It was four million years ago. There was a place we call Aegeis which sank into The Mediterranean. It was a land which joined Europe to Asia. Great cataclysmic events sank the land leaving only the peaks of the mountains rising above the sea to become islands. It is these peaks which are The Dodecanese. It was a time before man, but the plants and animals tell us that these places were once joined to the Ionic coast. Cut off from their world, they developed in different ways upon their islands like the elephants on Tilos which became smaller and smaller as their environment shrunk.

Some time in the stone age, humans came to the islands. We don’t know exactly when, but we do know that is was in the stone age that they raised circles of stone like the stone structures which surround the Mediterranean basin and spread north to The British Isles. There has been much debate over who taught whom to place one stone upon another, but anyone who has raised a child knows that this is not taught, it is natural for any 3 year old to place one block on top of another.

It was the Minoan's who first ruled here and established their civilization in 1400 BCE. Their influence lasted for 300 years until in 1100 BCE, The Dorian invasion reached the islands and they began to prosper. They founded 3 great cities, Lindos, Kameiros, and Ialyssos. Together with the island of Kos and the cities of Knidos and Halicarnassos on the mainland of Asian Minor, these made up the Dorian Hexapolis. These city states continued to prosper for 600 years until about 499 BCE when they were overcome by The Persians.

When Athens defeated The Persians 21 years later in 478, These cities allied themselves with Athens in The Delian league. Throughout The Peloponnesian War, The islands of The Dodecanese remained largely neutral.

Through the years conqueror after conqueror claimed The Dodecanese. Mausoleums of Halicarnassos ruled for a time, The Persians, and The Great Alexander. Alexander’s successors battled over them and in the end, they became a Roman Province and then a Byzantine possession. The Venetians and the Genovese ruled parts of The Dodecanese and the Frankish crusaders, and then the Muslims ruled.

Like the rest of Greece, The Dodecanese was ruled by The Ottoman Turks for several hundred years until, after The Greek war of independence they declared their autonomy in 1912. Their freedom was short lived when The Italians invaded and conquered.

Italy and Germany ruled The Dodecanese until the end of the second world war. Briefly a British protectorate , the islands were re united with Greece in 1947.

All of these cultures have left here their marks. You can find Neolithic stone circles as well as ancient Greek temples. There are Roman ruins next to Byzantine churches, elegantly carved Venetian villas still stand by modern vacation homes. It is all here before you in The Dodecanese where you can stroll through the history of Western civilization on a small island in an afternoon’s walk.

This is but a brief outline; if you want all the details you shall find the whole story in this link

Wikipedia

 

Rest now. Gather strength. We arrive first on the holy island of Patmos.


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