2017-08-04 Fri

Located on a spearhead shaped island in the eastern Aegean Sea, Rhodes was one of the great maritime cities of the Greek world. According to various rumours, the island was born of a union between the sun god and the nymph Rhode, who gave her name to the island. The city of Rhodes was a relatively late foundation, circa 408 BC, when citizens of three other cities located on the island decided to unite and build a well-defended coastal capital on a regular plan provided by the Athenian architect Hippodamus.

The city of Rhodes was under the Carian Satrap Maussolus’ control in 357 BC, however, two decades later it smelled the winds of liberation because of Alexander the Great.

During the wars of the Diadochi, Rhodes was an important power allied to Ptolemaic Egypt and famous for its brilliant artists, scientists and philosophers. But, Antigonus’ son Macedonian adventurer Demetrius launched a siege of Rhodes in an effort to break its alliance with Egypt. He built the enormous Helepolis, an ironclad siege tower adorned with torsion catapults and weighing 160 tons. But his plans were thwarted by the ingenious Rhodians and abandoned his siege within a year.

The Rhodians took possession of his mammoth engines and sold them for a profit of 300 talents, which they used to erect the first monumental bronze statue of antiquity, the famous Colossus of Rhodes.

Chares of Lindos, the master builder sculptor, built a 100-foot tall bronze statue of the sun god Helios, wearing a radiating crown. The Colossus was filled with an iron framework and covered by thin bronze sheets. The construction began in 292 BC and was finished a dozen years later. The Rhodes’ coinage depicted the handsome face of Helios.

The coin features the face of Helios that looks straight at the holder and his head is surrounded by an array of sunbeams. His features surely owe something to the island's late, lamented liberator, Alexander the Great, including the conqueror's famous leonine mane of hair and central part.

The Colossus itself caused a stir in the Ancient world and was immortalized as one of the "Seven Wonders of the World" by Greek chroniclers, including Antipator of Sidon and Philo of Byzantium. Alas, the great statue had a brief lifespan of 54 years.

In 226 BC, Rhodes was hit by a massive earthquake which made the Colossus topple over. Ptolemy III of Egypt offered to pay for its reconstruction, but the Rhodians decided the heed to the words of the Oracle of Delphi, who declared the statue an act of hubris that had offended Helios.

Its spectacular ruins lay scattered near the harbour, by one account, until after the Muslim conquest of Rhodes in AD 653.

According to an account by Theophanes the Confessor, the city's Arab conquerors sold the remains to a Jewish merchant of Edessa, who needed 900 camels to transport the heavy metal to his homeland.