Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2013
The islands of the Dodecanese enjoy a favourable geographical position. They lie at one of the busiest and most important cross-roads of the eastern Mediterranean, and are readily accessible from all directions, including Asia Minor. In considering contacts with the latter, one has to take into account geographical factors such as distance, the nature of the terrain, and prevailing winds and surface currents. Geologically the Dodecanese form an extension of S.W. Asia Minor, known as Caria in historical times. This region is more or less cut off by mountains from the interior of the mainland, and land routes are either non-existent or very poor. The only direct route is provided by the port of call of Miletus which lies at the mouth of the Maeander (Grant 1969, 93). It is thus only natural for Caria to look towards the Aegean and the Dodecanese rather than elsewhere. Similarly, one should expect the Dodecanese to be in constant intercourse with the opposite coast. Indeed, the archaeological evidence seems to agree. The two areas appear to have shared a more or less common culture in prehistory (Dodecanese III, 178; Mee 1975).