Rhodes was born on 10 August 1940 to George Thomas Rhodes and Elsie Leonora Rhodes (née Pugh). He was educated at Queen Elizabeth's School, an all-boys grammar school in Barnet, London. He then studied classics at Wadham College, Oxford, and graduated with a double first Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree and a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree.^[2] His doctoral supervisors were David Malcolm Lewis and G. E. M. de Ste. Croix.^[3]

In 1965, Rhodes became a lecturer in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Durham, in England.^[2] He was promoted to senior lecturer in 1977, and appointed Professor of Ancient History in 1983.^[2] He retired in 2005, becoming professor emeritus.^[4]

Rhodes held a number of visiting fellowships; Wolfson College, Oxford (1984), University of New England, Australia (1988), Corpus Christi College, Oxford (1993), and All Souls College, Oxford (1998).^[2] He served as president of the Classical Association from 2014 to 2015.^[5]

His major works include the definitive modern treatment of the Athenian Council (or Boule), the now standard commentary on the constitutional treatise on Athens produced by Aristotle or under his supervision (the Athenaion Politeia), and a general book on Athens’ overseas empire.

Rhodes was an active member of the University College Durham Senior Common Room, and its Chapel, singing in the Choir for over forty years.

In 1971, Rhodes married Jan Teresa Adamson; they divorced in 2001.^[2]

He died suddenly on 27 October 2021, in Durham, at the age of 81.^[6] A memorial service was to be held for him at Durham Cathedral on 23 November 2021.^[6]

In 1987, Rhodes was elected a Fellow of the British Academy (FBA), the UK's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.^[4] In 2005, he was made a Foreign Member of the Royal Danish Academy.^[2] On 18 May 2015, he was awarded the Chancellor's Medal of Durham University in recognition of his "outstanding and continuing contribution to the discipline and the University".^[7]

• The Athenian Boule, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972, rev. 1985.
• Greek Historical Inscriptions, 359-323 B.C., London Association of Classical Teachers, 1972, rev. 1986. ISBN 0-903625-11-3
• A Commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981, rev. 1993.
• The Athenian Empire, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985, rev 1993.
• The Greek City States: A Source Book, 1986, rev. and enlarged edition 2007.
• (with D. M. Lewis) The Decrees of the Greek States, 1997.
• Ancient Democracy and Modern Ideology, London: Duckworth, 2003.
• (with R. Osborne) Greek Historical Inscriptions, 404-323 BC, 2003, corr. 2007.
• A History of the Classical Greek World, 478-323 BC, 2005.
• Alcibiades, Pen and Sword Books, 2011.
• A Short History of Ancient Greece, I.B. Tauris Short Histories, 2014.

Translated and edited ancient authors

• The Athenian Constitution, Penguin Classics, 1984.
• Thucydides: History, Book II, Aris & Phillips, 1988.
• Thucydides: History, Book III, Aris & Phillips, 1994.
• Thucydides: History, Book IV.1-V.24, Aris & Phillips, 1999.
• (with J. L. Marr) The 'Old Oligarch': The Constitution of the Athenians Attributed to Xenophon, Oxford: Aris & Phillips (imprint of Oxbow), 2008.
• (with J. M. Hammond) Thucydides: The Peloponnesian War: translated with an introduction and notes, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Thucydides: History, Book 1, Aris & Philips, 2014.

Edited

• (with L. G. Mitchell) The Development of the Polis in Archaic Greece, 1997.
• D. M. Lewis's Selected Papers in Greek and Near Eastern History, 1997.
• Athenian Democracy, 2004.
• (with E. E. Bridges and E. M. Hall) Cultural Responses to the Persian Wars: Antiquity to the Third Millennium, 2007.
• (with E. M. Harris and D. F. Leao) Law and Drama in Ancient Greece, London: Duckworth, 2010.
• (with P. A. Low and G. J. Oliver). Cultures of Commemoration: War Memorials, Ancient and Modern, Proceedings of the British Academy 160, Oxford University Press, 2012.