Symi
An island in the S Sporades group. Diodorus (5.53) cites the first king of the island, Kthonios, whose son Nereus led three triremes to Troy (Il. 2.67 1ff). In historic times Symi spoke the Doric dialect and belonged to the Rhodian state before the synoecism. It remained Rhodian thereafter except for a brief period of Athenian supremacy in the 5th c. B.C. Incorporated into the mediaeval castle of the Knights of Rhodes are the remains of two circuits of polygonal wall from the acropolis of the ancient city. On the E slopes of the castle there are two courses of a circular tumulus. There is a small museum in the town.
BIBLIOGRAPHYG. Gerola, “Le Simie,” ASAtene 2 (1916) 1ff; R. Hope Simpson & J. F. Lazenby, “Notes from the Dodecanese,” BSA 57 (1962) 168; 65 (1970) 63MPI.
M. G. PICOZZI