city state · Greece and the Aegean

Ialysos

900 BCE – 408 BCE (approx.) · capital Ialysos

One of the three ancient cities of Rhodes, on the hill of Philerimos, home of the famous Olympic boxing family of Diagoras.

Origins

Ialysos lay on the north-west coast of Rhodes, below Mount Philerimos. A Minoan and then Mycenaean settlement flourished there, with rich chamber tombs. In the early Iron Age Dorian Greeks settled, and Ialysos became one of the three cities of Rhodes, with Lindos and Kamiros, in the Dorian Hexapolis.

Rule and society

The city's acropolis sanctuary of Athena and Zeus Polieus stood on Philerimos. Ialysos took part in Rhodian trade and colonisation, and came under the Achaemenid Empire before joining the Delian League. Its leading family, the Diagorids, produced Olympic champions, including the boxer Diagoras, celebrated by Pindar in 464 BCE.

Decline and legacy

In 408 BCE Ialysos joined Lindos and Kamiros to found the city of Rhodes, which absorbed its political life. Ialysos continued as a religious centre and later hosted a Byzantine fortress and a monastery of the Knights of Hospitaller Rhodes.

Lineage

IalysosRhodes 408 BCE – 44 CE

Connections (1)

More states of Greece and the Aegean →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Ialysos. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ialysos
MLA
“Ialysos.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ialysos. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Ialysos.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ialysos.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Ialysos’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/ialysos (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