Colossus of Rhodes

node · earth · Rhodes, South Aegean

A bronze figure of Helios erected on Rhodes in 280 BCE, the work of Chares of Lindos, reported by Pliny the Elder at seventy cubits, roughly 33 m. An earthquake in 226 BCE (some sources give 228) broke it at the knee, and the pieces lay where they fell for centuries until Arab forces took Rhodes in 653–654 CE and sold the bronze for scrap. The familiar image of the statue straddling the harbour mouth with a ship passing between its legs is a medieval invention with no support in any ancient source and no structural plausibility. Its exact position within Rhodes is not known, which is why no coordinate is given here.