Landmarks

• Museums of Rhodes
• Butterfly Watching
• Kalithea Thermi
• Sound & Light Show
• Colossus of Rhodes
• Ancient Kameiros
• Rhodini


Colossus of Rhodes

Colossus of Rhodes

Colossus of Rhodes is an enormous statue dedicated to the god of sun, Helios, and is considered as one of the Seven Wonders of the World by the ancients. It was partly built by Chares of Lindus ( whose teacher as the famous Lysippus) and completed in 282 BC after 12 years of construction.

Much of the material for the construction of the Colossus was melted down from the machines and tools that Demetrius I left behind after his unsuccessful siege of Rhodes .

According to the myth the statue of 30.5m (100ft) height stood astride he harbor and ships passed between its legs.

The statue stood for only 56 years until Rhodes was hit by an earthquake in 226 BC. Ptolemy III intended to reconstruct the Colossus. But the Rhodians, due to an oracle, were afraid to proceed with the rebuilt, since the thought they have offended god Helios.