Colossus of Rhodes
The Colossus of Rhodes was a monumental statue erected in the ancient city of Rhodes to celebrate the city's triumph over a prolonged siege by Demetrius Poliorcetes around 305-304 BCE. This impressive statue, dedicated to Helios, the Sun god, was financed by the sale of siege equipment left behind by the enemy. Crafted by the sculptor Chares of Lindos, the statue stood approximately 110 feet (33 meters) tall and was made of bronze over an iron framework, taking twelve years to complete. Often depicted as a standing nude male crowned with rays of sunlight, the Colossus is regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It famously guarded the entrance to the harbor at Rhodes, although later depictions inaccurately portray it as straddling the harbor entrance. Tragically, the statue only stood for about fifty-six years before being toppled by an earthquake around 226 BCE. The remnants of the Colossus lay in ruins until they were sold as scrap metal by invading Arabs in 654 CE, with stories suggesting it took nine hundred camels to transport the fragments. The Colossus remains a symbol of ancient engineering and artistry, reflecting the cultural significance of monumental sculpture in antiquity.
On this Page
Colossus of Rhodes
Related civilization: Hellenistic Greece.
Date: constructed 292-280 b.c.e., according to Pliny the Elder
Locale: Rhodes city, Island of Rhodes
Colossus of Rhodes
The Colossus (koh-LAW-suhs) was an enormous statue erected by the city of Rhodes to commemorate its successful resistance to Demetrius Poliorcetes’ year-long siege of 305-304 b.c.e. The Rhodians financed this statue of their patron deity, the Sun god Helios, from the sale of Poliorcetes’ abandoned siege equipment. The appearance of the statue, probably a standing nude male wearing a crown of Sun rays, is known only from ancient sources, mainly Strabo, Pliny the Elder, and Philon of Byzantium. Reportedly, the Rhodian sculptor Chares of Lindos, a pupil of Lysippus, was commissioned to oversee the project. The statue was composed of cast bronze sections over an iron framework and stood some 110 feet (33 meters) tall on a white marble base (compare the Statue of Liberty at 152 feet, or 46 meters). It was steadied by stones placed inside and took twelve years to complete. It is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The Colossus has been popularly depicted from the medieval period onward with its legs spanning the entrance to the Rhodian harbor later known as Mandraki. This reconstruction, however, is not possible, because the distance is more than 1,300 feet (396 meters). The Colossus stood only fifty-six years before it fell, broken at the knees, in an earthquake around 226 b.c.e. The statue lay in ruins until Arabs, invading Rhodes in 654 c.e., sold the remains as scrap metal to a Syrian. Tradition has it that nine hundred camels were needed to transport the fragments.
Bibliography
Clayton, Peter A., and Martin J. Price, eds. Reprint. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. New York: Routledge, 1998.
Romer, John, and Elizabeth Romer. The Seven Wonders of the World: A History of the Modern Imagination. New York: Henry Holt, 1995.