This drawing of Colossus of Rhodes, which illustrated The Grolier Society's 1911 Book of Knowledge, is probably fanciful, as it is unlikely that the statue stood astride the harbour mouth.

Colossus of Rhodes, imagined in a 16th-century engraving by Martin Heemskerck, part of his series of the Seven Wonders of the World.

The Colossus of Rhodes was a huge statue of the Greek god Helios, erected on the Greek island of Rhodes by Chares of Lindos between 292 and 280 BC. It was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Before its destruction, the Colossus of Rhodes stood over 30 metres (100 ft) high, making it the tallest statue of the ancient world.^[1] Il Colosso de Rodi (English title: The Colossus of Rhodes) is a 1961 sword and sandal film directed by Sergio Leone. ... Colossus of Rhodes from The Book of Knowledge, The Grolier Society, 1911 This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Colossus of Rhodes from The Book of Knowledge, The Grolier Society, 1911 This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Colossus of Rhodes The Colossus of Rhodes, depicted in this hand-coloured engraving by Martin Heemskerck, was built about 280 bc. ... Colossus of Rhodes The Colossus of Rhodes, depicted in this hand-coloured engraving by Martin Heemskerck, was built about 280 bc. ... ... For other uses, see Helios (disambiguation). ... Rhodes (Greek: Ρόδος Rhódhos; Italian Rodi; [[Ladino language| ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, situated in eastern Aegean Sea. ... Chares of Lindos was a Greek sculptor from Lindos, in the island of Rhodes. ... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 340s BC 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC 280s BC 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC 297 BC 296 BC 295 BC 294 BC 293 BC 292 BC 291 BC 290 BC 289... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 330s BC 320s BC 310s BC 300s BC 290s BC - 280s BC - 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC 285 BC 284 BC 283 BC 282 BC 281 BC 280 BC 279 BC 278 BC 277... This article is about the Seven Ancient Wonders. ...

Siege of Rhodes

Main article: Siege of Rhodes

Alexander III of Macedon died at an early age in 323 BC without having time to put into place any plans for his succession. Fighting broke out among his generals, the Diadochi, with four of them eventually dividing up much of his empire in the Mediterranean area. During the fighting Rhodes had sided with Ptolemy, and when Ptolemy eventually took control of Egypt, Rhodes and Ptolemaic Egypt formed an alliance which controlled much of the trade in the eastern Mediterranean. Combatants Antigonid dynasty Rhodes Ptolemaic dynasty Seleucid Empire Commanders Demetrius  ? Strength 1500 11200 Casualties 1300 5400 For other uses, see Siege of Rhodes (disambiguation). ... For the film of the same name, see Alexander the Great (1956 film). ... Ancient Macedons regions and towns Macedon or Macedonia (Greek ) was the name of an ancient kingdom in the northern-most part of ancient Greece, bordered by the kingdom of Epirus to the west and the region of Thrace to the east. ... On his way from Ecbatana to Babylon, Alexander the Great fights and crushes the Cossaeans. ... In general Diadochi (in Greek Διάδοχοι, transcripted Diadochoi) means successors, such that the neoplatonic refounders of Platos Academy in Late Antiquity referred to themselves as diadochi (of Plato). ... For the film of the same name, see Alexander the Great (1956 film). ... Ptolemy I Soter (367 BC–283 BC) was the ruler of Egypt (323 BC - 283 BC) and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty. ...

Another of Alexander's generals, Antigonus I Monophthalmus, was upset by this turn of events. In 305 BC he had his son Demetrius Poliorcetes, also a general, invade Rhodes with an army of 40,000; however, the city was well defended, and Demetrius—whose name "Poliorcetes" signifies the "besieger of cities"—had to start construction of a number of massive siege towers in order to gain access to the walls. The first was mounted on six ships, but these were capsized in a storm before they could be used. He tried again with a larger, land-based tower named Helepolis, but the Rhodian defenders stopped this by flooding the land in front of the walls so that the rolling tower could not move. The Antigonid dynasty was a dynasty of Macedonian kings descended from Alexander the Greats general Antigonus I Monophthalmus (the One-eyed). Antigonus himself ruled mostly over Asia Minor and northern Syria. ... Demetrius I (337-283 BC), surnamed Poliorcetes (Besieger), son of Antigonus I of Macedon and Stratonice was a king of Macedon ( 294 - 288 BC) . He belonged to the Antigonid dynasty. ... A siege tower is a specialized siege engine, constructed to protect assailants and ladders whilst approaching the defensive walls of a fortification. ... Helepolis (Taker of Cities) was an ancient siege engine invented by Demetrius I of Macedon and constructed by Epimachus of Athens for the unsuccessful siege of Rhodes, based on an earlier, less massive design used against Salamis. ...

