Rhodes - Discover the Unknown Rhodes

C H A P T E R 1
The Acropolis and Rodini Park
The Acropolis (also
known as Mount
Smith) looks down
over the city of
Rhodes
The stadion was
invented by the
Greeks to host
athletic
competitions which
were also religious
and educational in
nature
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On Monte Smith (or Mt Ayios Stephanos) there
stands the ancient acropolis of Rhodes which
conserves a very few isolated monuments like
the Temple of Pythian Apollo, of which there
remain a few pillars in the Doric style. More
modest are the remains of a sanctuary
dedicated to Athene Polias and Zeus Polieus.
The immense structure of the third-century B.C.
Stadium is, on the other hand,
easily recognisable; 201 metres
long, it still has several rows of
its tiered seating. The little
Theatre (odeon) between the
Temple of Apollo and the
Stadium was restored by Italian
archaeologists who
reconstructed the cavea. In the
area around this tombs dating
back to the Hellenistic era have been found
along with the foundations of a gymnasium
and of a nymphaeum.
Rodini Park, to the south of the modern city, is a
green oasis with woods, ponds, streams and a
wildlife reserve. In the archaeological area there
are numerous tombs hewn from the rock,
including the so-called Tomb of the Ptolemies,
the façade of which conserves a series of blank
pillars and of niches.