A descriptive, visual overview of various historical sites in Western Turkey
Saturday, April 17, 2021
Island of Rhodes: A visit to Lindos
Acropolis of Lindos
After spending a day in Rhodes City, we took a bus about 34 miles (52 km.) down the east coast of the Mediterranean to the village of Lindos.
http://www.lovegreekislands.com/rhodes-map.html
This picturesque town is nestled in a small valley around the hillside of the attractive acropolis (high part of city) between two two bays on either side - north and south.
The bay on the south side is much more intriguing (right side of map, above) - the so-called "St. Paul's Bay." You can see it best by looking down from the acropolis.
This bay looks inviting - like a solitary lake or sinkhole... so, let's explore.
Below is a comprehensive, but short (2 minute) YouTube video about St. Paul's Bay shot from a drone.
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Here's what the World Beech Guide says about St Paul’s Bay:
>>Despite its diminutive size, Saint Paul’s Bay is one of the most popular beaches on the Greek island of Rhodes. Located on the edge of the historic village of Lindos, St Paul’s Bay is enclosed by rocks with a small outlet for boats.
This spectacular setting is further enhanced by a small Greek Orthodox chapel in the cove which harmonizes with the ruins high above of the ancient Acropolis of Lindos.
Saint Paul’s Bay has two lovely stretches of sand. The clear blue water here gets quite warm, and the air temperature can reach 40°C (104°F) in the summer. With such secure surroundings and a narrow opening to the sea, this bay is well-suited for swimming and snorkeling; for snorkelers, there are also plenty of fish to be spotted amongst the rocks.<<
My wife and I came down to the beach behind the location of the mast of the sailboat you can see in the picture below, and swam around the rocks out to the sea. It was fun to get beat-up by the waves and explore a some shallow caves.
>>Surrounding the cove are a few tavernas where you can grab a bite to eat, and the village of Lindos is a 10 minute walk away. The chapel down in the cove St Paul’s Bay is a popular spot for weddings for locals and tourists.
Up in Lindos, the picture-postcard beautiful streets are lined with cobblestones and whitewashed houses and an occasional donkey for packing tourists.<<
Here's the critical reason why this bay is so interesting from an historical perspective:
Many historians think that the Apostle Paul stopped at this bay on his Third Missionary Journey traveling back to Jerusalem.
It is documented that Paul and his companions stopped somewhere on Rhodes on that homeward stretch - while coming down from the far north of the Aegean Sea at Macedonia, passing along the western coast of (today's) Turkey, and heading east toward Antioch of Syria.
Unfortunately, the Luke narration in Acts provides no specific historical record of interactions with people on the island of Rhodes.
Here's is Luke's description in Acts:
>>When we had parted from them [the Ephesian elders at Miletus] and set sail, we ran a straight course to Cos and the next day to Rhodes and from there to Patara; and having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.
<< Acts 21:1-2
Paul's 3rd Missionary Journey: Starts at Antioch, and finishes at Tyre.
This passage presents an important concept of travel across the Mediterranean in those days:
>>"...and having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail."<< Acts 21:2
When traveling by ship in the Mediterranean, one had to make arrangements with commercial ships bound for chosen, specific ports - either days or hours in advance or immediately when arriving at the port on another ship - and finding a connecting ship.
In the above passage,
"...and having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail."
it appears that Paul and his companions found a ship with just the right destination.
NOTE: There were no passenger ships (aside from troop carriers or warships) in those days, so the ship's owner or captain usually pre-determined the destination of the ships.
If you were lucky, you might be able to catch a ship in the bay that was going your direction. If not, you might have to settle for a ship going in another direction, and then try to make connections to your original destination.
As one would expect, the traveler had to pay the fare after negotiating a price. Travelers would be responsible for your own food and water and bedding. This was not an easy way to travel. (I know I'd have a hard time sleeping, not to mention being out in the sun all day without suntan lotion!)
