Colossus

Everyone knows the Colossus of Rhodes. Or, at least, they know the name and something-something wonder of the world. The story I always heard was that the statue stood astride the ancient harbor entrance in Rhodes, and that ships could pass underneath. The true story is a bit more involved. 

It was one of the "Seven Wonders"--along with the Great Pyramid, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Mausoleum at Helicarnassus, and the Statue of Zeus in Olympia. So most of these are from the classical era of Greece, give or take a century or two, except for the Great Pyramid which sneaks in there because, I don't know, it's the Pyramid I guess. 

Anyway, back to Rhodes. Alexander nominally conquered Rhodes when he defeated the Persians, but like most of his empire it fell into dispute after his death. Most of Greece landed with Antigonus I, Alexander's famous one-eyed general, and his son Demetrius. Rhodes chose the Ptolemaic side in the contest between Ptolemy and Demetrius, and eventually Demetrius landed an army and laid siege to Rhodes city, in 305 BCE. Apparently he had some novel siege weapons including a battering ram 55m long and a siege tower 38m tall weighing 160,000 Kg. But the giant weapons weren't enough--Demetrius eventually abandoned the siege and left the giant weapons behind.

By 280 BCE, the Rhodians had melted down the weapons and created a giant bronze status of Apollo to commemorate the victory. Contemporary accounts indicate that the statue was about 33m tall (the statue portion of the Statue of Liberty is about 45m), which would not seem to be tall enough to span a harbor entrance, or even a side entrance. There are various stories around the construction--most accounts seem to indicate that the statue was constructed in sections, that the interior was filled with stones, and that the exterior was covered with dirt as they built up, and that once the statue was complete the dirt was removed. However it was built, everyone agrees that it was knocked over in an earthquake in 226 BCE, meaning that it stood for just 54 years. Then, the pieces lay where they fell for about 800 years, before being removed by a Muslim army in 653 CE.

Our old friend Pliny the Elder (Laocoon, "Fortune favors the Brave!") wrote about the statue in awed terms, reporting that most men could not reach their arms around one of the ruined thumbs:

Few men can clasp the thumb in their arms, and its fingers are larger than most statues. Where the limbs are broken asunder, vast caverns are seen yawning in the interior. Within it, too, are to be seen large masses of rock, by the weight of which the artist steadied it while erecting it.

Regardless of where it stood, or whether it actually spanned some water or not, we had fun imagining what it might have looked like. Luke suggested that maybe the statue could have had a defensive purpose and might "pee" on hostile ships attacking the city, and Alex thought maybe the archers could sit on its shoulders and shoot at the invaders. 

Katie standing at Rhodes harbor, where the Colossus might have stood.