colossus of Rhodes

{{Main|Siege of Rhodes (305–304 BC)}}

In the late fourth century BC, Rhodes, allied with Ptolemy I of Egypt, prevented a mass invasion staged by their common enemy, Antigonus I Monophthalmus.

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. To celebrate their victory, the Rhodians sold the equipment left behind for 300 talents{{cite book |author=Pliny the Elder |title=Natural History |at=xxxiv.18}} 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 a {{convert|22|m|ft|abbr=off|adj=mid|-high}}{{efn|Forty cubits high, according to Pliny.}} bronze statue of Zeus at Tarentum.

{{More citations needed section|date=July 2024}}{{ancient_seven_wonders_timeline.svg}}

File:Colosse de Rhodes (Barclay).jpg

Construction began in 292 BC. Ancient accounts, which differ to some degree, describe the structure as being built with iron tie bars to which bronze plates were fixed to form the skin. The interior of the structure, which stood on a {{convert|15|m|ft|-high|abbr=off|adj=mid}} white marble pedestal near the Rhodes harbour entrance, was then filled with stone blocks as construction progressed.Accounts of Philo of Byzantium ca. 150 BC and Pliny (Plineus Caius Secundus) ca. 50 AD based on viewing the broken remains Other sources place the Colossus on a breakwater in the harbour. According to most contemporary descriptions, the statue itself was about 70 cubits, or {{convert|32|m|ft|abbr=off}} tall.{{cite web |department=Colossus of Rhodes |title=Description, location, & facts |date=April 2023 |website=britannica.com |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Colossus-of-Rhodes |access-date=2020-03-19 |archive-date=2020-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924152907/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Colossus-of-Rhodes |url-status=live }} 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.

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 around 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."{{cite conference |last=Vedder |first=Ursula |year=2017 |title=Was the Colossus of Rhodes cast in courses or large sections? |editor-last=Daehner |editor-first=Jens |book-title=Artistry in Bronze: The Greeks and their legacy |conference=XIXth International Congress on Ancient Bronzes |publisher=J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Conservation Institute |location=Los Angeles, CA |page=25 |url=http://www.getty.edu/publications/artistryinbronze/large-scale-bronzes/2-vedder/ |access-date=2021-10-05 |archive-date=2021-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005211430/http://www.getty.edu/publications/artistryinbronze/large-scale-bronzes/2-vedder/ |url-status=live }}

Modern engineers have put forward a hypothesis for the statue's construction (based on the technology of the time), and the accounts of Philo and Pliny, who saw and described the ruins.{{cite conference |conference=International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms |year=2004 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4020-2203-6 |title=Engineering aspects of the collapse of the Colossus of Rhodes statue |pages=69–85 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tt9u67U8RW8C}}

The base pedestal was said to be at least {{convert|18|m|ft|abbr=off}} in diameter,{{according to whom|date=July 2024}} and either circular or octagonal. The feet were carved in stone and covered with thin bronze plates riveted together. Eight forged iron bars set in a radiating horizontal position formed the ankles and turned up to follow the lines of the legs while becoming progressively smaller. Individually cast curved bronze plates {{convert|60|in|m|order=flip}} square with turned-in edges were joined by rivets through holes formed during casting to form a series of rings. The lower plates were {{convert|1|in|mm|order=flip}} in thickness to the knee and {{Convert|3/4|in|round=5|order=flip}} thick from knee to abdomen, while the upper plates were {{Convert|1/4|to|1/2|in|round=0.5|order=flip}} thick except where additional strength was required at joints such as the shoulder, neck, etc.{{Citation needed|date=October 2021}}

Archaeologist Ursula Vedder has proposed that the sculpture was cast in large sections following traditional Greek methods and that Philo's account is "not compatible with the situation proved by archaeology in ancient Greece."

After twelve years, in 280 BC, the statue was completed. Greek anthologies of poetry have preserved what is believed to be the dedication text on the Colossus.Anthologia Graeca [https://archive.org/details/greekanthology01pato/page/386/mode/2up vi.171] (cf. H. Beckby (Munich 1957))Pat Wheatley, Charlotte Dunn, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ap_gDwAAQBAJ Demetrius the Besieger], Oxford University Press (2020), p. 443, note 1.