In 304 BC a relief force of ships sent by Ptolemy arrived, and Demetrius's army abandoned the siege, leaving most of their siege equipment. To celebrate their victory, the Rhodians sold the equipment left behind for 300 talents^[2] (roughly US$150 million in today's money) and decided to use the money to build a colossal statue of their patron god, Helios. Construction was left to the direction of Chares, a native of Lindos in Rhodes, who had been involved with large-scale statues before. His teacher, the sculptor Lysippos, had constructed an 30 meter (100 ft) high^[3] bronze statue of Zeus at Tarentum. A talent is an ancient unit of mass. ... The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... For other uses, see Helios (disambiguation). ... Chares of Lindos was a Greek sculptor from Lindos, in the island of Rhodes. ... Roman copy of Eros Stringing the Bow from the Capitoline Museum. ... For other uses, see Zeus (disambiguation). ... Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, southern Italy. ...

Construction

Ancient accounts, which differ to some degree, describe the structure as being built around several stone columns (or towers of blocks) forming the interior of the structure, which stood on a fifteen-meter-high (fifty-foot) white marble pedestal near the Mandraki harbor entrance. Other sources place the Colossus on a breakwater in the harbor. The statue itself was 30 meters (100 feet) tall. Iron beams were embedded in the brick towers, and bronze plates attached to the bars formed the visible skin of the sculpture. Much of the iron and bronze was reforged from the various weapons Demetrius's army left behind, and the abandoned second siege tower was used for scaffolding around the lower levels during construction. Upper portions were built with the use of a large earthen ramp. During the building the builders would pile mounds of dirt on the sides of the colossus. To an observer it may have looked like a volcano-like sculpture. Upon completion all of the dirt was moved and the colossus was left to stand alone. After twelve years, in 280 BC, the statue was completed.

Destruction

The statue stood for only 54 years until Rhodes was hit by an earthquake in 226 BC. The statue snapped at the knees and fell over on to the land. Ptolemy III offered to pay for the reconstruction of the statue, but the oracle of Delphi made the Rhodians afraid that they had offended Helios, and they declined to rebuild it. The remains lay on the ground as described by Strabo (xiv.2.5) for over 800 years, and even broken, they were so impressive that many traveled to see them. Pliny the Elder remarked that few people could wrap their arms around the fallen thumb and that each of its fingers was larger than most statues. An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of stored energy in the Earths crust that creates seismic waves. ... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC - 220s BC - 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC Years: 231 BC 230 BC 229 BC 228 BC 227 BC - 226 BC - 225 BC 224 BC... Ptolemy III Euergetes I, (Ptolemaeus III) (Evergetes, Euergetes) (reigned 246 BC-222 BC). ... The word Sibyl comes (via Latin) from the ancient Greek word sibylla, meaning prophetess. ... The Greek geographer Strabo in a 16th century engraving. ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19th Century portrait. ...

In 654 an Arab force under Muawiyah I captured Rhodes, and according to the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor,^[4] the remains were sold to a traveling salesman from Edessa. The buyer had the statue broken down, and transported the bronze scrap on the backs of 900 camels to his home. Pieces continued to turn up for sale for years, after being found along the caravan route. Mu‘āwīyah ibn Abī Sufyān (Arabic: )‎ (602-680) was a companion of Muhammad and later the Umayyad caliph in Damascus. ... Saint Theophanes the Confessor (about 758/760, Constantinople - March 17, 817 or 818, Samothrace) was an aristocratic but ascetic Byzantine monk and chronicler. ... The heritage of Roman Edessa survives today in these columns at the site of Urfa Castle, dominating the skyline of the modern city of Şanlı Urfa. ...

The harbor-straddling Colossus was a figment of later imaginations. Many older illustrations (above) show the statue with one foot on either side of the harbor mouth with ships passing under it: "...the brazen giant of Greek fame, with conquering limbs astride from land to land..." ("The New Colossus", the poem inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty). Shakespeare's Cassius in Julius Caesar (I,ii,136–38) says of Caesar: The New Colossus is a sonnet by Emma Lazarus (1849-1887), written in 1883 and, in 1903, engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted inside the Statue of Liberty. ... The Tragedy of Julius Cæsar, more commonly known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare written in 1599. ...

Why man, he doth bestride the narrow world

Like a Colossus, and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs and peep about

To find ourselves dishonorable graves

Shakespeare alludes to the Colossus also in Troilus and Cressida (V.5) and in Henry IV, Part 1 (V.1). For the Chaucer poem, see Troilus and Criseyde. ... Title page of the first quarto (1598) Henry IV, Part 1 is a history play by William Shakespeare. ...

