PYLEA BEACH HOTEL

Ialyssos, one of the ancient cities that formed Doric exapolises (like Lindos), was located in the south-east of the city of Rhodes. Legend has it that Ialyssos was founded by Ialiso, grandson of Helios (the Sun God) while his brothers (Lindo and Camiro) founded Lindos and Kamiros. The ancient Ialyssos corresponds to today's town of Trianta and had a fortified citadel, Orykoma, of which there are almost no remains. As the power of Rhodes grew, in fact, that of Ialyssos diminished, so much to bring to the disappearance of the city in 410 BC Ialyssos was definitively abandoned during Roman domination. The fortress of Orykoma first became the seat of a shrine, of a Byzantine castle, until, until it was conquered by the Knights of St. John in 1306, who built their castle and their church dedicated to St. Mary of the Philemon, in Gothic-Provencal style. The last conqueror of the Citadel was Solimano, which in 1522 was settled militarily, a few months before the Knights surrendered to his troops. Where once was the acropolis of Ialyssos (on Mount Fileremo), an ancient monumental source was found rectangular, with a beautiful facade with porch and six columns. Available in the 4th century BC, it seems to have belonged to one of the buildings that decorated the entrance to the Acropolis. Deduced for a part of the mountain, the source received water directly from a source. Re-used and transformed into medieval times, it was subsequently abandoned. A landslide buried it completely, until it was brought to light in 1923. At the other end of the mountain are found remains of a Doric temple and a theater dating back to the 4th and 4th centuries BC and both dedicated to Apollo , while on the top of Mount Fileremo was the temple at Atena Ialyssa. The excavations and excavations to light up this building were particularly difficult, as the acropolis was occupied both in Byzantine and Medieval times and different architectural changes were made by both. The temple, which today only remains the base, dates back to the last epoch of building the sanctuary (III - II BC), and had a plan similar to that of the Temple of Athena at Lindos: four columns, though much larger. Inside the temple cell, in front of the base on which the statue of the goddess was based, some stone slabs covering an ancient edifice were discovered. The excavations have brought to light a votive chest, full of votive offer to Athena and datable between the X and the V century BC. Part of the archaeological discoveries of Ialyssos are due to the period of Italian occupation, unfortunately abandoned when Rhodes first passed to Germany and , only in 1947, to Greece.