{{Verse translation

|lang1=grc | italicsoff = yes

|Αὐτῷ σοὶ πρὸς Ὄλυμπον ἐμακύναντο κολοσσὸν

:τόνδε Ῥόδου ναέται Δωρίδος, Ἀέλιε,

χάλκεον ἁνίκα κῦμα κατευνάσαντες Ἐνυοῦς

:ἔστεψαν πάτραν δυσμενέων ἐνάροις.

οὐ γὰρ ὑπὲρ πελάγους μόνον †κάτθεσαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν γᾷ,

:ἁβρὸν ἀδουλώτου φέγγος ἐλευθερίας·

τοῖς γὰρ ἀφ' Ἡρακλῆος ἀεξηθεῖσι γενέθλας

:πάτριος ἐν πόντῳ κἠν χθονὶ κοιρανία.

|lang2=en

|To thy very self, O Sun, did the people of Dorian Rhodes

raise high to heaven this colossus,

then, when having laid to rest the brazen wave of war,

they crowned their country with the spoils of their foes.

Not only over the sea, but on the land, too,

did they establish the lovely light of unfettered freedom.

For to those who spring from the race of Heracles

dominion is a heritage both on land and sea.

|attr1=The Greek Anthology, W. R. Paton, trans., William Heinemann, London (1916), vol. I, p. 387.

}}

File:rhodes0211.jpg's 1911 Book of Knowledge]]

{{further|226 BC Rhodes earthquake}}

The statue stood for 54 years until a 226 BC earthquake caused significant damage to large portions of Rhodes, including the harbour and commercial buildings, which were destroyed.{{cite book |title=Politics and Culture in International History: From the Ancient Near East to the Opening of the Modern Age |last=Bruemmer Bozeman |first=Adda |year=1994 |publisher=Transaction Publishers |isbn=1-56000-735-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/politicsculturei00adda/page/108 108] |url=https://archive.org/details/politicsculturei00adda|url-access=registration }} The statue snapped at the knees and fell over onto land. Ptolemy III offered to pay for the reconstruction of the statue, but the Oracle of Delphi made the Rhodians fear that they had offended Helios, and they declined to rebuild it.

The remains lay on the ground for over 800 years and, even broken, they were so impressive that many travelled to see them.

The remains were described briefly by Strabo (64 or 63 BC – {{circa|24 AD}}), in his work Geography (Book XIV, Chapter 2.5). Strabo was a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian who lived in Asia Minor during the transitional period of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.

Strabo is best known for his work Geographica ("Geography"), which presented a descriptive history of people and places from different regions of the world known during his lifetime.{{cite book |author=Strabo |author-link=Strabo |year=1949 |title=Geography |section=34 Vol. VIII Book XVII |translator=Horace Leonard Jones |place=London, UK |publisher=William Heinemann |page=95}} Strabo states that:

{{blockquote|text=The city of the Rhodians lies on the eastern promontory of Rhodes; and it is so far superior to all others in harbours and roads and walls and improvements in general that I am unable to speak of any other city as equal to it, or even as almost equal to it, much less superior to it. It is remarkable also for its good order, and for its careful attention to the administration of affairs of state in general; and in particular to that of naval affairs, whereby it held the mastery of the sea for a long time and overthrew the business of piracy, and became a friend to the Romans and to all kings who favoured both the Romans and the Greeks. Consequently, it not only has remained autonomous but also has been adorned with many votive offerings, which for the most part are to be found in the Dionysium and the gymnasium, but partly in other places. The best of these are, first, the Colossus of Helius, of which the author of the iambic verse says, "seven times ten cubits in height, the work of Chares the Lindian"; but it now lies on the ground, having been thrown down by an earthquake and broken at the knees. In accordance with a certain oracle, the people did not raise it again. This, then, is the most excellent of the votive offerings (at any rate, it is by common agreement one of the Seven Wonders).{{cite book |title=Geography |author=Strabo |section=Book XIV, Chapter 2.5 |section-url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/14B*.html |via=Penelope, U. Chicago |access-date=8 December 2020 |archive-date=21 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521125801/http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/14B%2A.html |url-status=live }} }}

Pliny the Elder (AD 23/24 – 79) was a Roman author, a naturalist and natural philosopher, a naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of emperor Vespasian. Pliny wrote the encyclopedic Naturalis Historia (Natural History), which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. The Naturalis Historia is one of the largest single works to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day and purports to cover the entire field of ancient knowledge. Pliny remarked:

