Kos

Kos or Cos (English pronunciation: /kɒs/) (Greek: Κως, Greek pronunciation: [kos]) is a Greek island, part of the Dodecanese island chain in the southeastern Aegean Sea, off the Anatolian coast of Turkey. Kos is the third largest of the Dodecanese by area, after Rhodes and Karpathos; it has a population of 33,388 (2011 census), making it the second most populous of the Dodecanese, after Rhodes. The island measures 40 by 8 kilometres (25 by 5 miles), and is 4 km (2 miles) from the coast of the ancient region of Caria in Turkey. Administratively, Kos constitutes a municipality within the Kos regional unit, which is part of the South Aegean region. The principal town of the island and seat of the municipality is Kos town.

Name

The name Kos (Greek: Κῶς, genitive Κῶ) is first attested in the Iliad, and has been in continuous use since. Other ancient names include Meropis, Cea, and Nymphaea.

In many Romance languages, Kos was formerly known as Stancho, Stanchio, or Stinco, and in Ottoman and modern Turkish it is known as İstanköy, all from the Greek expression εις την Κω 'to Kos';cf. the similar Stamboul and Stimpoli, Crete. Under the rule of the Knights Hospitaller of Rhodes, it was known as Lango or Langò, presumably because of its length. In The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, the author misunderstands this, and treats Lango and Kos as distinct islands.

Kos-

The Slavic word for "blackbird", kos (kosъ, кос) also appears in various toponyms:

Ákos

Ákos is a Hungarian name. Today, it is mainly a masculine given name.

It may refer to:

Middle Ages

Given name

See also

Masada

Masada (מצדה metzadá "fortress") is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa, on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Arad.

Herod the Great built palaces for himself on the mountain and fortified Masada between 37 and 31 BCE. According to Josephus, the Siege of Masada by troops of the Roman Empire towards the end of the First Jewish–Roman War ended in the mass suicide of 960 people – the Sicarii rebels and their families hiding there.

Masada is one of Israel's most popular tourist attractions.

Geography

The cliffs on the east edge of Masada are about 400 m (1,300 ft) high and the cliffs on the west are about 90 m (300 ft) high; the natural approaches to the cliff top are very difficult. The top of the plateau is flat and rhomboid-shaped, about 550 m (1,800 ft) by 270 m (890 ft). There was a casemate wall around the top of the plateau totaling 1,300 m (4,300 ft) long and 4 m (13 ft) high, with many towers, and the fortress included storehouses, barracks, an armory, the palace, and cisterns that were refilled by rainwater. Three narrow, winding paths led from below up to fortified gates.