After the Bronze Age collapse, the first renewed outside contacts made y Rhodes are with Cyprus.

In the 8th century BCE, the island's settlements start to form, with the coming of the Dorians, who build the three important cities of Lindos, Ialyssos and Kameiros, which together with Kos, Cnidus and Halicarnassus (on the mainland) make up the so-called Dorian Hexapolis (Greek for six cities).