Colossus of Rhodes

Rhodes

Colossus of Rhodes

Colossal statue of the sun god Helios that stood in the ancient Greek city of Rhodes and was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The sculptor Chares of Lyndus (another city on the island) created the statue, which commemorated the raising of Demetrius I Poliorcetes’ long siege (305 bce) of Rhodes. Made of bronze and reinforced with iron, it was weighted with stones. The Colossus was said to be 70 cubits (105 feet [32 metres]) high and stood beside Mandrákion harbour, perhaps shielding its eyes with one hand, as a representation in a relief suggests. It is technically impossible that the statue could have straddled the harbour entrance, and the popular belief that it did so dates only from the Middle Ages.

Colossus of Rhodes

The statue

 which took 12 years to build (c. 294–282 bce), was toppled by an earthquake about 225/226 bce. The fallen Colossus was left in place until 654 ce, when Arabian forces raided Rhodes and had the statue broken up and the bronze sold for scrap. Supposedly, the fragments totaled more than 900 camel loads.

It was 32m high and was made of bronze, except the pedestal and feet, on which it was mounted, which were of marble, a material renowned for its solidity.

It is said that the face of the colossus of Rhodes was that of Alexander the Great, but it is impossible to confirm or disprove it. However, this is unlikely.

Rhodes is the largest Greek island in the Dodecanese archipelago. It is only 19 km away from the Turkish coast. The port of the capital, also named Rhodes is the place where the statue was located but no one knows the exact location

Colossus of Rhodes

History

Reasons of the construction
The reason why the Rhodanians built this tower is simple, following a victory they won in 304. That year the island survived a terrible siege caused by Demetrios Poliorcete, Alexander the Great, who had received the order of Antigonus to become master of the Mediterranean and to assert his dominion over the Greek islands. The siege was held for a year, between 305 and 304 BC, and was held by Rhodes, engendering the satisfaction of the inhabitants who saw a divine will, especially since it was the third seat in only 30 years. To thank the protective God Helios, they decided to build a gigantic statue, it is as simple as that.

The construction
The construction of the Colossus of Rhodes began in 292 BC and continued until 280 BC, ie a duration of work of only 12 years. For a statue more than 30m high and techniques of works of antiquity, it can be said that the site did not drag.
The base of the construction was a marble base, a particularly solid material. On this base the workers stacked roughly cut stones to create the feet, then the legs, then the rest of the body. This formed a statue of unharmonious but solid form. Other workers then intervened to secure the stones of a band of iron tightly, at regular intervals, over the whole height of the statue. This strapping served as an intermediary, on which were fixed the bronze plates that dressed the statue.
Bronze is a mixture of iron and copper. The copper came from Cypriot mines from which the ore was mined. This work was particularly painful, as the galleries were not as secure as they are today. Once out it was heated to separate the copper from the rocks, then melted into ingots. It was these ingots that were transported to the site.

Colossus of Rhodes

To make the bronze plates, the copper was first melted in large ovens, and the iron was then added to 10 to 20%. Then the mixture was transported in kinds of ladles that they used to distribute the metal in clay molds, flat molds to form sheets more or less thick according to the needs. The molds could be used several times, but did not have a long life. The next step was to remove the rough edges and then to polish the plates before transporting them to the site where they were recovered, hammered to the desired shape and then assembled on the iron structure and to the other plates by pegs. The plates of the feet and ankles were special, they were only molded (because of their shapes) and probably had to weigh heavier than the others to ensure the stability of the whole.
Thus the colossus of Rhodes was only covered with a thin film of bronze, its body being made of stone. Each plate was fixed on the iron frame and then on the neighboring plate. The colossus took pitch from day to day, until the top of the head was reached. Once finished, it was polished so that the Sun would make it shine as intensely as possible.
It should be noted that this construction technique is quite similar to that used for the construction of the Statue of Liberty in New York. But apart from the fact that the latter has a metallic structure (made by Gustave Eiffel), it is made of a copper plate held on the structure by iron rods. And for the record, know that when copper rubs on iron, it causes electricity, especially in a marine environment heavily loaded with salt. One can imagine that, like the statue of Liberty, the Colossus of Rhodes made its own electricity!

Colossus of Rhodes

The Destruction
Alas, the Colossus of Rhodes is the marvel of the ancient world which had the shortest life: Barely 60 years old, almost. It must be said that the shape of the statue, its gigantism for the time and the means used for its construction contributed to make it ephemeral. A statue of 30m representing a character is inevitably more fragile than the pyramid of Cheops, the form of which is the most stable of the existing forms.
The colossus of Rhodes was destroyed during a large-scale earthquake in 226 BC. Broken at the knees, she collapsed and fell apart. The pieces remained on the spot for 800 years, it is not known for what reason, but it is established that in 654 AD the Arabs, who invaded Rhodes, sold the bronze to a Syrian merchant. The metal was transported on the back of 900 camels and it is since that nothing remains of this statue

Colossus of Rhodes

References

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