#The colossus of rhodes series

Philo of Byzantium wrote in De septem mundi miraculis that Chares created the sculpture in situ by casting it in horizontal courses and then placing '.a huge mound of earth round each section as soon as it was completed, thus burying the finished work under the accumulated earth, and carrying out the casting of the next part on the level.' Much of the iron and bronze was reforged from the various weapons Demetrius's army left behind, and the abandoned second siege tower may have been used for scaffolding around the lower levels during construction. According to most contemporary descriptions, the statue itself was about 70 cubits, or 32 metres (105 feet) tall. Other sources place the Colossus on a breakwater in the harbor. The interior of the structure, which stood on a 15-metre-high (49-foot) white marble pedestal near the Rhodes harbor entrance, was then filled with stone blocks as construction progressed.

Ancient accounts, which differ to some degree, describe the structure as being built with iron tie bars to which brass plates were fixed to form the skin. His teacher, the sculptor Lysippos, had constructed a 22-metre-high (72-foot) bronze statue of Zeus at Tarentum.Ĭonstruction began in 292 BC. Construction was left to the direction of Chares, a native of Lindos in Rhodes, who had been involved with large-scale statues before. To celebrate their victory, the Rhodians sold the equipment left behind for 300 talents and decided to use the money to build a colossal statue of their patron god, Helios. In 304 BC a relief force of ships sent by Ptolemy arrived, and Demetrius (son of Antigonus) and his army abandoned the siege, leaving behind most of their siege equipment. In the early fourth century BC, Rhodes, allied with Ptolemy I of Egypt, prevented a mass invasion staged by their common enemy, Antigonus I Monophthalmus.

#The colossus of rhodes series

Since 2008, a series of as-yet-unrealized proposals to build a new Colossus at Rhodes Harbour have been announced, although the actual location of the original monument remains in dispute. In 653, an Arab force under Muslim general Muawiyah I conquered Rhodes, and according to the Chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor, the statue was completely destroyed and the remains sold. According to the Suda, the Rhodians were called Colossaeans (Κολοσσαεῖς), because they erected the statue on the island. John Malalas wrote that Hadrian in his reign re-erected the Colossus, but he was mistaken.

In accordance with a certain oracle, the Rhodians did not build it again. It collapsed during the earthquake of 226 BC, although parts of it were preserved. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it was constructed to celebrate the successful defence of Rhodes city against an attack by Demetrius Poliorcetes, who had besieged it for a year with a large army and navy.Īccording to most contemporary descriptions, the Colossus stood approximately 70 cubits, or 33 metres (108 feet) high – approximately the height of the modern Statue of Liberty from feet to crown – making it the tallest statue in the ancient world. The Colossus of Rhodes ( Ancient Greek: Greek: Κολοσσός της Ρόδου, romanized: Kolossós tes Rhódou) was a statue of the Greek sun-god Helios, erected in the city of Rhodes, on the Greek island of the same name, by Chares of Lindos in 280 BC. Colossus of Rhodes, artist's impression, 1880