Ancient Kameiros has been called the Pompey of Greece but it is a rather far-fetched parallel because Pompey, as is well known, was buried in a dramatic fashion under the lava of Mt. Vesuvius while Kameiros was gradually abandoned by its inhabitants and was buried by the earth itself with the passage of time.

The town was founded by the Dorians, just like lalyssos and Lindos.

Contrary to Lindos, which had a great naval tradition, Kameiros was by and large a rural society whose main products were olive oil, figs and wine. The need to export these products was the stimulus for the creation of a major ceramaics industry. The town reached its greatest height in the 6th century B. C. which has been determined by the pottery that was found, in addition to the fact that during that same century Kameiros was the first Rhodian town to mint its own coins.

But when the town of Rhodes was founded in 408 B.C. the inhabitants of Kameiros began to leave their town. Archaelogical discoveries show that during the 4th century B.C. there was only a small town left on the site and this was later completely abandoned.

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