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Rhodes is an island off the southwestern coast
of Asia Minor.
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First inhabitants
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The first inhabitants of Rhodes were the
TELCHINES, wizards who discovered certain arts, and
were the first to fashion statues of gods.
Zeus flooded some of them
while others emigrated or were expelled from Rhodes
by the HELIADES 2 [for more details about the
TELCHINES see
CORYBANTES].
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Helius patron of
Rhodes
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This is how Helius won
the patronage of Rhodes:
It is said that when the immortals divided the
earth among them, the island of Rhodes did not yet
exist, and that when the division was effected
Helius was absent, being
left without any allotment of land. When
Helius pointed this out,
Zeus was about to order a
new casting of lots, but
Helius refused, knowing
that the island of Rhodes would rise over the
surface of the sea and become a rich land. So
Helius asked the gods to
make an oath swearing that when the island had
risen it should therafter be his own prize of
honor.
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Rhode 2
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Helius consorted with
Rhode 2, daughter of
Poseidon and
Amphitrite, or of
Poseidon and Halia.
This Halia is said to be the daughter of Thalatta
(the Sea) and sister of the TELCHINES. Halia was
raped by her sons, and cast herself into the sea,
being given the name of Leucothea, as it is also
told about Ino, the daughter of
Cadmus and Harmonia 1.
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The HELIADES 2
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Helius and Rhode 2 had
sons, the HELIADES 2, and a daughter Electryone.
The HELIADES 2 were astrologers; they divided the
day into hours, and introduced new practices in
seamanship. The most talented among them was
Tenages, but his brothers gave way to
Envy and killed him. When
their treacherous act became known, all who had
taken part in the murder fled and settled in
different places.
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The HELIADES 2
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Notes
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Actis.
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Actis sailed off to Egypt and founded
there the city of Heliopolis.
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Auges.
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Candalus.
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Settled in Cos.
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Cercaphus 1.
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Succeeded to the throne of Rhodes after
his brother Ochimus. His sons divided the
kingdom [see main text].
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Electryone.
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Macar 1.
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Macar 1 was king of Lesbos. He is also
called son of Crinacus, son of
Zeus.
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Ochimus.
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The oldest of the HELIADES 2 and their
king.
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Tenages.
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Being the most gifted among the
HELIADES 2 his brothers, out of envy,
murdered him.
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Thrinax.
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Triopas 2.
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See main text. Triopas 2 is sometimes
called son of
Poseidon and
Canace, the daughter of
Aeolus 1, and
other times son of Lapithus 1, son of
Apollo and
Stilbe, daughter of the river god Peneus.
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[The HELIADES 1 are the sisters
of Phaethon
3]
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Triopas 2 and Phorbas 2
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One of the HELIADES 2 was Triopas 2, who,
because of the murder of his brother Tenages,
sailed first from Rhodes to the Chersonesus, which
lies on the mainland opposite the island, and later
emigrated to Thessaly where he assisted the sons of
Deucalion 1 to expel
the Pelasgians. His son Phorbas 2 returned to
Rhodes at the time when the island was called
Ophiussa because there were a great number of
snakes, among which one of immense size. It is told
that Phorbas 2 was carried to Rhodes by a storm,
killing all the beasts on his arrival.
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Triopas 2's fate
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Triopas 2 became king of the Thessalians, and in
trying to roof his own house, tore down the old
temple of Demeter. For
this reason he incurred the hatred of the
Thessalians, and fled to Chersonesus and Caria
where he founded Triopium in the territory of
Cnidus. Some say that, because he had offended
Demeter, hunger was
brought on him, and that no amount of food could
satisfy him. The same happened to his son
Erysichthon 2 for having cut down a sacred oak.
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King Ochimus
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The eldest of the HELIADES 2 was Ochimus, who
also was their king. Ochimus married the nymph
Hegetoria and had by her a daughter Cyrbia, who has
also been called Cydippe 3. The city Cyrbe in
Rhodes, which was destroyed by the
Flood, was called after
her.
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Division of the kingdom
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Cyrbia was married to her uncle Cercaphus 1,
brother of Ochimus and successor to the throne, and
gave birth to three sons, Camirus, Lindus, and
Ialysus. When the king died, these three divided
their father's kingdom, and called the lands they
inherited after themselves.
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Lindus
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The city of Lindus was known for the temple of
Athena, which is said to
have been built by Danaus 1 and his daughters the
DANAIDS when they landed
on the island, escaping from the sons of Aegyptus
1. From this city came one of those called by the
Greeks 'The Seven
Sages',
Cleobulus
of Lindus, whose favourite maxim was "moderation is
best". In the beginning the Lindians, as the
others, had a government of their own, but later
the island of Rhodes came under one rule.
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Althaemenes in Rhodes
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Not long before the
Trojan War,
Althaemenes, son of
Catreus, son of
Minos 2, emigrated, along
with his sister Apemosyne, from
Crete to Rhodes, trying to
avoid an oracle that had declared that
Catreus would be killed
by one of his children. In Rhodes
Hermes seduced Apemosyne,
but her brother Althaemenes, disbelieving her
account, kicked her to death.
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King of Crete dies in
Rhodes
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Later, when Old Age
gripped Catreus, he
wished to personally transmit the kingdom to his
son. With this purpose he sailed to Rhodes, but on
landing he and his men were taken by pirates or
invaders, and in the struggle that ensued
Althaemenes killed his father, thus fulfilling the
oracle. Althamenes did not inherit the kingdom of
Crete, for when he learned
what he had done, he prayed and was swallowed up by
the earth.
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Menelaus goes to the
funeral
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The body of Catreus
was returned to Crete, for
it is known that
Menelaus left
Sparta to attend the
funerals of Catreus in
Crete, leaving behind her
wife Helen in the company
of the seducer Paris, who
only some days before had arrived from
Troy.
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Rhodes against Troy
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At the time of the
Trojan War, Rhodes was
ruled by Tlepolemus 1, son of
Heracles 1 and
Astyoche, daughter of King Phylas 1. Tlepolemus 1
emigrated after having killed his father's uncle
Licymnius, son of Electryon 1, son of
Perseus 1. Tlepolemus
1, who is also said to have been the founder of
Ialysus, Camirus, and Lindus, contributed with nine
Rhodian ships to the Achaean fleet that gathered in
Aulis in order to sail to
Troy and demand the
restoration of Helen [see
also ACHAEAN
LEADERS]. Tlepolemus 1 was killed in the war by
Sarpedon 1 (the king of Lycia in Asia Minor), whom
Zeus had granted life for
three generations, but who also fell in that war
killed by Patroclus
1.
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Helen killed in Rhodes
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It is told that some years after the war,
Tlepolemus 1's wife Polyxo 4 received
Helen as an exile, and
that wishing to avenge her husband's death in the
Trojan War, she
arranged Helen's death.
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