{{blockquote|text= But that which is by far the most worthy of our admiration, is the colossal statue of the Sun, which stood formerly at Rhodes, and was the work of Chares the Lindian, a pupil of the above-named Lysippus; no less than seventy cubits in height. This statue fifty-six years after it was erected, was thrown down by an earthquake; but even as it lies, it excites our wonder and admiration. Few men can clasp the thumb in their arms, and its fingers are larger than most statues. Where the limbs are broken asunder, vast caverns are seen yawning in the interior. Within it, too, are to be seen large masses of rock, by the weight of which the artist steadied it while erecting it.{{cite book |title=Natural History |at=book 34, xviii, 41 |section=Natural History of Metals |section-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D34%3Achapter%3D18 |via=Perseus, Tufts U. |access-date=2020-12-07 |archive-date=2020-12-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231050757/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D34%3Achapter%3D18 |url-status=live }}}}

The ultimate fate of the remains of the statue is uncertain. Rhodes has two serious earthquakes per century, owing to its location on the seismically unstable Hellenic arc. Pausanias mentions in the Descriptio Graeciae, writing ca. 174, how the city was so devastated by an earthquake that the sibyl oracle foretelling its destruction was considered fulfilled.{{cite book |author=Pausanias |title=Descriptio Graeciae |at=II.vii.1, VIII.xliii.4}} This means the statue could not have survived for long if it had ever been repaired. By the 4th century Rhodes was Christianized, so any further maintenance or rebuilding, if there ever was any before, on an ancient pagan statue is unlikely. The metal would probably have been used for coins and maybe also tools by the time of the Arab wars, especially during earlier conflicts such as the Sasanian wars.{{cite journal |last=Conrad |first=L.I. |date= July 1996 |title= The Arabs and the Colossus |journal= Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |volume= 6 |issue= 2 |pages=165–187 |doi=10.1017/S1356186300007173 |jstor=25183179 |s2cid= 163298319}}{{rp|style=ama|pp= 179–186}}

The onset of Islamic naval incursions against the Byzantine Empire gave rise to a dramatic account of what became of the Colossus. In 653, an Arab force under Muslim general Mu'awiya I raided Rhodes, and according to the Chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor, the remains of the statue constituted part of the booty, being melted down and sold to a Jewish merchant of Edessa who loaded the bronze onto 900 camels. The same story is recorded by Bar Hebraeus, writing in Syriac in the 13th century in Edessa (after the Arab pillage of Rhodes): "And a great number of men hauled on strong ropes which were tied around the brass Colossus which was in the city and pulled it down. And they weighed from it three thousand loads of Corinthian brass, and they sold it to a certain Jew from Emesa" (the Syrian city of Homs).{{cite book |last=Budge |first=E.A. Wallis |year=1932 |title=The Chronography of Gregory Abu'l-Faraj |volume=I |page=98 |publisher=APA – Philo Pres |place=Amsterdam, NL }}

Ultimately, Theophanes is the sole source of this account, and all other sources can be traced to him.{{rp|style=ama|pp= 169–174}} As Theophanes' source was Syriac, it may have had vague information about a raid and attributed the statue's demise to it, not knowing much more. Or the Arab destruction and the purported sale to a Jew may have originated as a powerful metaphor for Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the destruction of a great statue.{{rp|style=ama|pp= 165–187}}

Given the likely previous neglect of the remains and various opportunities for authorities to have repurposed the metal, as well as the fact that, Islamic incursions notwithstanding, the island remained an important Byzantine strategic point well into the ninth century, an Arabic raid is unlikely to have found much, if any, remaining metal to carry away. For these reasons, as well as the negative perception of the Arab conquests, L.I. Conrad considers Theophanes' story of the dismantling of the statue as likely propaganda, like the destruction of the Library of Alexandria.{{rp|style=ama|pp= 179–186}}

File:Colossus of Rhodes.jpg, part of his series of the Seven Wonders of the World]]

The harbour-straddling Colossus was a figment of medieval imaginations based on the dedication text's mention of "over land and sea" twice and the writings of an Italian visitor who in 1395 noted that local tradition held that the right foot had stood where the church of St John of the Colossus was then located.{{cite book |last=Jordan |first=Paul |year=2014 |title=Seven Wonders of the Ancient World |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317868859 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/sevenwondersofan0000jord/page/21 21–149] |url=https://archive.org/details/sevenwondersofan0000jord/page/21}} Many later illustrations show the statue with one foot on either side of the harbour mouth with ships passing under it. References to this conception are also found in literary works. William Shakespeare's Cassius in Julius Caesar (I, ii, 136–38) says of Caesar:

{{poemquote|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 dishonourable graves}}

Shakespeare alludes to the Colossus also in Troilus and Cressida (V.5) and in Henry IV, Part 1 (V.1).

