Kos

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Kos
???
The harbour of Kos town
The harbour of Kos town
Kos is located in GreeceKosKos
Location within the region
Coordinates: 36�51'N 27�14'ECoordinates: 36�51'N 27�14'E
Country Greece
Administrative region South Aegean
Regional unit Kos
Area
� Municipality 290.3 km2 (112.1 sq mi)
� Municipal unit 67.2 km2 (25.9 sq mi)
Highest elevation 843 m (2,766 ft)
Lowest elevation 0 m (0 ft)
Population (2011)[1]
� Municipality 33,388
� Municipality density 120/km2 (300/sq mi)
� Municipal unit 19,432
� Municipal unit density 290/km2 (750/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+2 (EET)
� Summer (DST) UTC+3 (EEST)
Postal code
853 xx
Area code(s) 22420
Vehicle registration ??, ??, PK
Website www.kos.gr
Kos or Cos (/k?s, k??s/; Greek: ??? [kos]) is a Greek island, part of the
Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Kos is the third largest
island of the Dodecanese by area, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population
of 33,388 (2011 census), making it the second most populous of the Dodecanese,
after Rhodes.[1] The island measures 40 by 8 kilometres (25 by 5 miles).
Administratively, Kos constitutes a municipality within the Kos regional unit,
which is part of the South Aegean region. The principal town of the island and seat
of the municipality is Kos Town.[2]

Contents
1 Name
2 Geography
3 Municipality
4 Economy
5 History
5.1 Mycenaean Era
5.2 Archaic Era
5.3 Classical Era
5.4 Hellenistic Era
5.5 Roman Era
5.6 Byzantine Era
5.7 Ottoman Era
5.8 Italian Rule
6 Geology
7 Demographics
7.1 Turkish population
7.2 Religion
8 Main sights
8.1 Castles
8.2 Ancient Agora
9 Culture
10 People
11 In popular culture
12 Gallery
13 See also
14 References
15 External links
Name
The name Kos (Ancient Greek: ???, genitive ??)[3] is first attested in the Iliad,
and has been in continuous use since. Other ancient names include Meropis,[4] Cea,
[5] and Nymphaea.[6]

In many Romance languages, Kos was formerly known as Stancho, Stanchio, or Stinco,
and in Ottoman and modern Turkish it is known as Istank�y, all from the
reinterpretation of the Greek expression e?? t?? ?? 'to Kos';[7] cf. the similar
Istanbul and Stimpoli, Crete. Under the rule of the Knights Hospitaller of Rhodes,
it was known as Lango or Lang�, presumably because of its length.[8][9] In The
Travels of Sir John Mandeville, the author misunderstands this and treats Lango and
Kos as distinct islands.[10]

In Italian, the island is known as Coo.

A person from Kos is called a "Koan" in English. The word is also an adjective, as
in "Koan goods".[11]

Geography
Kos is in the Aegean Sea. Its coastline is 112 kilometres (70 miles) long and it
extends from west to east.

The island has several promontories, some with names known in antiquity: Cape
Skandari, anciently Scandarium or Skandarion in the northeast;[12] Cape Lacter or
Lakter in the south;[13] and Cape Drecanum or Drekanon in the west.[14]

In addition to the main town and port, also called Kos, the main villages of Kos
island are Kardamena, Kefalos, Tingaki, Antimachia, Mastihari, Marmari and Pyli.
Smaller ones are Zia, Zipari, Platani, Lagoudi and Asfendiou.

Municipality
The present municipality of Kos was created in 2011 with the merger of three
municipalities, which became municipal units:[2]

Dikaios
Irakleides
Kos
The municipality has an area of 290,313 km2, and has a municipal unit of 67.200
km2.[15]

Economy
Tourism is the main industry in Kos,[citation needed] the island's beaches being
the primary attraction. The main port and population centre on the island, Kos
town, is also the tourist and cultural centre, with whitewashed buildings including
many hotels, restaurants and a number of nightclubs forming the Kos town
"barstreet". The seaside village of Kardamena is a popular resort for young
holidaymakers (primarily from the United Kingdom and Scandinavia) and has a large
number of bars and nightclubs.
Farming is the second principal occupation, with the main crops being grapes,
almonds, figs, olives, and tomatoes, along with wheat and corn.[citation needed]
Cos lettuce may be grown here, but the name is unrelated.

