COLLOSUS of RHODES
G'day folks,
Welcome to some information about the Colossus of Rhodes.
The Colossus of Rhodes was a
gigantic statue of the Greek god Helios, erected on the island of Rhodes,
Greece, in the III century AC. It was
considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
All that is known about this statue is due to the news we have left by the ancient writers Polibio Strabo and Pliny, and the chronicles of Constantine VII Byzantine Porfirogéneta, Michael the Syrian and Philo.
Made with bronze plaques on an iron frame, the statue represented the Greek sun god, Helios. Its size was 32 meters tall and weighed approximately 70 tons, dimensions similar to the Statue of Liberty, located in New York, but rested on a platform.
In the year 305 AC., Rhodes, in the struggles of diádocos was aligned with Ptolemy I, was invaded by an army led by Demetrius Poliorcetes, son of Antigone I Monóftalmos.
To seize the city, they built several Demetrio siege towers in order to storm the ramparts. The first of these towers was mounted on six ships. This first attempt did not work because the ship was wrecked in a storm before the tower could be used. Demetrius tried again with yet another tower built on higher land. This type of siege weapon was called helepolis. However, the defenders repelled the attack, Rhodians flooding the ground before the walls so that the helepolis could not be moved.
In the year 304 a. C. a fleet sent by Ptolemy I, allied with Rhodes, he made haste to flee Demetrio, who left the bulk of its weapons of siege. Despite his failure against the walls of Rhodes, Demetrius Poliorcetes earned the nickname, "conqueror of cities" by his military successes.
To celebrate their victory, the Rhodians decided to erect a giant statue of the god Helios, the protector of the city. Its construction was commissioned to Cares, a native of the island, which had already made large statues. His teacher, the famous Lysippos, had sculpted a statue of Zeus from 12 meters in height.
56 years after its construction, in the year 223 AC. an earthquake demolished the colossal work. The inhabitants of Rhodes decided to leave his remains in the same place where the plan fell further to an oracle. And so were the remains of the statue for about nine years, until in the year 654 AD Muslims took over the bronze as the spoils in a number of raids.
For many years it was
believed that the statue had been erected with one leg supported on each side
of the dock in Rhodes as it appears in some images. However, there appears to
have been true for two reasons: If it had been erected there, was sunk by its
own weight.
The other reason is that its construction would have closed a major spring military for several years and remain vulnerable to attacks by sea. It is believed that the statue was erected near the pier, which is now the fortress of San Nicolas.
November 2008: According to
the current mayor of Rhodes, Hatzis Hatziefthimiou, has instructed the German
artist Gert Hof to reconstruct the statue at its former location. That
statue, from an initial 200 million, measured between 60 and 100 m. (the
original measured about 30 m)
All that is known about this statue is due to the news we have left by the ancient writers Polibio Strabo and Pliny, and the chronicles of Constantine VII Byzantine Porfirogéneta, Michael the Syrian and Philo.
Made with bronze plaques on an iron frame, the statue represented the Greek sun god, Helios. Its size was 32 meters tall and weighed approximately 70 tons, dimensions similar to the Statue of Liberty, located in New York, but rested on a platform.
In the year 305 AC., Rhodes, in the struggles of diádocos was aligned with Ptolemy I, was invaded by an army led by Demetrius Poliorcetes, son of Antigone I Monóftalmos.
To seize the city, they built several Demetrio siege towers in order to storm the ramparts. The first of these towers was mounted on six ships. This first attempt did not work because the ship was wrecked in a storm before the tower could be used. Demetrius tried again with yet another tower built on higher land. This type of siege weapon was called helepolis. However, the defenders repelled the attack, Rhodians flooding the ground before the walls so that the helepolis could not be moved.
In the year 304 a. C. a fleet sent by Ptolemy I, allied with Rhodes, he made haste to flee Demetrio, who left the bulk of its weapons of siege. Despite his failure against the walls of Rhodes, Demetrius Poliorcetes earned the nickname, "conqueror of cities" by his military successes.
To celebrate their victory, the Rhodians decided to erect a giant statue of the god Helios, the protector of the city. Its construction was commissioned to Cares, a native of the island, which had already made large statues. His teacher, the famous Lysippos, had sculpted a statue of Zeus from 12 meters in height.
56 years after its construction, in the year 223 AC. an earthquake demolished the colossal work. The inhabitants of Rhodes decided to leave his remains in the same place where the plan fell further to an oracle. And so were the remains of the statue for about nine years, until in the year 654 AD Muslims took over the bronze as the spoils in a number of raids.
The other reason is that its construction would have closed a major spring military for several years and remain vulnerable to attacks by sea. It is believed that the statue was erected near the pier, which is now the fortress of San Nicolas.
Clancy's comment: I am continually staggered by the sophistication of people who lived centuries ago.
I'm ...
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