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John Millen

The Colossus of Rhodes

Location: The island of Rhodes

Built in 280 BC

The small island of Rhodes was one of the strongest and most successful of all the city-states that made up the ancient Greek Empire. Because it was located off the southwestern tip of the mainland where the Aegean Sea meets the Mediterranean, Rhodes was an important trading and economic centre for the whole of Greece, but its position also made it vulnerable to attack.

In 305 BC, armies from mainland Macedonia besieged Rhodes. After a short but bitter war, the citizens of the tough little island managed to drive the enemy away from their shores. To celebrate their victory, the Rhodians decided to build a giant statue of their sun god, Helios. They had won the war because of his help and now they wanted to show their appreciation.

They melted down some of the war equipment that had been left on the island and sold the rest to finance the building of the statue. The gigantic figure of Helios took 12 years to build. It was 33 metres high and stood looking out to sea on a pedestal at the entrance to Rhodes' main harbour.

The statue was built of bronze plates fixed on to a metal frame. Each piece of bronze was individually cast, hammered into shape and fixed to the frame with rivets. Iron beams were driven into stone columns to hold the bronze outer skin in place.

Fifteen tonnes of bronze and nine tonnes of iron were used to build the Colossus of Rhodes. It stood on a base of gleaming white marble.

Helios guarded the entrance to Rhodes harbour for just over 50 years. In 226 BC, an earthquake hit Rhodes and the gigantic statue crashed to the ground.

The broken pieces of the colossus remained scattered around the harbour for almost 1,000 years. Finally, they were sold as scrap metal. It was a sad end for the once-mighty Colossus of Rhodes.

Graphic: 2711P4GYO



Gigantic statue built as tribute to Greek sun god Helios