members of the League By the time the Peloponnesian War ended in 404 BC the Dodecanese were mostly 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 dominated 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 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 King Mausolus of Caria then in 340 BC by the Persians But this second period of Persian rule proved 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 After Alexander s death 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 extent with the Roman Republic 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 Titus made Rhodes capital of the Provincia Insularum and eventually the islands 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 Monastery of Saint John the Theologian PatmosPalace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes As the Roman Empire split in AD 395 into Eastern and Western halves the islands became part of the Eastern part which later evolved into the 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 reemerge as an independent entity and the term Dodecanese itself dates to around the 8th century Copious evidence of the Eastern Roman period remains on the islands today most notably in hundreds of churches from the period in various states of preservation In the 10th and 11th centuries on behalf the Roman Empire of Constantinople the area was controlled and secured with trade duty rights by powerful maritime city state fleets of Genoa with the clan of Vignolo de Vignoli and Venice with the clan of Cornaros When the Genoese snatched a treaty from the Paleologos Emperors of Constantinople they began invading portions of the Dodecanese and other eastern isles from Chios to Rhodes that had remained under the nominal power of the Empire of Nicea Genoese family clans Moresco Vignoli Giustiniani Spinola and others each held some islands and were granted rights to rule trade and to exploit raw materials masticha etc in exchange for maritime protection while Orthodox monks ruled on Patmos and Leros The Byzantine era came to an end when the islands were rented and sold by Genoeses for the venue of the Knights Hospitaller Knights of St John Rhodes was reinforced in 1309 and in the rest of the islands the Knights gradually built castles and fortress over the next few decades while the Genoese fleet remained in charge of the sea routes and kept its bases and trading stores Empori The Knights made Rhodes their stronghold transforming its capital into a grandiose medieval city dominated by an impressive fortress with scattered other fortresses and citadels throughout the rest of the islands These massive fortifications proved sufficient to repel invasions by the Sultan of Egypt in 1444 and Mehmed II in 1480 Finally the citadel at Rhodes fell to the 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 Suleiman mosque view from below Rhodes Thus began a period of several hundred years in the Ottoman Empire The Dodecanese formed a separate province within the Eyalet of the Archipelago The population was allowed to retain a number of privileges provided it 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 The overwhelmingly Greek population only Rhodes and Kos had Turkish communities leaned heavily toward Greece following its declaration of independence in 1822 and many of the islanders joined the Greek War of Independence with the result that the northern portion of the Dodecanese including Samos became briefly the Greek provinces of the Eastern Sporades and Southern Sporades Kasos in particular played a prominent role due to its skilled mariners until its destruction by the Egyptians in 1824 Most of the islands were slated to become part of the new Greek state in the London Protocol of 1828 but when Greek independence was recognized in the London Protocol of 1830 the islands were left outside the new Kingdom of Greece The 19th century turned out to be one of the islands most prosperous and a number of mansions date from this era Turks of the Dodecanese A Turkish Muslim minority lives in Rhodes and Kos Sources have variously estimated the Turkish population of Kos and Rhodes to be 5 000 6 000 or 7 000 Italian rule Palazzo del Governo in Rhodes now the Prefecture of the Dodecanese After the outbreak of the Italian Turkish war over Libya in early 1912 Italy in order to apply pressure on the Ottoman government closer to its metropolitan territories occupied all the present day Dodecanese except for Kastellorizo After the end of the war according to the Treaty of Ouchy Italy maintained the occupation of the islands as guarantee for the execution of the treaty The occupation continued after Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire 21 August 1915 during World War I During the war the islands became an important naval base for Britain and France Italy was allied with both nations The Dodecanese were used as a staging area for numerous campaigns most famously the one at Gallipoli The French and British occupied some of the smaller islands but Rhodes remained under Italian occupation In 1915 the French also occupied Kastellorizo After the war the Tittoni Venizelos agreement signed on 29 July 1919 called for the smaller islands to join with Greece while Italy maintained control of Rhodes The treaty further outlined an exchange where Italy would receive Antalya for southwest Anatolia The Greek defeat in the Greco Turkish War and the foundation of modern Turkey prevented the exchange Italy formally annexed the Dodecanese as the Possedimenti Italiani dell Egeo under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne 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 