Kritinia (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

: Κρητηνία) is a

village and community in the municipal unit of Attavyros, on the island of

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

South Aegean The South Aegean (, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It consists of the Cyclades and Dodecanese island groups in the central and southeastern Aegean Sea. Administration The South Aegean region was established in ...

region. In 2021 the population was 388 for the community, which includes the locality of Kameiros Skala.

History

The village, meaning ''New Crete'', was founded by some families escaped from

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

(Κρήτη) during the Turkish rule in the island. Originally, the settlement was located by the coast, in the current position of Kameiros Skala; but after the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

era it was moved on the hills, for safety against pirates. In 1658, the Venetian Doge Francesco Morosini tried to conquer Rhodes entering at Kameiros Skala beach, but the Venetian army was rejected. The castle above Kritinia, named ''Kastellos'' (Κάστελλος), was built in 1472 by Giorgio Orsini to protect the inhabitants of the village from the attacks of the Ottoman fleets. Until the liberation of the

Dodecanese The Dodecanese (, ; , ''Dodekánisa'' , ) are a group of 15 larger and 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited. This island group generally define ...

, the village was named ''Kastelli'', from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''Castellum'', meaning castle.Kritinia at rhodos-travel.com
/ref>

Geography

Kritinia is located on a hillside between Mount Attavyros and the western coast of the island of Rhodes. It is 10 km from Embonas, 51 km from the town of

, 53 km from Lindos and 35 km from Rhodes International Airport. The locality of Kameiros Skala () is located by the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

, 5 km from Kritinia (). It has a beach and a little port with a ferry service to the island of Halki. Despite the name Kameiros Skala is some 14 km from Kameiros. Close to it is Mandriko, a locality which is part of the community of Embonas.

Gallery

File:Rhodes island aerial.jpg, Aerial view of Attavyros area. The coastal settlements are Mandriko (left) and Kameiros Skala (right). On the hill upon K. Skala is visible Kritinia File:Rhodos Kastello Kritinia.jpg, ''Kastelos'' castle and the hill of Kritinia.

References

External links

Kritinia official website
{{Rhodes div Populated places in Rhodes