Friday, January 27, 2012

The Colossus of Rhodes

The Colossus of Rhodes

 

A gigantic bronze statue that once stood 32 meters (110 feet) high on a marble plinth, the Colossus of Rhodes was built by its citizens to revere the Sun God Helios who supposedly helped Rhodes to ward off Demetrius of Macedonia. Constructed by the engineer Chares of Lindos, the Colossus of Rhodes was completed after ten years of meticulous work so that the legs would sustain the enormous weight of the giant statue. Unfortunately, in 227 B.C., an earthquake caused the Colossus to crack at the knee and set it in motion so that it collapsed into pieces. Even so, the statue was so admired that it was left lying in huge fragments for over 900 years until its valuable parts were brought to Syria.

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