History

An Ancient Roman mosaic depicting the Abduction of Europa in the House of Europa in
the Western Archaeological Zone of Kos town

View of the Asclepeion

Ruins of the Ancient Gymnasion

View of the ancient Odeon

Nerantzia Castle (Hospitalier period)

Mycenaean Era
In Homer's Iliad, a contingent of Koans fought for the Greeks in the Trojan War.
[16]

In classical mythology the founder-king of Kos was Merops, hence "Meropian Kos" is
included in the archaic Delian amphictyony listed in the 7th-century Homeric hymn
to Delian Apollo; the island was visited by Heracles.[17]

The island was originally colonised by the Carians. The Dorians invaded it in the
11th century BC, establishing a Dorian colony with a large contingent of settlers
from Epidaurus, whose Asclepius cult made their new home famous for its sanatoria.
The other chief sources of the island's wealth lay in its wines and, in later days,
in its silk manufacture.[18]

Archaic Era
Its early history�as part of the religious-political amphictyony that included
Lindos, Kamiros, Ialysos, Cnidus and Halicarnassus, the Dorian Hexapolis (hexapolis
means six cities in Greek),[19]�is obscure. At the end of the 6th century, Kos fell
under Achaemenid domination but rebelled after the Greek victory at the Battle of
Mycale in 479.

Classical Era
Further information: Ancient Greece and Cos (city)
During the Greco-Persian Wars, before it twice expelled the Persians, it was ruled
by Persian-appointed tyrants, but as a rule it seems to have been under oligarchic
government. In the 5th century, it joined the Delian League, and, after the revolt
of Rhodes, it served as the chief Athenian station in the south-eastern Aegean
(411�407). In 366 BC, a democracy was instituted. In 366 BC, the capital was
transferred from Astypalaea (at the west end of the island near the modern village
of Kefalos) to the newly built town of Cos, laid out in a Hippodamian grid. After
helping to weaken Athenian power, in the Social War (357-355 BC), it fell for a few
years to the king Mausolus of Caria.

Proximity to the east gave the island first access to imported silk thread.
Aristotle mentions silk weaving conducted by the women of the island.[20] Silk
production of garments was conducted in large factories by female slaves.[21]

Hellenistic Era
In the Hellenistic period, Kos attained the zenith of its prosperity. Its alliance
was valued by the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt, who used it as a naval outpost to
oversee the Aegean. As a seat of learning, it arose as a provincial branch of the
museum of Alexandria, and became a favorite resort for the education of the princes
of the Ptolemaic dynasty. During the Hellenistic age, there was a medical school;
however, the theory that this school was founded by Hippocrates (see below) during
the Classical age is an unwarranted extrapolation.[22] It was the home of the major
Hellenistic poet-scholar Philitas.

Diodorus Siculus (xv. 76) and Strabo (xiv. 657) describe it as a well-fortified
port. Its position gave it a high importance in Aegean trade; while the island
itself was rich in wines of considerable fame.[23] Under Alexander the Great and
the Egyptian Ptolemies the town developed into one of the great centers in the
Aegean; Josephus[24] quotes Strabo to the effect that Mithridates was sent to Kos
to fetch the gold deposited there by queen Cleopatra of Egypt. Herod is said to
have provided an annual stipend for the benefit of prize-winners in the athletic
games,[25] and a statue was erected there to his son Herod the Tetrarch ("C. I. G."
2502 ). Paul briefly visited here according to Acts 21:1.

