One of the seven miracles of the ancient world, a unique technical and cultural masterpiece, was structured in Rhodes. It is the famous Colossus of Rhodes, an unrepeatable work in world history, which unfortunately is not saved, but its legend has broken the time barrier.
Its structure lasted 12 whole years, from 305BC to 293BC. In 305BC the residents of Rhodes put up a fight to the powerful besieger Dimitrios. They ascribed their salvage to a miracle by God Sun, who was the island’s protector. So, they decided to show their gratitude towards the god by making a statue of high design that nothing in the world could be compared to it. The statue was made by the sculptor Haris from Lindos, who was a pupil of the famous sculptor Lisippos.
According to the dominant scientific research, the statue that showed god Sun was made of copper and had a weight of 225kg. It had a height of 70 pihis that means 32m.
As for its characteristics, there are no significant depictions of how it looked like. Scientists are still trying to give its feature leaning against coins found from that period. They believe that he had a garland and was holding a facula, a sword or a bow in his hands.
According to historic sources it is believed that this legendary statue was located near the palace of Great Magister.
Colossus, which justifiable was one of the seven miracles in the world, stood in it position only for 66 years. In 227BC a big earthquake occurred that caused a lot of catastrophes in Rhodes. Among them was the fall of Colossus. The residents of Rhodes thought it was some kind of curse and left it on the ground for centuries.
In 653BC Arabs plundered the island. Sea rovers then with Moravia as their leader took Colossus and transferred it to Syria. The tradition says that they used 900 camels in order to carry the pieces of Colossus.