city state · Greece and the Aegean
Kos
Origins
Kos, an island off the Carian coast near Halicarnassus, was settled from the Bronze Age, with Mycenaean remains. Dorian Greeks occupied it in the early Iron Age, and it joined the Dorian Hexapolis with Knidos, Halicarnassus and the Rhodian cities. Its first chief town was Astypalaia in the south-west.
Rule and society
Kos was known for wine and fine translucent silk cloth. Hippocrates was born there c. 460 BCE and the Coan school of medicine bears his name. After Persian rule the island joined the Delian League. In 366 BCE the Coans founded a new capital on the north-east tip, and the Asclepieion was later built nearby.
Decline and legacy
Kos was a favoured base of the Ptolemaic Empire, where Ptolemy II was born and the poet Philitas taught. It later allied with Rome and became part of the province of Asia in 129 BCE, remaining a free city prized for its sanctuary.
On the connections map
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- Kos was part of Delian League478 BCE – 412 BCE
- Kos was part of Ptolemaic Empire309 BCE – 260 BCE
- Kos was part of Roman Republic129 BCE
More states of Greece and the Aegean →
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Kos. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kos
- MLA
- “Kos.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kos. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Kos.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kos.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Kos’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/kos (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