Alimia () or Alimnia (Αλιμνιά) is a Greek island of 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 ...

, located in the sea area between

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 ...

and Halki, in the complex 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 surface of the island is and it has a coastline of . The island had a small population until the period of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and in recent decades has remained uninhabited. The island is mentioned in ancient texts as Eulimna () and by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

under the name Evlimnia and associated with two large bays of the island, Emporio and Saint George, in the eastern and western side of the island that are safe natural harbors. Their use in antiquity is confirmed by the impressive, carved into the rock, dockyards, dating to the

Hellenistic period In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

when it belonged to the Rhodian state. In the Hellenistic period, flourished when the Rhodian state, the island was fortified with the construction of the fortress and used as anchorage and observatory for the Rhodian fleet. The Hellenistic castle survived until today in the highest peak east of the island. A department of a Hellenistic castle was used for the construction of a medieval castle in 1475, when

and its surrounding islands were occupied by the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

. On the coast of Emporio found Roman tombs and visible ancient walls and the foundation of an early

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

basilica. The settlement of Alimia is built deep in the largest bay on the island. It includes several buildings, most of which are dilapidated due to the abandonment of the settlement from the 1940s. Although abandoned, the settlement has declared traditional since 1978. Northwest of the village, a short distance from the coast there is a small lake with salty water, which is one of the 37 natural wetlands in the

. In October 2016 a Belgian organization called 'Beyond Borders Belgium' dropped 20 people on this uninhabited island. The participants had to survive 10 days with hardly any food or equipment. Personal belongings like a cellphone, mattress or clean cloths were not allowed. Each day the participants had to play a game on the island to earn points. At the end of the "vacation" the participant with the most points wins the challenge. The game is based on a former Belgian TV-format called 'Expeditie Robinson'. The

Greek government The Government of Greece (Greek language, Greek: Κυβέρνηση της Ελλάδας), officially the Government of the Hellenic Republic (Κυβέρνηση της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας) is the collective body of the Gre ...

agreed with this concept and gave Beyond Borders Belgium exclusive rights of the island for the full period of 10 days.

References

External links

Alimia islandBeyond Borders Belgium
Islands of Greece Dodecanese Landforms of Rhodes (regional unit) Landforms of the South Aegean Halki (Greece) {{SouthAegean-geo-stub