Roman Era
Further information: Roman Greece
Except for occasional incursions by corsairs and some severe earthquakes, the
island's peace has rarely been disturbed. Following the lead of its larger
neighbour, Rhodes, Kos generally displayed a friendly attitude toward the Romans;
in 53 AD it was made a free city. It was known in antiquity for the manufacture of
transparent light dresses, the coae vestes.[26] The island of Kos also featured a
provincial library during the Roman period. The island first became a center for
learning during the Ptolemaic dynasty, and Hippocrates, Apelles, Philitas and
possibly Theocritus came from the area. An inscription lists people who made
contributions to build the library in the 1st century AD.[27] One of the people
responsible for the library's construction was the Kos doctor Gaius Stertinius
Xenophon, who lived in Rome and was the personal physician of the Emperors
Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero.[28]

Byzantine Era
Further information: Byzantine Greece and Knights Hospitaller
The bishopric of Kos was a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Rhodes.[29] Its
bishop Meliphron attended the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Eddesius was one of
the minority Eastern bishops who withdrew from the Council of Sardica in about 344
and set up a rival council at Philippopolis. Iulianus went to the synod held in
Constantinople in 448 in preparation for the Council of Chalcedon of 451, in which
he participated as a legate of Pope Leo I, and he was a signatory of the joint
letter that the bishops of the Roman province of Insulae sent in 458 to Byzantine
Emperor Leo I the Thracian with regard to the killing of Proterius of Alexandria.
Dorotheus took part in a synod in 518. Georgius was a participant of the Third
Council of Constantinople in 680�681. Constantinus went to the Photian Council of
Constantinople (879).[30][31] Under Byzantine rule, apart from the participation of
its bishops in councils, the island's history remains obscure. It was governed by a
droungarios in the 8th�9th centuries, and seems to have acquired some importance in
the 11th and 12th centuries: Nikephoros Melissenos began his uprising here, and in
the middle of the 12th century, it was governed by a scion of the ruling Komnenos
dynasty, Nikephoros Komnenos.[29]

Today the metropolis of Kos remains under the direct authority of the Patriarchate
of Constantinople, rather than the Church of Greece, and is also listed by the
Catholic Church as a titular see.[32]

Following the Fourth Crusade, Kos passed under Genoese control, although it was
retaken in ca. 1224 and kept for a while by the Empire of Nicaea.[29] In the 1320s,
Kos nominally formed part of the realm of Martino Zaccaria, but was most likely in
the hands of Turkish corsairs until ca. 1337, when the Knights Hospitaller took
over the island.[29] The last Hospitaller governor of the island was Piero de
Ponte.
Ottoman Era
Further information: Ottoman Greece
The Ottoman Empire captured the island in early 1523.[29] The Ottomans ruled Kos
until 1911.

According to the Ottoman General Census of 1881/82-1893, the kaza of Kos (Istank�y)
had a total population of 12,965, consisting of 10,459 Greeks, 2,439 Muslims and 67
Jews.[33]

Italian Rule
Further information: Italian Islands of the Aegean
Kos was transferred to the Kingdom of Italy in 1912 after the Italo-Turkish War.
[34] The Italians developed the infrastructures of the island, after the ruinous
earthquake of 23 April 1933, which destroyed a great part of the old city and
damaged many new buildings. Architect Rodolfo Petracco drew up the new city plan,
transforming the old quarters into an archaeological park, and dividing the new
city into a residential, an administrative, and a commercial area.,[35] In World
War II, the island, as Italian possession, was part of the Axis. It was controlled
by Italian troops until the Italian surrender in 1943. On that occasion, 100
Italian officers who had refused to join the Germans were executed. British and
German forces then clashed for control of the island in the Battle of Kos as part
of the Dodecanese Campaign, in which the Germans were victorious. German troops
occupied the island until 1945, when it became a protectorate of the United
Kingdom, which ceded it to Greece in 1947 following the Paris peace treaty.

Geology
The island is part of a chain of mountains from which it became separated after
earthquakes and subsidence that occurred in ancient times. These mountains include
Kalymnos and Kappari which are separated by an underwater chasm c. 70 metres (230
ft) (40 fathoms deep), as well as the volcano of Nisyros and the surrounding
islands.[citation needed]

There is a wide variety of rocks in Kos which is related to its geographical

formation. Prominent among these are the Quaternary layers in which the fossil
remains of mammals such as horses, hippopotami and elephants have been found.
[citation needed] The fossilised molar of an elephant of gigantic proportions was
presented to the Paleontology Museum of the University of Athens.[citation needed]

Demographics
Turkish population
Main article: Turks of the Dodecanese

Gazi Hassan Pasha Mosque in Kos

In the late 1920s about 3,700 Turks lived in Kos city, slightly less than 50% of
the population, who settled mainly in the west part of the city.[36] Today, the
population of the Turkish community in Kos has been estimated at about 2,000
people.[37][38] A village with significant Turkish population is Platani
(Kermentes) near the town of Kos.