While these fanciful images from poetry feed the misconception, simple reflection on the mechanics of the situation reveal that the Colossus could not have straddled the harbor as described in Lemprière's Classical Dictionary. (a) If the completed statue straddled the harbor, the entire mouth of the harbor would have been effectively closed during the entirety of the construction, nor would the ancient Rhodians have had the means to dredge and re-open the harbor after construction. (b) The statue fell in 224 BC: if it straddled the harbor mouth, it would have entirely blocked the harbor, nor would the ancients have had the ability to remove the entire statue from the harbor so it would be visible on land for the next 800 years, as discussed above. Even neglecting these objections, the statue was made of bronze, and an engineering analysis proved that it could not have been built with its legs apart without collapsing from its own weight.

Modern times

• Perhaps the most famous reference to the Colossus is in the poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus, written in 1883 and inscribed on a plaque at the Statue of Liberty in New York City's harbor.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

• Media reports in 1989 initially suggested that large stones found on the seabed off the coast of Rhodes might have been the remains of the Colossus; however this theory was later shown to be without merit.
• There has been much debate as to whether to rebuild the Colossus. Those in favour say it would boost tourism in Rhodes greatly, but those against construction say it would cost too large an amount (over 100 million euros). This idea has been revived many times since it was first proposed in 1970 but, due to lack of funding, work has not yet started.

Emma Lazarus (July 22, 1849 – November 19, 1887) was an American poet born in New York City. ... For other monuments to freedom, see Monument of Liberty. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... The Greek name for the rainy, stormy southeast wind. ...

The Colossus of Rhodes in modern fiction

• In the comic book Asterix at the Olympic Games, Rhodes sends "a colossus" to compete in the Olympic Games.
• In Sergio Leone's sword and sandal film Il Colosso di Rodi (1961) the Colossus stands spread-legged over the only entrance to Rhodes' harbour. In this instance the statue is hollow (like the Statue of Liberty) and is armed with defensive weaponry.
• Sylvia Plath's poem "The Colossus", refers to the Colossus of Rhodes.
• In the popular Playstation 2 game God of War II, both Rhodes and the Colossus of Rhodes are featured at the start of the game, offering a mythological theory as to how the Colossus was destroyed.
• In The Novel Seven Ancient Wonders by Australian novelist Matthew Reilly, The Colossus is fictionalised to have been holding a piece of the Golden Capstone(which fictionally sat atop the Great Pyramid) And after being felled by the earthquake, was hidden in a trap laden abandoned mine.

A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Asterix at the Olympic Games is an extremely effective satire on performance enhancing drug taking in sport. ... The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920. ... Sergio Leone (January 3, 1929 – April 30, 1989) was an Italian film director. ... D. W. Griffith set out to depict the splendor of ancient Babylon in Intolerance. ... Il Colosso de Rodi (English title: The Colossus of Rhodes) is a 1961 sword and sandal film directed by Sergio Leone. ... For other monuments to freedom, see Monument of Liberty. ... Sylvia Plath (October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. ... “PS2” redirects here. ... God of War II is the sequel to the popular God of War video game. ... Seven Ancient Wonders (Seven Deadly Wonders in the United States of America) is a book written by the Australian author Matthew Reilly in 2005. ... Matthew Reilly, born July 2nd, 1974 Sydney, is an Australian action thriller writer. ... The Great Pyramid of Giza, (sometimes spelled Gizeh) is the oldest and last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the World and the most famous pyramid in the world. ...

Notes

For other monuments to freedom, see Monument of Liberty. ... Naturalis Historia Pliny the Elders Natural History is an encyclopedia written by Pliny the Elder. ... Constantine and his mother Zoë. Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, the Purple-born (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Ζ΄ Πορφυρογέννητος, Kōnstantinos VII Porphyrogennētos), (Constantinople, September 905 – November 9, 959 in Constantinople) was the son of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife Zoe Karbonopsina. ... De Administrando Imperio is the commonly used Latin title of a scholarly work written in Greek by the 10th-century Byzantine emperor Constantine VII. Constantine was a scholar-emperor, who sought to revive learning and education in the Byzantine Empire. ...

See also

• 12 Jin Ren

12 Jin Ren(chinese:十二金人) were 12 huge bronze Colossus made by the order of Shihuangdi,the First emperor of China,by collecting the weapons and casted them,after he had conquered the other 6 states. ...

References

• James R. Ashley (2004). Macedonian Empire. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-1918-0.  page 75

External links

• Rhodes Guide
• Herbert Maryon, "The Colossus of Rhodes" The Journal of Hellenic Studies 76 (1956), pp. 68-86. A sculptor's speculations on the Colossus of Rhodes.
• D. E. L. Haynes, "Philo of Byzantium and the Colossus of Rhodes" The Journal of Hellenic Studies 77.2 (1957), pp. 311-312. A response to Maryon.
• M. H. Gabriel, BCH 16 (1932), pp 332-42.

Coordinates: 36°27′04″N, 28°13′40″E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...