Imperial statesman located in the Aegean Sea (6)

I believe the answer is:

rhodes

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'sea' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?

I can't explain the rest of the clue.

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(Other definitions for rhodes that I've seen before include "Aegean island" , "Cycled round hot Society Island" , "Colonial businessman" , "British financier and coloniser in southern Africa, d. 1902" , "Horsed around on the Greek island" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish Independent.

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