"The New Colossus" (1883), a sonnet by Emma Lazarus written on a cast bronze plaque and mounted inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1903, contrasts the latter with:

{{poemquote|The brazen giant of Greek fame

with conquering limbs astride from land to land}}

While these fanciful images feed the misconception, the mechanics of the situation reveal that the Colossus could not have straddled the harbour as described in Lemprière's Classical Dictionary. If the completed statue had straddled the harbour, then the entire mouth of the harbour would have been effectively closed during the entirety of the construction, and the ancient Rhodians would not have had the means to dredge and re-open the harbour after construction was finished. Additionally, the fallen statue would have blocked the harbour, and since the ancient Rhodians did not have the ability to remove the fallen statue from the harbour, it would not have remained visible on land for the next 800 years, as discussed above. Even neglecting these objections, the statue was made of bronze, and engineering analyses indicate that it could not have been built with its legs apart without collapsing under its own weight.

Many researchers have considered alternative positions for the statue which would have made it more feasible for actual construction by the ancients.{{cite web |url=http://www.greatest-unsolved-mysteries.com/colossus-of-rhodes.html |title=The Colossus of Rhodes |website=greatest-unsolved-mysteries.com |access-date=2010-07-17 |archive-date=2010-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100715074135/http://www.greatest-unsolved-mysteries.com/colossus-of-rhodes.html |url-status=live }} There is also no evidence that the statue held a torch aloft; the records simply say that after completion, the Rhodians kindled the "torch of freedom". A relief in a nearby temple shows Helios standing with one hand shielding his eyes (as if saluting) and it is quite possible that the colossus was constructed in the same pose.

File:Rhodes Didrachm Helios 305-275 BCE.jpg

While scholars do not know what the statue looked like, they do have a good idea of what the head and face looked like, as it was of a standard rendering at the time. The head would have had curly hair, similar to the images found on contemporary Rhodian coins.

File:Mandraki colosseus harbour rhodes.jpg is on right]]

While scholars generally agree that anecdotal depictions of the Colossus straddling the harbour's entry point have no historic or scientific basis, the monument's actual location remains a matter of debate. As mentioned above the statue is thought locally to have stood where two pillars now stand at the Mandraki port entrance.

The floor of the Fortress of St Nicholas, near the harbour entrance, contains a circle of sandstone blocks of unknown origin or purpose. Curved blocks of marble that were incorporated into the Fortress structure, but are considered too intricately cut to have been quarried for that purpose, have been posited as the remnants of a marble base for the Colossus, which would have stood on the sandstone block foundation.

File:Temple Apollon Rhodes.jpg]]

Archaeologist Ursula Vedder postulates that the Colossus was not located in the harbour area at all, but rather was part of the Acropolis of Rhodes, which stood on a hill that overlooks the port area. The ruins of a large temple, traditionally thought to have been dedicated to Apollo, are situated at the highest point of the hill. Vedder believes that the structure would actually have been a Helios sanctuary, and a portion of its enormous stone foundation could have served as the supporting platform for the Colossus.{{cite web |title=Koloss von Rhodos: Standort entdeckt! |quote=Exklusiv in P.M. History: Sensationelle Theorie der Münchner |agency=Pressemitteilung Gruner+Jahr, P.M. History |website=presseportal.de |date=April 2008 |url=http://www.presseportal.de/pm/55502/1174399/gruner_jahr_p_m_history/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511043528/http://www.presseportal.de/pm/55502/1174399/gruner_jahr_p_m_history/ |archive-date=2008-05-11}}

In 2008, The Guardian reported that a modern Colossus was to be built at the harbour entrance by the German artist Gert Hof leading a Cologne-based team. It was to be a giant light sculpture made partially out of melted-down weapons from around the world. It would cost up to €200 million.{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Helena |date=2008-11-17 |title=Colossus of Rhodes to be rebuilt as giant light sculpture |newspaper=The Guardian |language=en-GB |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/nov/17/colossus-rhodes-greece-sculpture |access-date=2017-12-07 |archive-date=2019-07-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715002325/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/nov/17/colossus-rhodes-greece-sculpture |url-status=live }}

