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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

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RHODES

Port of call on Paul’s return trip to Jerusalem from his third missionary journey (Acts 21:1). The mention of Rhodes in Genesis 10:4, Ezekiel 27:15, and 1 Chronicles 1:7 is not based on the Hebrew text of the OT but on its Greek translation. The island of Rhodes, an area of more than 500 square miles (1,295 square kilometers), is situated near the southeast coast of modern Turkey.

In Paul’s time the island had long been an important establishment of Dorian Greek culture, with several cities. Rhodes, the capital, lay on the busiest ancient sea route between the ports of Italy and the province of Asia to the west, and those of Syria and Egypt to the east. It was distinguished for its natural harbor and public works. Rhodes was a prominent center for business and supplied most of the precedents for Roman law of the sea. The second century BC marked the height of its political power, which included control of most of Caria and Lycia on the mainland of Asia Minor. Roman power first deprived Rhodes of its commercial domination, and during the Roman civil wars of the first century BC, it was reduced politically to little more than a provincial town in the Roman Empire.

To celebrate a military victory in 280 BC, the city of Rhodes erected an immense bronze statue of the Greek sun god, 121 feet (36.9 meters) tall—about the height of the Statue of Liberty. It was 12 years in the making, and soon after its completion, an earthquake broke it off at the knees (224 BC). But the fragmented ruins remained as a curiosity until Arab occupation of the island in the seventh century. This Colossus of Rhodes was included in some ancient lists of wonders of the world.