Rhodes was a city, the capital of the Greek island Rhodes and
the Colossus was a huge bronze statue of Helios, the sun god. The statue was
almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. The statue stood on
a promentory overlooking the city. Erected in about 280 BC by the citizens of
Rhodes and was said to be 105 feet high. Legend has it that it straddled the
entrance to the harbour, but it probably stood to one side. The Greek sculptor
Chares worked for 12 years on the statue. He used stone blocks and about 7 1/2
short tons (6.8 metric tons) of iron bars to support the hollow statue. It was
built in 280 BC,and unfortunately knocked down by an earthquake in 224 BC. The
huge pieces were left where they fell and were looked upon with awe for
centuries to come. Nearly a thousand years later, in AD 656, a scrap metal
dealer bought the pieces and had them melted down.
