A Colossal Ancient Wonder of the World
- Argo Crew
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Discover the least known wonder of the Ancient World!
2300 years ago the people of the Greek island of Rhodes survived a one year siege by Demetrius I, King of Macedon who was known across the ancient world for his use of extremely powerful and destructive siege engines. One of the most famous was called the Helepolis (Taker of Cities), a tall tower occupied by armed hoplite soldiers which could be moved around on casters. These machines were large and heavy, designed to break down the stone walls surrounding the city, allowing invaders to enter and capture it. So large and heavy in fact that the materials were brought over IKEA-style and assembled by Demetrius’ army while they set up their camps in Rhodes.
According to ancient historian Plutarch, the objective of the siege (305-304 BCE), was to force the Rhodesians to join Demetrius' side in a battle against Ptolemy I, as the island of was in a strategic position within the Aegean sea and had remained neutral before the siege to allow both sides to trade with them. Legend has it that Demerius was called away from the siege of Rhodes by his father, leaving behind many of these machines. Rather than being a generous gift, it is most likely that they were simply too big and arduous to load back onto his ship in such a small window of time.
Fortuitously, the people of Rhodes were able to sell these siege engines and used the money to build a huge bronze statue of their island’s patron saint Helios as a way of giving thanks for their survival. Helios is best known as the Titan God of the sun in ancient Greece. Artwork traditionally shows him driving his sun chariot across the sky, bringing the new day.
According to engineer Philo of Byzantium, over 12 years bronze casters worked to create this Kolóssus (the ancient Greek term for giant statue), from which we get the word colossal, an adjective for something extremely large. When the statue of Helios was finished it stood at 34 metres, the largest statue at that time. Colossal statues were common in ancient Greece. In fact historians theorise that the famous Colosseum in Rome was named after a colossal bronze statue of Nero that was moved to the Colosseum in 68 CE. If the Colossus of Rhodes still stood today it would be the second tallest bronze statue in the world. The tallest is the Statue of Liberty in New York, itself modelled after the Colossus of Rhodes statue.
Despite representing the historic survival of the Rhodesians, the statue of Helios was damaged only 60 years later by an earthquake. When attempting a repair, the people of Rhodes were warned by an oracle against rebuilding it. For 900 years, the fallen monument became a tourist attraction where visitors to the island would see if they could wrap their arms around the statue’s thumb.
When the Saracens (an ancient Greek term for people of Muslim faith) conquered Rhodes in 653 CE they broke down the Colossus of Rhodes and carted him back to their homeland on a fleet of 980 camels. It is likely that it was melted down for the value of its bronze and thus lost to history.
Until next time,
λεῖος πλόος!
Written by Kestin McNamara
Hellenic Museum pre-service teacher intern
University of Melbourne
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