Why go
Rhodes was tied to imperial shipping, shipbuilding and trade, yet its control shifted during wars and weakening Byzantine authority. Reading this chapter before the Old Town helps make sense of why the Hospitallers inherited an already important island rather than founding its urban life.
The full story
After the Roman Empire divided in AD 395, Rhodes formed part of the eastern empire. Its position on Aegean sea routes kept the island involved in trade and naval affairs. The Rhodian Sea Law, a collection of maritime rules associated with the early Byzantine period, reflects that seafaring role. From the eighth to the twelfth centuries, Rhodes belonged to the Cibyrrhaeot Theme, an imperial naval district, and was a centre for shipbuilding and commerce. Its importance also made it vulnerable: Sasanian, Arab and later Seljuk forces took the island at different times before Byzantine forces regained it. As central authority weakened after AD 1204, Leo Gabalas and then his brother John ruled a largely independent domain. A brief Genoese occupation followed, and Nicaean control restored a Byzantine link. This changing sequence leads into the Hospitaller takeover in the early fourteenth century; the medieval city was built on a much longer maritime history.