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Colossus of Rhodes: Radu Nanescu

The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the Greek sun-god Helios that stood at the harbor of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It took 12 years to build, standing over 30 meters tall, and was constructed out of bronze plates fixed to an iron framework between 304-292 BC. An earthquake in 226 BC caused the statue to fall and break apart. Its remains lay on the ground for many centuries until Arab pirates removed the bronze pieces in the 7th century AD. Though the statue itself is gone, its legend and association with Rhodes remained for centuries.

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Nanescu Liliana
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82 views1 page

Colossus of Rhodes: Radu Nanescu

The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the Greek sun-god Helios that stood at the harbor of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It took 12 years to build, standing over 30 meters tall, and was constructed out of bronze plates fixed to an iron framework between 304-292 BC. An earthquake in 226 BC caused the statue to fall and break apart. Its remains lay on the ground for many centuries until Arab pirates removed the bronze pieces in the 7th century AD. Though the statue itself is gone, its legend and association with Rhodes remained for centuries.

Uploaded by

Nanescu Liliana
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Radu Nanescu

14-11-2001

Colossus of Rhodes

The Colossus - Scenery year 292


before Christ

Rodos map

Scenery today

The name of the Colossus of Rhodes is familiar to everyone. Its history begins with the siege of
Demetrios Poliorketes, successor of Alexander the Great, in 305 B.C. With the money they raised from the
sale of Demetrios siege machinery, which he had left behind when he withdrew, the Rhodians decided to
express their pride in their great victory by building a triumphal statue of their favourite god, Helios. The
task was assigned to the sculptor Chares of Lindos, a pupil of Lysippos himself, and twelve years (from 304
to 292 B.C.) were needed to finish it. The Colossus was regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the World
and a masterpiece of art and engineering, but we lack reliable information about its appearance and its site.
An inscription found near the palace of the Grand Masters allows us to calculate its height at about 31
metres. But most people envisage it along the lines portrayed (from imagination) by the French traveler
Rottiers in 1826 (see above).
It is said that Chares cast the bronze limbs of the statue on the spot, one at a time, using huge heaps of earth,
and moving upwards from level to level, rather as one would build a house. The old myth, on which Rottiers
based his drawing, that the statue stood across the entrance to the harbour and that incoming ships sailed
between its legs, must, reluctantly, be abandoned. Today we can be sure that it stood on land-apart from
anything else, the way in which it was constructed would have dictated that - and that the most likely spot
for it to have stood was the courtyard of the Temple of Helios, which lay close to the palace of the Grand
Masters.
However, the statue was only a nine-day wonder, or, to be more accurate, a 66 - year wonder. A violent
earthquake in 226 B.C. broke its knees and sent it to the ground. The Rhodians, afraid of some curse, did not
dare to replace it and it lay where it had fallen for many centuries. At last, in 653 A.D., Arab pirates under
Moabiah who were raiding in the area carried the bronze parts to the mainland opposite and sold them to a
Jewish merchant. It is said that 900 camels were needed to transport it. But the legend was so closely linked
to the name of Rhodes that for centuries afterwards both Greeks and Europeans referred to the people of
Rhodes as Colossians.

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