In December 2015, a group of European architects announced plans to build a modern Colossus bestriding two piers at the harbour entrance, despite a preponderance of evidence and scholarly opinion that the original monument could not have stood there. The new statue, {{Convert|150|m}} tall (five times the height of the original), would cost an estimated US$283 million, funded by private donations and crowdsourcing. The statue would include a cultural centre, a library, an exhibition hall, and a lighthouse, all powered by solar panels. No such plans were carried out, however, and the website for the project went offline.{{Cite web |date=2016-02-13 |title=Colossus of Rhodes Project 2015 |url=http://colossusrhodes.com/colossus_of_rhodes_project_2015/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160213100543/http://colossusrhodes.com/colossus_of_rhodes_project_2015/ |archive-date=2016-02-13 |access-date=2023-01-09 }}

• Twelve Metal Colossi
• The Colossus of Rhodes (Dalí)
• The Colossus of Rhodes (Sergio Leone)
• The New Colossus
• The Rhodes Colossus
• List of tallest statues
• List of tallest structures built before the 20th century

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• {{cite book |last=Ashley |first=James R. |year=2004 |title=The Macedonian Empire: The era of warfare under Philip II and Alexander the Great, 359-323 B.C. |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=0-7864-1918-0 |page=75 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nTmXOFX-wioC |access-date=2017-10-05 |archive-date=2024-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240521130348/https://books.google.com/books?id=nTmXOFX-wioC |url-status=live }}
• {{cite journal |last=Gabriel |first=Albert |year=1932 |title=[no title cited] |journal=Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique |volume=56 |pages=331–359|doi=10.3406/bch.1932.2843 }}
• {{cite journal |author-link=Herbert Maryon |last=Maryon |first=H. |year=1956 |title=The Colossus of Rhodes |journal=The Journal of Hellenic Studies |volume=76 |pages=68–86 |doi=10.2307/629554 |jstor=629554 }} — sculptor's speculations on the Colossus of Rhodes.
• {{cite journal |last=Haynes |first=D.E.L. |year=1957 |title=Philo of Byzantium and the Colossus of Rhodes |journal=The Journal of Hellenic Studies |volume=77 |issue=2 |pages=311–312 |doi=10.2307/629373 |jstor=629373 }} — a response to Maryon (1956).

{{refend}}

{{commons category|Colossus of Rhodes}}

{{NSRW Poster|Colossus of Rhodes}}

{{Library resources box |by=no |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Colossus of Rhodes }}

• {{cite book |last=Higgins |first=Michael Denis |year=2023 |title=The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World: Science, engineering, and technology |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1976-4815-5 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Higgins |first1=Michael Denis |date=2024 |title=An Alternative Timeline for the Colossus of Rhodes|url=https://anetoday.org/colossus-of-rhodes/ |journal=The Ancient Near East Today |volume=12 |issue=12 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Jones |first=Kenneth R. |year=2014 |title=Alcaeus of Messene, Philip V and the Colossus of Rhodes: A re-examination of Anth. Pal. 6.171 |journal=The Classical Quarterly |volume=64 |issue=1 |pages=136–151 |doi=10.1017/S0009838813000591 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Romer |first1=John |first2=Elizabeth |last2=Romer |year=1995 |title=The Seven Wonders of the World: A history of the modern imagination |edition=1st American |place=New York, NY |publisher=Henry Holt}}
• {{cite journal |last=Woods |first=David |year=2016 |title=On the alleged Arab destruction of the Colossus of Rhodes c. 653 |journal=Byzantion: Revue Internationale des Études Byzantines |volume=86 |pages=441–451 }}

{{Seven Wonders of the Ancient World}}

{{Sculptures}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Colossus Of Rhodes}}

Category:Ancient Rhodes

Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Greece

Category:Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Category:Ancient Greece in art and culture

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Category:Hellenistic and Roman bronzes

Category:Lost sculptures

Category:Culture of Rhodes

Category:Helios

Category:Ancient Greek metalwork

Category:Buildings and structures in Rhodes (city)

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Category:Ancient Greek and Roman colossal statues

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Category:Demetrius I Poliorcetes