Religion

Cathedral of Kos
The people of Kos are predominantly Orthodox Christians - one of the four Orthodox
cathedrals in the Dodecanese is located in Kos. In addition, there is a Roman
Catholic church on the island and a mosque for the Turkish-speaking Muslim
community. The synagogue is no longer used for religious ceremonies as the Jewish
community of Kos was targeted and destroyed by occupying Nazi forces in World War
II. It has, however, been restored and is maintained with all religious symbols
intact and is now used by the Municipality of Kos for various events, mainly
cultural.

Main sights
Castles

The Byzantine Antimachia Castle

The island has a 14th-century fortress at the entrance to its harbour, erected in
1315 by the Knights Hospitaller, and another from the Byzantine period in
Antimachia.

Ancient Agora

View of the municipal market, built in 1934�35 by architect Rodolfo Petracco

The ancient market place of Kos was considered one of the biggest in the ancient
world. It was the commercial and commanding centre at the heart of the ancient
city. It was organized around a spacious rectangular yard 50 metres (160 ft) wide
and 300 metres (980 ft) long. It began in the Northern area and ended up south on
the central road (Decumanus) which went through the city. The northern side
connected to the city wall towards the entrance to the harbour. Here there was a
monumental entrance. On the eastern side there were shops. In the first half of the
2nd century BC, the building was extended toward the interior yard. The building
was destroyed in an earthquake in 469 AD.

In the southern end of the market, there was a round building with a Roman dome and
a workshop which produced pigments including "Egyptian Blue". Coins, treasures, and
copper statues from Roman times were later uncovered by archeologists. In the
western side excavations led to the findings of rooms with mosaic floors which
showed beastfights, a theme quite popular in Kos.[39]

Culture
The ancient physician Hippocrates is thought to have been born on Kos, and in the
center of the town is the Plane Tree of Hippocrates, a dream temple where the
physician is traditionally supposed to have taught. The limbs of the now elderly
tree are supported by scaffolding. The small city is also home to the International
Hippocratic Institute and the Hippocratic Museum dedicated to him. Near the
Institute are the ruins of Asklepieion, where Herodicus taught Hippocrates
medicine.

People
Epicharmus of Kos (6th-5th century BC), comic playwright
Hippocrates (5th century BC), "father of medicine".
Philitas of Cos (4th century BC), poet and scholar.
Michael Kefalianos, professional bodybuilder.[40]
Marika Papagika, early 20th century singer.[41]
Kostas Skandalidis, former Interior Minister of Greece and close associate of Prime
Minister Andreas Papandreou.[42]
Al Campanis, Major League Baseball player and executive.[43]
Stergos Marinos, international footballer currently playing for Panathinaikos.[44]
S�kr� Kaya, Turkish politician, who served as Minister of the Interior and Minister
of Foreign Affairs of Turkey. He was one of the perpetrators of the Armenian
Genocide.[45]
In popular culture
Kos is the setting of the wargaming book 'Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign Setting',
written by Michael O. Varhola with co-authors.[46]

