About Kos Island
Kos is located in the south-eastern Aegean Sea south of Kalymnos and north of Nisyros, just 3 nautical miles from Asia Minor coast. It is the third largest island in the Dodecanese, with a population of 30,947. From the prehistoric times it was an important channel of the sea ways that started from the Black Sea and along the shoreline of Asia Minor and the islands of Aegean and reached North Africa.
The main port and population centre on the island, also called Kos, is also the tourist and cultural centre. The harbor itself is a visual delight at night framed by the impressive castle and the city lights.
Kos is also the birthplace of the father of medicine, Hippocrates, which was born on the island around 460 B.C. In the center of the town is the Plane Tree of Hippocrates, a dream temple where the physician is traditionally supposed to have taught. The city is also home to the International Hippocratic Institute and the Hippocratic Museum dedicated to him. After his death the people of Kos built the famous Asklepeion, where the Hippocratic philosophy of medicine was practiced. Hippocratic philosophy became the foundation of western medicine.
The island is famous for its rich vegetation and its temperate climate and it was characterized by the Roman doctor Gallino as "the most temperate place in the world". Kos' s ground fertility is a result of its volcanic origin, which had been known since antiquity.