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Modern Description: The rocky islet of Rho (ancient Rhoge), also called Aghios Giorgios, lies 6 km west of Kastellorizo. It is home to a large population of goats, and a small military station: it can only be visited by arrangement with a local boat-operator, although some pleasure cruises from Kastellorizo in the summer make a circuit around the island.
In antiquity the islet was a link in the chain of military surveillance posts in the Rhodian State, and the impressive remains of a substantial Hellenistic fort and tower (dating from the 4th century BC) crown the ridge in the middle of the island. Constructed onto a natural outcrop of rock, the clean rows of isodomic masonry of the tower still stand in several layers to a height of about four metres. The walls have been reinforced on the interior with packed, rounded stones, perhaps when the tower was still being used during the Byzantine and Hospitaller periods. In the interior on the west side is a plastered cistern. Walls extend outside the tower enclosing an area of approximately 30m x 25m, suggesting that this was a small garrison post, and more than just a signalling tower. There are the remains of a grape-pressing installation outside the tower.
Wikidata ID: Q2095047

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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