Colossus of Rhodes [part of 'Secrets of the Seven Wonders']

Archaeology Magazine ^ | November/December 2025 | Benjamin Leonard

[SunkenCiv]

The Greek city of Rhodes emerged victorious from a yearlong siege by the Macedonian noble Demetrius Poliorcetes in 304 b.c. To commemorate their city's resilience, the Rhodians built a towering bronze statue of the sun god Helios, their patron deity, who also appeared on their coinage. It took the local sculptor Chares 12 years to construct the Colossus of Rhodes, the tallest sculpture in the ancient world at some 120 feet. Chares created the statue using a revolutionary process known as casting in courses, which no other ancient sculptor is known to have employed. In order to cast each course, or level, of the Colossus in place, a huge earthen mound was built, enabling artisans to reach ever higher. They used metal bars to affix the bronze cladding to a stone core.

Just decades after its completion, an earthquake in 227 b.c. toppled the mighty sculpture, which broke off at the knees. Its ruins were apparently still lying on the ground into the first century a.d. By the late fourteenth century, none of the Colossus remained, but pilgrims discovered vestiges of ancient fortifications flanking the city's harbor and mistakenly identified them as parts of the statue. This led to spurious depictions of the Colossus straddling the harbor...

The dedicatory epigram on the statue's base, preserved in an anthology of Greek poems, records that the Colossus "crowned" the city, leading Badoud to surmise that it had been located on a hill. He believes the most probable site is a sanctuary dedicated to Helios that is thought to have sat atop a small hill in the city center. Although a fourteenth-century fortress now covers this spot, an inscription mentioning a sacred area of Helios, dedications made by his priests, and a marble head of the god have been found there.

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TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: aegean; colossusofrhodes; godsgravesglyphs; greece

[SunkenCiv]

Coin showing Helios

© The Trustees of the British Museum

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

The rest of the Colossus of Rhodes keyword, sorted:

• An Alternative Timeline for the Colossus of Rhodes [12/26/2024]
• The Colossus of Rhodes: The World Wonder That Became History's Greatest Statue [08/28/2023]
• One of the grandest structures of the ancient world could be reborn: The Colossus of Rhodes [11/03/2015]
• Push to build a new Wonder of the World -- Colossus of Rhodes 2.0 [10/31/2015]
• Terracotta Warriors Inspired by Ancient Greek Art [12/14/2013]
• Colossus of Rhodes to be rebuilt as giant light sculpture [11/18/2008]
• New Colossus of Rhodes will keep watch on drunken Britons [02/27/2005]

[skinny old man]

I was in Rhodes probably 4 times in 1958.Saratoga deployment...

[SunkenCiv]

From pix I’ve seen, it appears to be mostly covered in structures.

[AZJeep]

This led to spurious depictions of the Colossus straddling the harbor...
______________________

Despite lots of paintings from the recent past, the colossus was likely standing straight up and likely naked.
It would be somewhat similar, in posture and size to the Statue of Liberty.
Surely amazing!

[Bigg Red]

mark

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, they had it going on in ancient Rhodes.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

This is one ancient wonder that it would be great to see rebuilt. It would be a great tourist attraction. It has been proposed over the years but unfortunately, the Greeks being the Greeks are too disorganized and debt-ridden to get it off the ground.

[SunkenCiv]

About ten years ago an architect was promoting his plan to build a much bigger tribute to the Colossus, with an interior space for a museum and other amenities.

It was far too ambitious. Just to build it might require reclamation of some seabed in order to support the construction infrastructure, and perhaps as its building side.

Oh, and a giant pile of money.

Rhodes is also close to the coast of Turkey, so any tourism would probably come from there and/or mostly benefit the Turkish mainland. I think there are a couple of topics in the above list.