Continuing with Professor Ferrall's travel description in his web site:
>>Our ship (Dr. Ferrall's) docked at the harbor of the city of Rhodes, capital of the island of Rhodes. Here, in ancient days, stood the colossus of Rhodes — one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The statue fell during an earthquake in 226 B.C., but its remains were seen as late as the 7th century A.D. (LINK in this blog).
Assuming that Paul’s ship docked here, he would have seen ruins of the famous monument. (That's an interesting thought.) Considering the course of travel mentioned in the text (Cos to Rhodes, and then Patara) it appears more likely they may have stopped at Rhodes City.
One tradition states that Paul’s contact with the island was at Lindos, one of the three ancient cities of the island and one with an excellent harbor. The small Greek Orthodox chapel in the village commemorates the landing and preaching of the apostle. In the book, A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey (Fant and Reddish), it is believed that “The harbor was once home to the Greek fleet of Lindos and the only natural harbor on the island of Rhodes”.<<
Let's take a walk through the village, and go to our hotel.
Here I am "schlepping" our suitcases down to the hotel from the bus stop. Remember, our rental car was back in the ferry parking lot at Marmaris, Turkey.
Photo above: Just past sunset from the north side of Lindos village over the north bay. The large mountains are probably located back in Turkey - I don't think we passed thorough such high mountains while traveling from northern Rhodes.
It was a carving of an ancient Greek warship. More specifically, it was a relief of a Rhodian trireme (warship) cut into the rock at the foot of the steps leading to the Lindos acropolis. It is the work of the sculptor Pythokritos, and the relief dates from about 180 BC.
Specific information:
"It portrays the stern of a warship (triemiolia) in relief from the early 2nd century B.C.
Part of the relief served as the base of a bronze portrait statue of Hagesandros son of Mikion, whom the Lindians honoured on the occasion of a Rhodian naval victory.
The stern of the warship (triemolia) preserves traces of red pigment and is rendered in detail, with the aphlastonDEFINITION at the right end and the richly bedecked captain's seat in the form of bird's wing.
Identifiable on the back of the base - within a small temple (naiskos) - is a standing female figure with kalathos on the head. Preserved on the rock in front of the relief is a row of holes, in which were set the iron railings that protected the monument.
According to the inscription on the hull of the ship, the work was created by the renowned Rhodian sculptor Pythokritos son of Timocharis.
The Rhodian's preoccupation with representations of ships in art was closely linked with their maritime tradition and superiority in producing fighting ships.
"Relief stern of a warship (triemiolia), early 2nd c. B.C. -
The relief served as the base of a bronze portrait statue of Hagesandros son of Mikion, whom the Lindians honoured on the occasion of a naval victory of the Rhodians."
We found it discouraging that Jews were rounded up in this far-distant, remote part of the world. Below is an article about the deportation of Greek Jews, specifically from a site in Thessaloniki - further along the transportation route north to the concentration camps in Poland:
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Residents of Greece’s second-largest city on Sunday placed flowers on train tracks and inside old cattle wagons in solemn remembrance of nearly 50,000 local Jews who were transported to Nazi death camps during World War II.
About 2,000 people joined together at Thessaloniki’s Freedom Square for the 72nd anniversary of the roundup and deportation of the Jews. Some held banners that said: “Racism Kills, Let’s Learn from History,” and “Never Again.”
The crowd then marched to the northern city’s old railway station, where the first of 19 trains departed for the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp complex on March 15, 1943.
A locomotive believed to have been used to transport Jews, and four carriages that normally would carry cattle and in which people spent nine days locked up on their way to the extermination camps, were at the station. The crowd laid flowers on the wagons and the tracks.
“It was a horrible, mournful, rainy day. Even the skies were weeping,” recalled Heinz Cunho, 87, one of fewer than 100 surviving Greek Jews who made it back from the camps. “Normally, the carriages held 50 people. There were 80 of us to a wagon, and they had us locked up throughout the nine-day trip.”
Greece’s government has recently decided to make demands for German World War II reparations worth the equivalent of 50 million euros ($53 million), paid as a ransom to Nazi occupiers in 1942 to free about 10,000 Jewish men used as slave laborers in Greece. They were freed, but still sent subsequently to death camps.
Jews, mostly Sephardic refugees from Spain and the Inquisition (starting in 1492), formed the majority of Thessaloniki’s inhabitants from the 16th to the early 20th century. Their numbers dwindled in the early 20th century.
cliff_emerson@
cliff_emerson@
A locomotive believed to have been used to transport Jews, and four carriages that normally would carry cattle and in which people spent nine days locked up on their way to the extermination camps, were at the station. The crowd laid flowers on the wagons and the tracks.
cliff_emerson@
Of the 46,091 Thessaloniki Jews sent to the camps, 1,950 survived. Others avoided the camps by either joining the partisan resistance or escaping to Turkey by boat, with the help of residents, and eventually making it to the Middle East. The original Jewish community of Thessaloniki numbered nearly 800,000, but today is fewer than 2,000.
“We are marching upon the footsteps that Greek Jews marched back then. We must remain united and opposed to Nazism, racism and anti-Semitism,” said David Saltiel, head of Thessaloniki’s Jewish community.
Several years ago, my wife and I made a trip from Vienna, Austria to Auschwitz/Birkenau, Poland following the train route that brought Jews in the Holocaust from Greece and the Balkan countries - a moving experience. You can easily see this route on the map.
In closing, let's turn our attention to a visit at the terrific Byzantine / Greek Orthodox church - Church of our lady Panagia in Lindos.
TripAdvisor
THE CHURCH OF OUR LADY (PANAGIA), LINDOS
Just off the main square in Lindos is this cross-shaped 14th century church with an octagonal dome and whitewashed walls.
Surrounded by high walls and a small courtyard, this old church was originally built in 1300 and has since gone through numerous reconstructions. The most important renovation was ordered by the Grand Master Pierre d’Aubusson (1476 to 1503) of the Knights of Rhodes (Order of St. John in Rhodes City) and the most recent is dated in 1927, during the Italian occupation.
The Chapel of St Paul is located a short distance from St. Paul’s Bay. It is said to be the first place Saint Paul visited during his stop-over on Rhodes. Today, it is a popular wedding venue for foreigners.
The church of Panagia (Our Lady)is full of enchanting images and is certainly an obligatory stop for all visitors at Lindos.
Its dark interior, with a black and white pebbled floor, is decorated with eighteenth-century frescoes of male saints on the right and female on the left.
In the interior the pavement is covered by a superbly executed pebble mosaic (hohlaki), popular in the Rhodian traditional architecture. In the front, there is a richly decorated and spectacularly carved wooden iconostasis and a Bishop’s throne with a large bronze layered candle chandelier hanging from above.
Visitors will be astounded by the quality of the 19th century wall frescoes, depicting biblical scenes.
>>The barrel-vaulted roof and the dome there covered with more impressive the work of the famous Gregorios of Symi dating back in 1779, depicting icons of Mary, Jesus, and the saints.
As the viewers turn to the back of the church and walk out, over the doorway, a huge colorful fresco bursts with the story of The Last Judgment. Pale twisting bodies writhe together in the orange and red flames of hell. A strong message for those who won’t follow the ways of the church.<<
A device of the Grand Master D’Aubusson can be seen on the western door of the church as well as an inscription bearing the dates 1489/90, dates of the additions made to the building.
Panagia: one of the Greek Orthodox names used to address the Mother of God. In Orthodox art, the term Panaghia denotes an icon depicting the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child.
Iconostasis: a wall usually made of wood or marble, full of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a church.
Before closing, here's an fascinating article about an entirely different Greek topic that I just ran across on-line (April, 2021): The discovery of a ancient computer-like device called the Antikythera Machine.
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