Kritinia (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece 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 ...

: Κρητηνία) is a

village in the municipal unit of

Attavyros Attavyros ( el, Αττάβυρος) or Atavyros (Ατάβυρος) is the highest mountain on the island of Rhodes in the Dodecanese in Greece. It rises to a height of 1,215 m. It lies to the south of the village of Embonas. In Greek mythology ...

, on the island of

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

South Aegean The South Aegean ( el, Περιφέρεια Νοτίου Αιγαίου, translit=Periféria Notíou Eyéou, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It consists of the Cyclades and Dodecanese island groups in the central and ...

region. In 2011 its population was 503; 454 in the village proper and 49 in the locality of Kameiros Skala.

History

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

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

(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 referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

era it was moved on the hills, for safety against pirates. In 1658, the Venetian Doge

Francesco Morosini Francesco Morosini (26 February 1619 – 16 January 1694) was the Doge of Venice from 1688 to 1694, at the height of the Great Turkish War. He was one of the many Doges and generals produced by the noble Venetian family of Morosini.Encyclopæd ...

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 village was named ''Kastelli'', from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''Castellum'', meaning castle.Kritinia at rhodos-travel.com
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Geography

Kritinia is located on a hillside between Mount

and the western coast of the island of Rhodes. It is 10 km from

Embonas Embonas ( gr, Έμπωνας), sometimes transliterated Emponas, is a Greek mountain village, seat of the municipal unit of Attavyros, on the island of Rhodes, South Aegean region. In 2011 its population was 1,242; 1,061 in the village proper and ...

, 51 km from the town of

, 53 km from Lindos and 35 km from

Rhodes International Airport Rhodes International Airport "Diagoras" (Greek: Διεθνής Αερολιμένας Ρόδου "Διαγόρας"), or Diagoras International Airport , is located on the West side of the island of Rhodes in Greece. The facility is located ju ...

. The locality of Kameiros Skala ( gr, Κάμειρος Σκάλα) is located by the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...

, 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 Camirus or Kamiros ( grc, Κάμιρος; ) or Cameirus or Kameiros (Κάμειρος) was a city of ancient Rhodes, in the Dodecanese, Greece. Its site is on the northwest coast of the island, west of the modern village of Kalavarda. History ...

. 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