in the Levant The islands were overwhelmingly Greek speaking with a Turkish speaking minority and a smaller Ladino speaking Jewish minority Immigrant Italian speakers were a marginal language community Although the Italian state placed the islands under the direction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs their governance was strongly tied to the project for an Italian empire in the Mediterranean and to the Italian colonies in Libya Somalia Eritrea and after 1936 in Ethiopia As part of securing sovereignty in the islands Italy created and applied a form of imperial citizenship for the local population unique to its overseas empire Called Italian Aegean citizenship cittadinanza egea italiana this form of citizenship was inclusive of local political rights and exclusive of military service After 1934 Dodecanese citizens could complete military service and apply to become full Italian citizens an option many locals chose while supporting Italian Fascism and seeing the Italian empire as promoting their financial well being Italian Aegean citizenship also ensured the islands were exempted from the exchange of Greek and Turkish minority populations in the Aegean a provision of the Second Lausanne Treaty that ended the Greco Turkish War After 1934 it was also possible to acquire Italian Aegean citizenship from abroad and to transmit Italian Aegean citizenship on the principle of patrilineal descent This reform mirrored the principle of jus sanguinis which provides the basis of Italian citizenship and was especially intended for the large Greek speaking Dodecanese origin emigrant community in Egypt The Fascist administration sought to modernize the islands eradicating malaria constructing hospitals aqueducts a power plant to provide Rhodes capital with electric lighting and establishing the Dodecanese cadastre The main castle of the Knights of St John was also rebuilt 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 From 1936 to 1940 Cesare Maria De Vecchi acted as governor of the Italian Islands of the Aegean promoting the official use of the Italian language and favoring a process of Italianization interrupted by the beginning of World War II In the 1936 Italian census of the Dodecanese islands the total population was 129 135 of whom 7 015 were Italians World War II WWII cemetery in Leros During World War II Italy joined the Axis Powers which used the Dodecanese as a naval staging area for their invasion of Crete in 1941 After Italy surrendered in September 1943 the islands briefly became a battleground between the Germans and Allied forces including the Italians The Germans prevailed in the Dodecanese Campaign and although they were driven out of mainland Greece in 1944 the Dodecanese remained occupied until the end of the war in 1945 during which time nearly the entire Jewish population of 6 000 was deported and killed Only 1 200 of these Ladino speaking Jews survived by escaping to the nearby coast of Turkey citation needed On 8 May 1945 the German garrison commander Otto Wagener surrendered the islands to the British on Rhodes handing over 5 000 German and 600 Italian military personnel Modern fountain of Neptune in Diafani KarpathosPost World War II After the war the islands became a British military protectorate and were almost immediately allowed to run their own civil affairs whereupon they 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 As a legacy of its former status as a jurisdiction separate from Greece it is still considered a separate entity for amateur radio purposes essentially maintaining its status as an independent country on the air Amateur radio call signs in the Dodecanese begin with the prefix SV5 instead of SV for Greece The 70th anniversary of the Dodecanese enosis was marked in 2017 with the Greek Parliament holding a special celebratory session for the event Today Rhodes and the Dodecanese are popular travel destinations AdministrationKalymnosSymiLerosAstypalaia The Dodecanese Prefecture was one of the prefectures of Greece As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis reform the prefecture was abolished and its territory was divided into four regional units within the South Aegean administrative region Kalymnos Karpathos Kasos Kos RhodesMunicipalities and communities The prefecture was subdivided into the following municipalities and communities These have been reorganised at the 2011 Kallikratis reform as well Municipality YPES code Seat if different Postal code Area codeAfantou 1205 851 03 22410 50 through 53 56 57Archangelos 1202 851 02 22440 2Astypalaia 1203 859 00 22430 4Attavyros 1204 Empona 851 09 22460 5Chalki 1227 851 10 22460 45Dikaio 1206 Zipari 853 00Ialysos 1208 851 01 22410 90 through 98Irakleides 1207 Antimacheia 853 02 22420 6Kallithea 1209 Kalythies 851 05 22410 6 84 through 87Kalymnos 1210 852 00 22430 2 50 59Kameiros 1211 Soroni 851 06 22410 40 through 42Karpathos 1212 857 00 22450 2 3Kasos 1213 858 00 22450 4Kos 1214 853 00 22420 2Lipsi 1215 850 01 22470 4Leros 1216 854 00 22470 2Lindos 1217 851 07 22440 2 3Megisti Kastellorizo 1218 851 11 22460 49Nisyros 1219 853 03 22420 3Patmos 1222 855 00 22470 3Petaloudes 1223 Kremasti 851 04 22410 90 through 98Rhodes 1224 851 00 22410 2 3 4 6 7 8South Rhodes 1220 Gennadi 851 09 22440 4Symi 1225 856 00 22460 70 through 72Tilos 1226 850 02 22460 44Community YPES code Seat if different Postal code Area codeAgathonisi 1201 Agathonissi 850 01 22470Olympos 1221 857 00 22450Provinces Until 1997 the Prefecture of the Dodecanese was subdivided into provinces Province of Patmos Patmos Province of Kalymnos Kalymnos Province of Kos Kos Province of Rhodes Rhodes City Province of Karpathos amp Kasos KarpathosCuisinePitaroudia traditional food from Dodecanese Local specialities of the Dodecanese include Avranies Koulouria Koyloyria Pitaroudia Pouggia Poyggia Tsirigia Fanouropita dessert Katimeria dessert Melekouni dessert Pouggakia dessert Takakia or Mantinades dessert See alsoList of settlements in the Dodecanese List of islands of GreeceReferencesPeter Saundry C Michael Hogan amp Steve Baum 2011 Sea of Crete Encyclopedia of Earth Eds M Pidwirny amp C J Cleveland National Council for Science and Environment Washington DC Archived 24 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine Giannopoulos 2006 pp 275 276 Giannopoulos 2006 p 275 Ahrweiler 1966 pp 79 81 Strabo Geographica html X 485 Now at first the Cyclades are said to have been only twelve in number but later several others were added Giannopoulos 2006 pp 276 278 Giannopoulos 2006 pp 278 280 Giannopoulos 2006 pp 280 284 Giannopoulos 2006 pp 284 294 Giannopoulos 2006 p 294 Monthly Bulletins www meteo gr Climate normals National Observatory of Athens Retrieved 30 April 2022 The warmest area of the country is National Observatory of Athens Archived from the original on 11 July 2021 Retrieved 19 July 2021 Lindos Rhodes Iefimerida 22 August 2019 Archived from the original on 18 July 2021 Retrieved 19 July 2021 Climate Atlas Archived 4 February 2022 at the Wayback Machine climatlas hnms gr Accessed 31 August 2002 KLIMATOLOGIA EMY E8nikh Metewrologikh Yphresia DHMOS KARPA8OY PDF Archived from the original PDF on 4 June 2023 Rhodes Tourist Port Municipal Port Fund of South Dodecanese Current Weather Conditions Arxikh Dhmotiko Limeniko Tameio Notias Dwdekanhsoy www litando gr Retrieved 19 April 2023 HNMS Retrieved 5 May 2024 The areas with the mildest winters in Greece in Greek Karpathiakanea gr 12 April 2022 Retrieved 16 April 2022 Weather station of Kasos penteli meteo gr May 2023 World Meteorological Organization Retrieved 14 July 2023 Meteo gr Prognwseis kairoy gia olh thn Ellada Latest Conditions in Kastellorizo World Meteorological Organization Retrieved 14 July 2023 Climate in Greek National Observatory of Athens Archived from the original on 27 September 2022 N O A Monthly Bulletins World Meteorological Organization Archived from the original on 12 July 2023 Retrieved 12 July 2023 Climatology Rodos Hellenic National Meteorological Service Archived from the original on 25 March 2017 Retrieved 24 March 2017 Documents Archived 16 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine itia ntua gr Accessed 31 August 2022 Rhodes Climate Normals 1961 1990 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Retrieved 1 March 2015 Rhodes Greece Climate data Weather Atlas Archived from the original on 25 March 2017 Retrieved 24 March 2017 AKPM Rodos ve Istankoy Turkleri icin adim atti Dunya Haberleri Archived 6 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine SABAH 13 March 2012 Yunanistan daki Turk Varligi Archived from the original on 3 September 2014 Retrieved 6 September 2014 The Rough Guide to the Greek Islands p 638 at Google Books H italokratia sta Dwdekanhsa NewsIT 13 July 2019 Archived from the original on 4 November 2020 Retrieved 31 October 2020 Valerie McGuire Italy s Sea Empire and Nation in the Mediterranean Archived 22 September 2023 at the Wayback Machine 1895 1945 Liverpool Liverpool University Press 2020 142 170 Dubin Marc 2002 The Dodecanese and the East Aegean Rough Guides p 436 ISBN 978 1 85828 883 3 Retrieved 19 July 2009 Hearfield John German surrender of the Dodecanese islands Archived from the original on 28 November 2015 Retrieved 23 April 2014 European DXCC Entities ng3k com Archived from the original on 14 February 2017 Retrieved 18 December 2016 His beatitude the Patriarch of Jerusalem at the ceremony of the 70th incorporation anniversary of the dodecanese within Greece Official News Gate Press release Jerusalem Patriarchate 3 June 2017 Retrieved 8 March 2017 permanent dead link H makra peripeteia twn Dwdekanhswn mexri na er8oyn sthn Ellada NewsIT 19 October 2019 Archived from the original on 22 October 2019 Retrieved 31 October 2020 Special session celebrating Dodecanese incorporation to Greek state Protothema News video Greece 1 March 2017 Archived from the original on 11 March 2017 Retrieved 8 March 2017 Rodos Ta3idi se mia allh paramy8enia epoxh NewsIT 23 April 2012 Archived from the original on 4 November 2020 Retrieved 31 October 2020 FEK A 87 2010 Kallikratis reform law text in Greek Government Gazette Ahrweiler Helene 1966 Byzance et la mer La marine de guerre la politique et les institutions maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe XVe siecless in French Paris Presses universitaires de France Carabott P J 1993 The Temporary Italian Occupation of the Dodecanese A Prelude to Permanency Diplomacy and Statecraft 4 2 285 312 doi 10 1080 09592299308405886 Doumanis Nicholas 2005 Italians as Good Colonizers Speaking Subalterns and the Politics of Memory in the Dodecanese In Ben Ghiat Ruth Fuller Mia eds Italian Colonialism New York Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 0 312 23649 2 Giannopoulos Giannis 2006 Dwdekanhsos h genesh enos onomatos kai h antimetwpish toy apo toys Italoys Dodecanese the genesis of a name and the Italian approach Ἑῶa kaὶ Ἑsperia in Greek 6 275 296 doi 10 12681 eoaesperia 78 ISSN 2241 7540 McGuire Valerie 2020 Italy s Sea Empire and Nation in the Mediterranean 1895 1945 Liverpool Liverpool University Press External linksWikimedia Commons has media related to Dodecanese Dodecanese Official website of the Greek National Tourism Organisation
