Parallel of Rhodes

• The Parallel of Rhodes was one of 33 Parallels of Latitude described by the Roman Geographer, Ptolemy who was influenced by Eratosthenes.
• It is almost exactly the Parallel of 36 degrees North which runs from Gibraltar to Rhodes and could be used for east-west Navigation.

History

• Ptolemy's Geographia of the World, compiled by Ptolemy, in Egypt around 150 CE, based on an earlier Work by Marinus of Tyre.
• He described 33 Parallels of Latitude, of which his main Parallels of Latitude were:
  • The Parallel of Thule.
  • The Parallel of Rhodes.
  • The Parallel of Soene (Aswan, Egypt)
  • The Equator.
  • The Parallel of Anti Meroe
• His Prime Meridian or Zero Meridian of Longitude, was centred on Mount Teide in the Canary Islands.

Eratosthenes

• Around c.250 BCE Eratosthenes, the Greek Cartographer, created a Grid with various locations identified by Latitude and Longitude.
• He drew his Line of Parallel through Rhodes and the Pillars of Hercules, Gibraltar. He chose this because it conveniently divided the then known world into two halves

Navigation

• The 36th Parallel was an ancient east west sailing route.
• The Mediterranean Current flows anticlockwise from East to West along this same line.
• Without the compass, ancient Mariners either had to follow the coasts, or if out of sight of land, the East-West line of the Sun’s path.
• Using the prevailing North wind on their starboard bow, would give them a beam reach until Malta.
• By departing from Seleucia of Pieria in Syria, and following the Parallel of Rhodes, a vessel could sail due west, using the Current, pass north of Cyprus, skirt the southern coast of Turkey, and go direct to the island of Rhodes all in a straight line without hitting land.
• Continuing round on the other side of Rhodes the vessel could again pick up the 36th Parallel, and sail in a straight line due west, which passed to the north of Crete and then to the south of the Peloponnese, between the islands of Kythira and Antikythera.
• However, it should be noted that due to the Northerlies pushing vessels onto a lee shore at Crete, they preferred to navigate along the southern shore of the Island, which gave them shelter from the Northerly winds.
• The 36th parallel passes between the Island of Malta and Comino.
• Sailors would sight landfall at the Island of Malta, from here vessels could turn north into the Strait of Messina, or head northwest to Spain and Gaul.
• After Malta, the 36th Parallel goes through the land mass of North Africa, reemerging to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar, then known as the Pillars of Hercules.

Rhodes

• After Alexander the Great defeated the Persians and ejected them from the Eastern Mediterranean.
• After the destruction of the Sea Power of Tyre in 332 BCE, Rhodes developed the powerful Rhodian Navy based on a type of Trireme called the Trihemiolia.
• There then followed the Golden Age of Rhodes between 323-167 BCE, during which Rhodes dominated the Trade of the Eastern Mediterranean, and achieved great wealth.
• The Rhodian Sea Law was a collection of their Sea Laws that was later utilised by the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire.

Piracy

• All shipping in the Ancient World that sailed from Egypt and the Levant, had to pass Cilicia, Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete and the nearby island groups of the Dodecanese and Cyclades. As a result, these were traditionally Pirate bases. However, as one island or group of islands formed an efficient Pirate Fleet, they got to control the other Pirates and their islands, and so became the dominant Sea Power.
• After the decline of the Rhodian Navy, which had replaced the Athenian Navy, there arose the Pirates of Cilicia, who came to dominate the Mediterranean, and were eventually suppressed by a Roman Navy under Pompey in 67 CE.

Rhodes: