§14.2.7ἐκαλεῖτο δʼ ἡ Ῥόδος πρότερον Ὀφιοῦσσα καὶ Σταδία, εἶτα Τελχινὶς ἀπὸ τῶν οἰκησάντων Τελχίνων τὴν νῆσον, οὓς οἱ μὲν βασκάνους φασὶ καὶ γόητας θείῳ καταρραίνοντας τὸ τῆς Στυγὸς ὕδωρ ζώων τε καὶ φυτῶν ὀλέθρου χάριν, οἱ δὲ τέχναις διαφέροντας τοὐναντίον ὑπὸ τῶν ἀντιτέχνων βασκανθῆναι καὶ τῆς δυσφημίας τυχεῖν ταύτης, ἐλθεῖν δʼ ἐκ Κρήτης εἰς Κύπρον πρῶτον, εἶτʼ εἰς Ῥόδον, πρώτους δʼ ἐργάσασθαι σίδηρόν τε καὶ χαλκόν, καὶ δὴ καὶ τὴν ἅρπην τῷ Κρόνῳ δημιουργῆσαι.
Rhodes was formerly called Ophiussa and Stadia, and then Telchinis after the Telchines who inhabited the island. Some say they were envious and malicious sorcerers who sprinkled the water of the Styx mixed with sulfur to destroy animals and plants, while others, on the contrary, say that because they excelled in crafts they were envied by their rival craftsmen and thus received this bad reputation. They say they went from Crete to Cyprus first, then to Rhodes, and were the first to work iron and bronze, and indeed created the sickle for Cronus.
εἴρηται μὲν οὖν καὶ πρότερον περὶ αὐτῶν, ἀλλὰ ποιεῖ τὸ πολύμυθον ἀναλαμβάνειν πάλιν ἀναπληροῦντας εἴ τι παρελίπομεν.
Now, although we have spoken of them before, the abundance of myths makes us take up the subject again, supplying whatever we might have omitted.
§14.2.8μετὰ δὲ τοὺς Τελχῖνας οἱ Ἡλιάδαι μυθεύονται κατασχεῖν τὴν νῆσον, ὧν ἑνὸς Κερκάφου καὶ Κυδίππης γενέσθαι παῖδας τοὺς τὰς πόλεις κτίσαντας ἐπωνύμους αὑτῶν
"
Λίνδον Ἰηλυσόν τε καὶ ἀργινόεντα Κάμειρον.
After the Telchines, the Heliadae are mythologically said to have occupied the island, and of these, from one named Cercaphus and Cydippe, were born the sons who founded the cities named after themselves: "Lindos, Ialysos, and chalky Cameiros.
"
ἔνιοι δὲ τὸν Τληπόλεμον κτίσαι φασί, θέσθαι δὲ τὰ ὀνόματα ὁμωνύμως τῶν Δαναοῦ θυγατέρων τισίν.
"But some say that Tlepolemus founded them, and gave them names homonymous with some of the daughters of Danaus.
§14.2.9ἡ δὲ νῦν πόλις ἐκτίσθη κατὰ τὰ Πελοποννησιακὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἀρχιτέκτονος, ὥς φασιν, ὑφʼ οὗ καὶ ὁ Πειραιεύς·
The present city was founded during the Peloponnesian War by the same architect, as they say, by whom the Peiraeus also was designed.
οὐ συμμένει δʼ ὁ Πειραιεύς, κακωθεὶς ὑπό τε Λακεδαιμονίων πρότερον τῶν τὰ σκέλη καθελόντων καὶ ὑπὸ Σύλλα τοῦ Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμόνος.
But the Peiraeus does not endure in its former state, having been damaged first by the Lacedaemonians who pulled down its "legs," and then by Sulla, the Roman commander.
§14.2.10ἱστοροῦσι δὲ καὶ ταῦτα περὶ τῶν Ῥοδίων, ὅτι οὐ μόνον ἀφʼ οὗ χρόνου συνῴκισαν τὴν νῦν πόλιν εὐτύχουν κατὰ θάλατταν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸ τῆς Ὀλυμπικῆς θέσεως συχνοῖς ἔτεσιν ἔπλεον πόρρω τῆς οἰκείας ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων·
They also relate this about the Rhodians, that they were fortunate at sea not only from the time they founded the present city, but also many years before the institution of the Olympic Games they sailed far from their own land for the safety of mankind.
ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ μέχρι Ἰβηρίας ἔπλευσαν, κἀκεῖ μὲν τὴν Ῥόδην ἔκτισαν ἣν ὕστερον Μασσαλιῶται κατέσχον, ἐν δὲ τοῖς Ὀπικοῖς τὴν Παρθενόπην, ἐν δὲ Δαυνίοις μετὰ Κῴων Ἐλπίας.
From which sailing they even sailed as far as Iberia, and there they founded Rhode, which the Massaliotes later occupied, and among the Opici they founded Parthenope, and among the Daunians, together with the Coans, Elpias.
τινὲς δὲ μετὰ τὴν ἐκ Τροίας ἄφοδον τὰς Γυμνησίας νήσους ὑπʼ αὐτῶν κτισθῆναι λέγουσιν, ὧν τὴν μείζω φησὶ Τίμαιος μεγίστην εἶναι μετὰ τὰς ἑπτά, Σαρδὼ Σικελίαν Κύπρον Κρήτην Εὔβοιαν Κύρνον Λέσβον, οὐ τἀληθῆ λέγων· πολὺ γὰρ ἄλλαι μείζους.
And some say that after the return from Troy the Gymnesian Islands were colonized by them, the larger of which Timaeus says is the largest after the seven—Sardo, Sicily, Cyprus, Crete, Euboea, Cyrnus, and Lesbos—not speaking the truth, for there are others much larger.
φασὶ δὲ τοὺς γυμνήτας ὑπὸ Φοινίκων βαλεαρίδας λέγεσθαι, διότι τὰς Γυμνησίας Βαλεαρίδας λεχθῆναι.
And they say that because light-armed soldiers were called "balearides" by the Phoenicians, the Gymnesian Islands were called Baleares.
τινὲς δὲ τῶν Ῥοδίων καὶ περὶ Σύβαριν ᾤκησαν κατὰ τὴν Χωνίαν.
Some of the Rhodians also settled around Sybaris in Chonia.
ἔοικε δὲ καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς μαρτυρεῖν τὴν ἐκ παλαιοῦ παροῦσαν τοῖς Ῥοδίοις εὐδαιμονίαν εὐθὺς ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης κτίσεως τῶν τριῶν πόλεων
"
τριχθὰ δὲ ᾤκηθεν καταφυλαδόν, ἠδʼ ἐφίληθεν
ἐκ Διός, ὅστε θεοῖσι καὶ ἀνθρώποισιν ἀνάσσει,
καί σφιν θεσπέσιον πλοῦτον κατέχευε Κρονίων.
And the poet also seems to testify to the prosperity that had belonged to the Rhodians of old, immediately from the first founding of the three cities: "And they settled in three divisions, by tribes, and were loved of Zeus, who rules over gods and men, and upon them the son of Cronus poured wondrous wealth.
"
οἱ δʼ εἰς μῦθον ἀνήγαγον τὸ ἔπος καὶ χρυσὸν ὑσθῆναί φασιν ἐν τῇ νήσῳ κατὰ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶς γένεσιν ἐκ τῆς κεφαλῆς τοῦ Διός, ὡς εἴρηκε Πίνδαρος.
"But some have raised this passage to a myth, and say that gold was rained upon the island at the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus, as Pindar has said.
ἡ δὲ νῆσος κύκλον ἔχει σταδίων ἐνακοσίων εἴκοσιν.
The island has a circumference of nine hundred and twenty stadia.
§14.2.11ἔστι δὲ πρώτη μὲν Λίνδος ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως πλέουσιν ἐν δεξιᾷ ἔχουσι τὴν νῆσον, πόλις ἐπὶ ὄρους ἱδρυμένη, πολὺ πρὸς μεσημβρίαν ἀνατείνουσα καὶ πρὸς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν μάλιστα· ἱερὸν δέ ἐστιν Ἀθηνᾶς Λινδίας αὐτόθι ἐπιφανὲς τῶν Δαναΐδων ἵδρυμα.
Lindos is the first town as one sails from the city keeping the island on the right, built upon a mountain and extending far towards the south, especially towards Alexandria; and there is there a famous temple of Lindian Athena, founded by the Danaides.
πρότερον μὲν οὖν καθʼ αὑτοὺς ἐπολιτεύοντο οἱ Λίνδιοι, καθάπερ καὶ Καμειρεῖς καὶ Ἰαλύσιοι, μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ συνῆλθον ἅπαντες εἰς τὴν Ῥόδον.
Formerly, then, the Lindians governed themselves, as did also the Cameireans and Ialysians, but after this they all came together into Rhodes.
ἐντεῦθεν δʼ ἐστὶν εἷς τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν Κλεόβουλος.
From here came Cleobulus, one of the Seven Sages.
§14.2.12μετὰ δὲ Λίνδον Ἰξία χωρίον καὶ Μνασύριον· εἶθʼ ὁ Ἀτάβυρις, ὄρος τῶν ἐνταῦθα ὑψηλότατον, ἱερὸν Διὸς Ἀταβυρίου· εἶτα Κάμειρος· εἶτʼ Ἰαλυσὸς κώμη, καὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτὴν ἀκρόπολίς ἐστιν Ὀχύρωμα καλουμένη· εἶθʼ ἡ τῶν Ῥοδίων πόλις ἐν ὀγδοήκοντά που σταδίοις.
After Lindos come Ixía, a place, and Mnasyrium; then Atabyris, the highest mountain in these parts, with the temple of Atabyrian Zeus; then Cameiros; then Ialysos, a village, and above it is an acropolis called Ochyroma; then the city of the Rhodians at a distance of about eighty stadia.
μεταξὺ δʼ ἐστὶ τὸ Θοάντειον ἀκτή τις, ἧς μάλιστα πρόκεινται αἱ Σποράδες αἱ περὶ τὴν Χαλκίαν, ὧν ἐμνήσθημεν πρότερον.
In between is the Thoanteium, a certain shore, in front of which lie especially the Sporades around Chalcia, which we mentioned before.