Gate of St. Athanasius

The gate is accessed from Filellinon St., at the west end of the south part of the town wall, in the sector defended by the English Knights in 1522. The curtain in this area was built by Jean de Lastic (1437-54) and reinforced with a massive revetment in the rear and a parapet with embrasures by Fabrizio del Carretto (1513-21). However, the nucleus of the gate is older, dating from the times of Catalan master Antoni Fluvian (1421-37). Accessed from the west, it crosses at right angles the square Tower of St. Athanasius, where a slab with a bust of the saint in shallow relief displays his name in both Greek and Latin above the arms of the Order and Fluvian. The tower was originally open at the back and detached from the curtain to ensure that, if taken, it could not be used against the defenders. Taller than today, it was crowned by crenellations supported by machicolation, which were later replaced by a strong parapet better able to cope with firearms. The connection of the tower to the curtain probably dates from the period of Orsini (1467-76).

When Lastic built the new wall, the weak fortification of Fluvian became an advance-wall. A drawbridge in the advance-wall, 35 metres west of the Tower of St. Athanasius, gave access to a stone bridge crossing the moat southwards. After the siege of 1480, Aubusson widened the moat in the area and built the massive Bastion of England to the west of the gate. In 1487 he turned the access to the advance-wall drawbridge into a two-tiered battery, with its own drawbridge towards the new bridge spanning the widened moat. Thus, to enter the town at this point the visitor has to cross a stone bridge 23 metres long, the battery (41 metres), then turn right and walk a further 35 metres between the advance-wall and curtain and, finally pass under the Tower of St. Athanasius turning left, to reach Orfeos St. inside the walls.

In 1501 the outer gate was sealed in order to reduce the number of entrances to the town. Naturally, the inner passage continued in use as it gave access to the battery and the Bastion of England. The arms of Carretto are mounted over the north face of the inner gate: in 1515 he had almost tripled the thickness of the curtain at this point, to a hefty 13,5 metres. After the fall of Rhodes to the Ottomans, the gate was sealed again in 1531. The dismantled bridge over the moat was restored when Rhodes was under Italian occupation, in 1922; the commemorative inscription is mounted above the advance-wall drawbridge. The arms with the dolphin flanking the royal arms of Savoy belong to the then Governor of Rhodes, Alessandro de Bosdari. Nowadays, a stone staircase descends to the floor of the moat from the wallwalk of the advance- wall, to the west of the intermediate gate.