The Colossus of Rhodes was a 107-meter statue of the sun god Helios built by Chares of Lindos to commemorate Rhodes’ victory over the Macedonians in 280 BC. It was built from smelted weapons and sat on a 50-foot marble pedestal. It was named one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World but was destroyed by an earthquake in 226 BC and later melted down for scrap.
The Colossus of Rhodes was a huge statue of the sun god Helios, formerly located at the entrance to a port on the island of Rhodes in Greece. The statue, more than 107 meters high, was erected by Chares of Lindos, a Greek sculptor. Built between 30 and 292 BC, the Colossus of Rhodes was built to commemorate the victory of Rhodes over the invading Macedonians in 280 BC. At the time, Rhodes was a successful merchant republic, controlling the entrance to the Aegean Sea with their great navy.
The siege that led to the construction of the mighty statue is one of the most famous of antiquity. Alexander the Great of the Greek Macedonian kingdom, one of the greatest military leaders of all time, who never lost a battle, spent 13 years between 336 and 323 BC conquering Greece, Egypt, the Near East and the Middle East, all the way to Punjab, India. He soon died after 13 continuous years of military campaigns, leaving his empire in chaos. Fighting broke out between his generals and the kingdom of Rhodes allied itself with the general Ptolemy. An important figure at the time, Antigonus, sent his son with 40,000 soldiers to raid Rhodes.
After a year of siege, during which Antigonus’ army failed to penetrate the port or city walls of Rhodes, naval reinforcements sent by Ptolemy arrived at Rhodes, forcing the army to flee and leaving behind a siege equipment worth 300 talents (about $360 million USD in today’s money). The kingdom of Rhodes sold their siege equipment and decided to build a huge statue of their patron god Helios, which they called the Colossus of Rhodes.
Smelting many of the iron and bronze weapons left behind by the invaders, the statue was built on an iron frame with bronze plates as a skin. This would have made the statue a beautiful bronze, surmounted by a crown with rays. As the sections of the statue were completed, the interior was filled in with large stone blocks. The entire statue sat on a 50-foot (15 m) marble pedestal. Upon completion, the Colossus of Rhodes would not have been radically different from the Statue of Liberty, which was built based on descriptions of the Colossus.
The statue was so impressive that it was named one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Unfortunately, it only stood for 56 years, until an earthquake in 226 BC toppled the statue, breaking it at the legs. It lay in the ground for 800 years, being visited by many thousands of people over the centuries, who thought it fantastic despite being in a broken condition. At some point around the year 650 AD, the Colossus of Rhodes was melted down and turned into scrap.
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