Kos History !

The Hellenistic period is the brightest period in Kos history. In the creation of the new city (366 BC) a lot of marble monuments were built such as the sanctuary of Hercules, Pandimou and Pondias Aphrodite, the Market, the Gymnasium, the Stadium, the Theatre, the Altar of Dionysus and the Acropolis. The relics of these monuments were brought to light by Italian archeologists.

During the Hellenistic period, the island thrived economically and culturally. Kos was not only rich in agricultural and livestock products but also started developing its export trade in wine, olive oil,fruit, perfumes, silk and wool. Apart form the island’s productivity development the appearance of stunning buildings such as the conservatory, the Casa Romana, the Vespasiani ("Nimphea"), the Thermes with it's rich mosaics, as well as the development of the trade of the island demonstrating the ultimate luxury in which the citizens of the island lived and the great development of the centre of trade which was no other than the island‘s harbour.

The presence of foreign conquerors was the characteristic of the Byzantine period for the island.After a short occupation of the island by the Venetians and the Genoans, Kos came under the control of the Ioannite knights in 1314. At the same time Kos was attacked by the Turks. The knights however successfully managed to repulse them for a time largely due to the fortifications of the Perimeter Wall and the Castle of Nerazia (city), the Castle of Antimachia, which was unsuccessfully attacked - mostly in 1457, the Castle of old Pyli and the Castle of Kefalos.Even today the restorations to the damage done by the Turkish attacks of the two most important and beautiful castles,those of Nerazia and Antimachia, are visible and clearly noticeable. On 1523 the island was conquered by the Turks. Kos became a province of Rhodes. On July 11th 1821 the Turkish hung a lot of priests under the historical plane tree of Hippocrates in retaliation.The citizens of Kos suffered a lot in August 1824 during the naval battle of Gerodas. After 1838 they gained some basic human and political rights.The on going dominations of the island of Kos continued and on May 20th 1912 the Italians conquered Kos.

The island “changed hands“continuously but this time the locals welcomed the Italians as their liberators.Soon they found out that their promise of a short occupation of the Dodecanese was insincere. After the treaty of Lozane the total Italian Domination of the Dodecanese was consolidated and the inhabitants of those islands were considered Italian citizens with singular citizenship.Kos became vice - governorship (Reggenza) and was under the jurisdiction of the governor(Governatore) of Rhodes. The disastrous earthquake on April 23rd 1933 had a huge effect on the island and the new city of Kos was rebuilt by the Italians while the archeologists dug up and repaired a lot of monuments.After the Italian truce on 1943 a landing of a small English force on the island had been totally accepted by the Italians in order to face a potential German attack. On October 3rd 1943 the island was conquered by German troops.A new period of terrorism and insecurity began for the inhabitans of Kos. On 1945,the English took over full authority in Kos from the Germans.

The local authorities were re-established.The Greek schools,which remained closed since 1938, reopened and the inhabitants of the island managed to recover from the suffering caused by Italian Fascism and German Nazism. Although the English coveted the occupation of the Dodecanese, promoting the idea of autonomy under the British Crown, the decision of the Foreign Ministers of the Great Powers in Paris on 1946 gave an end to the English occupation by granting these islands to Greece.However the official festive celebration of the unification with Greece was on March 7th 1948.