When arriving at the port of Rhodes, the first thing one sees is a massive stone wall surrounding an ancient fortress. The Knights Hospitaller built it in the 14th century. The wall is impressive, but long before the wall was there, something even more impressive stood at the entrance to this harbor. It was a statue called the Colossus of Rhodes.
As described last time, a marauding Macedonian named Demetrius and his army laid siege to the walled city of Rhodes in the 3rd century BC. The year-long siege ultimately failed. When the invaders set sail for home, they left mountains of equipment and scraps outside the city walls.
What to Do with All this Stuff?
The remains included giant drills used to tunnel through stone, huge battering rams, catapults, and a 9-story siege tower. Something had to be done with it all. The Rhodians came up with a neat idea for what to do with it: they’d use the materials to build a statue.
But this wasn’t going to be just any statue. They’d build a 100-foot-high likeness of their sun god, Helios. He’d stand, towering over the harbor, straddling the entrance so ships would have to pass under him to enter.
The Rhodians melted down the siege tower’s iron plates and metal from the drills and battering rams. They incorporated the metal into a base strong enough to support the gigantic structure.
The statue of Helios took twelve years to complete. At roughly the same size as the Statue of Liberty, it was the largest statue built in ancient times.
The Colossus of Rhodes
The statue became known as “The Colossus of Rhodes.” The Greeks considered it to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, along with the pyramids in Egypt and five other man-made constructions.
Even though the Rhodians built the statue to last, it was destroyed in an earthquake just 50 years or so after its completion. The year was 226 BC.
No one knows exactly what The Colossus of Rhodes looked like, but using clues from ancient writings and images on coins, artists and historians have made their best guesses. They believe he had a torch in one hand and a sword in the other.
There have been numerous references to the Colossus of Rhodes in literature over the years. The most well-known may be the sonnet written by author and poet, Emma Lazarus, called “The New Colossus.” You know the one… “”Give me your tired, your poor, our huddled masses… “
Give Me Your Tired…
“The New Colossus” can be found on a bronze plaque inside the Statue of Liberty. The sonnet begins with this reference to the Colossus of Rhodes:
“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles.”
And it continues…
“From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.”
“Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp up beside the golden door!”
So now we probably know everything we ever wanted to know about the Colossus of Rhodes, and more, eh? Let’s go see what’s inside that fortress.
To be continued…
Note: The image of the Colossus of Rhodes is from Greekreporter.com
