Following the great earthquake in 227 BC, which toppled the enormous harbor statue and devastated the city, Rhodes was rebuilt. It was later raided by Cassius in 42 BC, and never recovered. Another catastrophic earthquake in AD 515 caused Rhodes to be reduced and confined to the area of Palais Polis, the present day Old Town. Over the next centuries, it was raided by the Persians and the Arabs, and after holding off the Ottoman Empire in 1480, Rhodes was conquered by the Turks in 1522. In their war with the Turks, the Italians occupied the Dodecanese islands in 1912, which were not liberated until 1945, at the end of World War II. At that time the English oversaw the islands until their eventual incorporation into Greece 1948. Most recently, Rhodes (the island) has become a popular holiday destination for tourists.
Sig Nordal 