Kos is one of the Greek islands that belong to the Dodecanese islands. And one that has many visitors each year!
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about it!
- Kos or Cos is a Greek island
- It is part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea
- Off the Anatolian coast of Turkey
- Kos is the third largest island of the Dodecanese by area
- After Rhodes and Karpathos
- It has a population of 33,388 (2011 census)
- Making it the second most populous of the Dodecanese, after Rhodes
- The island measures 40 by 8 kilometres (25 by 5 miles)
- And is 4 km (2 miles) from the coast of the ancient region of Caria in Turkey
- Administratively, Kos constitutes a municipality within the Kos regional unit
- Which is part of the South Aegean region
- The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Kos Town
- The name Kos is first attested in the Iliad
- And has been in continuous use since
- Other ancient names include Meropis, Cea and Nymphaea
- In many Romance languages, Kos was formerly known as Stancho, Stanchio, or Stinco
- And in Ottoman and modern Turkish it is known as İstanköy
- All from the reinterpretation of the Greek expression εις την Κω ‘to Kos’
- The similar Istanbul and Stimpoli, Crete
- Under the rule of the Knights Hospitaller of Rhodes, it was known as Lango or Langò
- Presumably because of its length
- In The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, the author misunderstands this and treats Lango and Kos as distinct islands
- In Italian, the island is known as Coo
- A person from Kos is called a “Koan” in English
- The word is also an adjective, as in “Koan goods”
- The island has a 14th-century fortress at the entrance to its harbour
- It was erected in 1315 by the Knights Hospitaller
- And another from the Byzantine period in Antimachia
- The ancient market place of Kos was considered one of the biggest in the ancient world
- It was the commercial and commanding centre at the heart of the ancient city
- It was organized around a spacious rectangular yard 50 metres (160 ft) wide and 300 metres (980 ft) long
- It began in the Northern area and ended up south on the central road (Decumanus) which went through the city
- The northern side connected to the city wall towards the entrance to the harbour
- Here there was a monumental entrance
- On the eastern side there were shops
- In the first half of the 2nd century BC, the building was extended toward the interior yard
- The building was destroyed in an earthquake in 469 AD
- In the southern end of the market, there was a round building with a Roman dome and a workshop which produced pigments including “Egyptian Blue”
- Coins, treasures, and copper statues from Roman times were later uncovered by archeologists
- In the western side excavations led to the findings of rooms with mosaic floors which showed beastfights
- A theme quite popular in Kos
- The ancient physician Hippocrates is thought to have been born on Kos
- And in the center of the town is the Plane Tree of Hippocrates
- A dream temple where the physician is traditionally supposed to have taught
- The limbs of the now elderly tree are supported by scaffolding
- The small city is also home to the International Hippocratic Institute and the Hippocratic Museum dedicated to him
- Near the Institute are the ruins of Asklepieion
- There Herodicus taught Hippocrates medicine
- Kos is the location of Skirmisher Publishing’s Swords of Kos Fantasy Campaign Setting
- And also appears in a number of its affiliated adventures and works of fiction
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