Gallery

Ancient Agora
Archaeological Museum of Kos

Mosaic depicting Asclepius and Hippocrates (3rd century), AM of Kos

Town hall

St Paraskevi church, Kos town

Street of Kos town

See also
List of volcanoes in Greece
Coan wine
The disappearance of Ben Needham in 1991.
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"?p???af? ?????s�?? - ?at?????? 2011. ??????S ?????s�??" (in Greek). Hellenic
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Kallikratis law Archived 15 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine Greece Ministry of
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Liddell et al., A Greek�English Lexicon, s.v.
Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. 8.41.
Pliny cites Staphylus of Naucratis for this name in the Natural History 5:36
Archived 24 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, but Peck apparently
misinterprets Staphylus as a name of Kos
Harry Thurston Peck, Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, 1898, s.v. Cos
Archived 16 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
C.S. Sonnini, Travels in Greece and Turkey, undertaken by order of Louis XVI, and
with the authority of the Ottoman court, London, 1801, 1 p. 212
A handbook for travellers in Greece, Murray's Handbooks, 4th edition, London,
1872, p. 364
H.J.A. Sire, The Knights of Malta, Yale, 1996, ISBN 0300068859, p. 34
Anthony Bale, trans., The Book of Marvels and Travels, Oxford 2012, ISBN
0199600600, p. 15 and footnote
Kos Island Today Archived 29 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Kosisland.gr.
Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
"Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation)" (PDF) (in
Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece. Archived from the original (PDF) on
21 September 2015.
Iliad ii.676, from "Kos, the city of Eurypylus, and the Calydnae isles", under the
leaders Phidippos and Antiphos, "sons of the Thessalian king". It is unclear
whether Homer is describing cultural affiliations of his own time or remembered
traditions of Mycenaean times.
Hercules in Kos Archived 29 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Kosinfo.gr.
Money, Power And Gender:Evidence For Influential Women Represented And Sculpture
On Kos Archived 20 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. None.
The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (eds. Richard Stillwell, et al.),
s.v. "Kos".
 A Treatise on the Origin, Progressive Improvement, and Present State of the Silk
Manufacture at Google Books
Introduction to the New Testament, p. 83, at Google Books
Vincenzo Di Benedetto: Cos e Cnido, in: Hippocratica - Actes du Colloque
hippocratique de Paris 4-9 septembre 1978, ed. M. D. Grmek, Paris 1980, 97-111, see
also Antoine Thivel: Cnide et Cos ? : essai sur les doctrines m�dicales dans la
collection hippocratique, Paris 1981 (passim), ISBN 22-51-62021-4; cf. the review
by Otta Wenskus (on JSTOR).
Pliny, xxxv. 46
"Ant." xiv. 7, � 2
Josephus, "B. J." i. 21, � 11
Smith, William, ed. (1854). "Cos". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. 1.
London: John Murray.
"Libraries of Greece". Annette Lamb. Archived from the original on 21 February
2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
"The Asklepion of Kos � Home of Modern Medicine". The Skibbereen Eagle. Archived
from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
Gregory, Timothy E. (1991). "Kos". In Kazhdan, Alexander (ed.). The Oxford
Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. p. 1150.
ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
Raymond Janin, v. Cos in Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de G�ographie eccl�siastiques,
vol. XIII, Paris 1956, coll. 927-928
Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae Archived 8 March
2015 at Wikiwix, Leipzig 1931, p. 448
Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1),
p. 875
Kemal Karpat (1985), Ottoman Population, 1830-1914, Demographic and Social
Characteristics, The University of Wisconsin Press, p. 130-131
Bertarelli, Luigi Vittorio (1929). Guida d'Italia Vol. XVII. Milano: C.T.I. p. Sub
voce "Storia".
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archeologica, "Thiasos", 1, 2012, pp. 10-2 Archived 28 July 2014 at the Wayback
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�rkek bir siyasetin tarih �n�ndeki agir vebali, p. 142, at Google Books
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Wayback Machine. Kosinfo.gr.
Michael Kefalianos � Bio Archived 22 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine
MichaelKefalianos.com
Steve Sullivan (4 October 2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings.
Scarecrow Press. p. 742. ISBN 978-0-8108-8296-6.
Administrator. "S?a?da??d?? ??sta? - ?????af???". www.skandalidis.gr. Archived
from the original on 16 July 2017. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
"www.baseball-reference.com". baseball-reference.com. Archived from the original
on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
"Stergos Marinos biography" (in Greek). Stergos Marinos' official website.
Archived from the original on 22 March 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
Who is who database - Biography of S�kr� Kaya Archived 5 June 2015 at the Wayback
Machine (in Turkish)
Varhola, Michael O.; Clunie, Jim; Cass, Brendan; Staples, Clint; Thrasher, William
T.; Van Deeleen, Chris; Farnden, Heath (2016). Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign
Setting. Skirmisher Publishing. ISBN 978-1935050742. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
External links
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Kos travel guide from Wikivoyage
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