Kalymnos (Turkish: Kilimli) is a Greek island in the south-eastern Aegean Sea; it belongs to the Dodecanese area and is located between the peninsula of Bodrum (the ancient Halicarnassos), the islands of Kos (south, at a distance of 12 km) and the very close Leros (less than 2 km). Kalymnos lies between two to five hours away by sea from Rhodes. The island is roughly rectangular in shape, with a length of 21 km and a width of 13 km. Kalymnos is mainly mountainous, with a complicated pattern. There are three main chains going from W-NW to E-SE, and a fourth one which innervates the peninsula. The coastline is very irregular, with many sheltered coves. There are some springs, one among them being thermal. The soil is mainly made of limestone, but in the valleys there is a compact bank of volcanic tufa, relict of an ancient volcano, located near the village of Kantouni. The island is mainly barren, except the valleys of Vathi and Pothia, where olives, oranges and vineyards grow. In 2001 the island had a population of 16,576, making it the third most populated island of the Dodecanese, after Kos and Rhodes.

Kalymnos is neighbored by the small island of Telendos, which once was part of Kalymnos, but after a major earthquake 554 A.D. was split and separated from Kalymnos by a strip of water (about 800m wide). Between Kalymnos and Kos there is the islet of Pserimos which is inhabited. Inhabited originally by Carians, during the ancient ages Kalymnos depended on Kos, and followed its history. In the Middle Ages it was Byzantine, and during the XIII Century it was used by Venice as a naval base. In 1310 it became a possession of the Knights of Rhodes, and later (mainly in 1457 and 1460) was often attacked by the Ottomans, which finally conquered it in 1522. Unlike Rhodes and Kos, during the Ottoman period there was no Turkish immigration to Kalymnos. On May 12, 1912, during the Italo-Turkish War, Kalymnos was occupied by Italian sailors of the Regia Marina. Italy took control of the island along with other islands of the Dodecanese until 1947, when the Dodecansese finally were united with mainland Greece.