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"Mosque on Rhodes", © Elroy Christenson 1985. The island of
Rhodes was famous in ancient times for the statue that
stood near the entrance to the harbor. The Colossus of Rhodes was one
of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was an enormous bronze
statue by the Greek sculptor Chares. Completed after 12 years of work
it had been the ports protector. It was as large as the Statue of
Liberty and was destroyed in an earthquake in 224 bce.
Later the Romans came and later still the crusaders came in 1310. The Knights Hospitallers of Saint John built a fortification here and held power over the island until 1522. Once the crusaders were forced to leave the moslems came into the area and established their mosque very near the crusaders castle. Rhodes is very near the coast of Turkey and yet is now part of the country of Greece. Many battles have been waged over possession of this and other nearby islands which have changed hands from over the last seventy-five years and as recently at 1945 from Turks to Italian to Turks and then to Greece.
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