The capital city of Rhodes, located on the northern end of Rhodes Island, was built in 408 BC. The island itself was situated near the point where the Aegean Sea and Mediterranean seas merged. The city of Rhodes fell under siege and was saved at the last moment by an unexpected naval force sent by Ptolemy. The attacking army abandoned the siege and fled without most of their equipment. The Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was built between 292 and 280 BC as a symbol to celebrate the victory and to honor the God of Helios. The construction of The Colossus of Rhodes was directed by Chares of Lindos.
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Colossus of Rhodes, one of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World"(pic courtesy: Nathan Hughes Hamilton, flickr.com)
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The Colossus of Rhodes is said to have been a gigantic sculpture of bronze constructed in the likeness of the sun god, Helios. Most accounts say that the people of Rhodes sold the equipment left behind and used the profit to fund the construction of the statue, although one recounting states that the bronze war machines left behind were melted down and used as the exterior of the statue. Standing 107 feet in height, The Colossus of Rhodes was the tallest statue of the ancient world. It is thought to have represented Helios, posed nude, with a spear in one hand and a torch held high in the other. Although it was initially believed and is often depicted as Helios standing with one foot on each side of the harbor, experts agree the statue’s colossal form could not have supported its weight in a straddled position. Although descriptions of the statue differ slightly, most agree the Colossus of Rhodes was made upon a frame of iron bars with brass or bronze sheets attached to the bars to represent the skin. The Colossus of Rhodes stood in the center of a base of white marble 50 feet-60 feet situated close to the entrance of the Mandraki harbor. A likely premise by engineers of today states the feet would have been carved of stone and enveloped with bronze plates riveted in place. Bronze plates covering the iron frame would have been 1-inch thick to the knee and progressively thinner moving up the body. Additional stabilization would have been needed at the neck, shoulder, and other joints. The legs of the statue would have needed to be packed to the knees with rocks to stabilize the immense height of the statue.
The Colossus of Rhodes stood regally near the entrance to the harbor for almost 56 years until it collapsed during an earthquake in 226 BC. An offer by the Egyptian King, Ptolemy, to pay for the statue to be rebuilt, was declined by the Rhodians, who believed that the god Helios had used the earthquake to destroy the statue because it offended him in some way. Even the ruins that lay on the ground for years were colossal. Stories illustrate that the fingers of the Colossus were bigger than most statues. It is said that the ruins were broken up by conquering Arabs in the seventh century, carted away by 900 camels, and sold as scrap metal.
The Statue of Liberty in New York is said to be based on what engineers in the late 19th century believed The Colossus of Rhodes to look like. There have been talks over the years about reconstructing the Colossus, most recently in November 2008, it was announced that a new structure, in the form of a highly innovative light sculpture, was in the drawing board phase. The rebuilding of Colossus is headed by Dr. Dimitris Koutoulas and funded by international donors and involves German artist, Gert Hof and is planned to be the world’s largest light installation.
