A collapsed statue in Rhodes. The Colossus of Rhodes. Giant statue of the sun god. Colossus of Rhodes: description

Among the masterpieces of architecture and art of the ancient world, the so-called Seven Wonders of the World, described by the father of history Herodotus, occupy a special place. The Colossus of Rhodes - the last of them in time of creation - was a huge copper statue erected by the inhabitants of the island of Rhodes in honor of their patron, the god Helios. The appearance of this building was supposed to testify to the greatness and power of the inhabitants of the island. However, fate did not prepare the statue for a long century, and to our time there are no other traces left of it than mentions in the writings of ancient authors. Nevertheless, scientists continue to try to find out how the Colossus of Rhodes actually looked and where exactly it was located.

Background to the creation of the Colossus of Rhodes

The colossus (from the Greek kolossos - "big statue") of Rhodes was erected in honor of the victory of the inhabitants of the island of Rhodes over the descendant of one of the associates of Alexander the Great, the ruler of Central Asia, Demetrius Poliorket. Equipped with the latest military equipment of the time, the 40,000-strong army could not take the city walls by storm. The pride of Poliorket, the huge siege machine of the heleopolis, did not help them in this either. An iron-studded tower, equipped with rams and catapults, set in motion by three and a half thousand soldiers, was left angry by the unsuccessful siege of Poliorcetes on the island.

The inhabitants of Rhodes wanted to give thanks for the victory to their patron - the sun god Helios, who, according to legend, carried the island out of the depths of the sea on his own hands. In addition, the sale of heleopolis and other siege structures brought the city huge money for those times - 300 talents of silver.

How the statue was made

The Colossus of Rhodes was erected by 290 BC. e., its construction took 12 years. The author of the project is Hares from Lida, a student of the famous Lysippus.

Bronze was chosen as the main material, it took more than 13 tons during construction. In addition, the sculptor used 8 tons of iron and a large number of stones. Pillars fastened with iron beams served as the basis of the statue. An iron frame was “put on” on the stone base, and bronze plates cast one by one were attached to it.

As another row of shiny bronze plates was attached to the frame, the height of the mound around it was increased so that workers could install the next row. Thus, it turned out that the unfinished Colossus of Rhodes was hidden from everyone under a layer of sand and stones, and only when the construction was completed, the embankment was dismantled, and the statue opened to the eyes of the curious in all its glory and grandeur.

Colossus of Rhodes: description

What is so incredible saw the inhabitants of Rhodes? The ancient Greek historians Pliny and Herodotus write about this. On a marble pedestal, the figure of a young athlete towered more than thirty meters, the bronze shone brightly in the sun, which is why, on a clear day, sailors sailing to the island saw the Colossus of Rhodes earlier than the island itself.

Not only that, in order to give the statue of Helios an additional "solar-like", the face and the wreath on the head of the statue were covered with gold. Historians do not give an unequivocal answer to the question of what pose the sculptor gave to the patron god of the island: it is believed that he stood with his hand extended forward with a torch, which was used at night as a lighthouse.

Other experts object that in such a position, the statue of the Colossus of Rhodes would simply collapse forward. In their opinion, with one hand Helios held the robe falling to the ground (which served as an additional point of support), and brought the other to his eyes, peering ahead.

Where was the statue?

It would seem that the answer is obvious - on the island of Rhodes. And this is certainly true. This island is located in the Aegean Sea, near the coast of modern Turkey. But exactly where the Rhodians erected a monument to such an important military victory for them is not known for sure.

There are two popular versions: the Colossus of Rhodes was located either in the city center, near the temple dedicated to Helios, or in the harbor, meeting the arriving ships. The first version seems less convincing, since in the tightness of the Greek policy it would not be easy for such a hulk to find a place, and if it were possible to place a statue there, then in order to enjoy the grandeur of the spectacle, the Rhodians would have to go to sea. As we know, "big things are seen from a distance." So, most likely, the monument stood outside the city. But now one can only speculate about the exact location of the statue, as well as about its appearance.

"Colossus with feet of clay"

To glorify the greatness of the Rhodians and the skill of the sculptor Colossus had a short time: about sixty years. What happened in the twenties of the III century BC. e. the earthquake destroyed the statue, which broke at the knees (from there the well-known proverb went).

Fragments of sculpture lay on the island for more than a thousand years, until in 977 AD. e. were not bought by the Arabs and taken out for smelting.

Colossus of Rhodes today

Unfortunately, neither the sculpture itself (albeit in the form of fragments), nor the drawings depicting it, or at least detailed descriptions, have been preserved in history. However, the artists of the past and present, by the power of their talent and imagination, allow us to form at least an approximate idea of ​​​​this masterpiece, which combines the power of engineering science and the beauty of architectural art. Although, by historical standards, a huge statue on the island of Rhodes stood for a very short time (incomparably less than the Egyptian pyramids, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, and other wonders of the world), the Colossus of Rhodes has firmly entered world culture.

And already today, work is underway to restore the Colossus of Rhodes - on the island of Rhodes they plan to erect a statue similar to the ancient one, but to make it from a luminous material.

In order to capture the city of Rhodes, the king of Phrygia, Demetrius Poliorketes, ordered the construction of a huge, 30-meter-high, siege tower on wheels. The besiegers managed to break through the wall of the city. Frightened, the Rhodians decided to build a large idol, a statue of the sun god Helios. A deep hole was dug in front of the fortress wall. The ill-fated tower collapsed into it. King Demetrius had no choice but to make peace with the Rhodians.

Having got rid of the misfortune, the inhabitants of Rhodes in 302 BC. began to build a statue of Helios. This work was entrusted to the famous sculptor Hares. student of Lysippus.
To work on a giant statue, the master used a clever trick: he surrounded the construction site with an earthen embankment. The statue was constructed from bronze parts attached to an iron frame. The "assembly" was carried out from the bottom up - first the feet were formed, then the calves, etc. As the "growth" of the sculpture, the earthen hill around it also rose. Upon completion of the work, the hill was torn down, and the statue in all its glory appeared before the astonished inhabitants of the island.
The construction of the Colossus was completed around 280 BC. 500 talents of bronze and 300 talents of iron (respectively 13 and 8 tons) were used to make the grandiose monument. The hollow statue, as it grew, was filled with stones and clay to make it more stable. The base was made of white marble. The colossus reached a height of 33 m and was, as the Rhodians swore, three meters higher than the very ill-fated tower, from which they got rid of with such difficulty.
This miracle of the Ancient World turned out to be the most short-lived - the Colossus of Rhodes stood for only 60 years. As a result of a strong earthquake in 220 BC. he broke at the level of his knees and collapsed, falling apart. This is where the expression "colossus with feet of clay" comes from.

The statue lay on the ground for more than 900 years, and curious travelers went to Rhodes only to look at the wreckage of the defeated Colossus. Pliny the Elder writes that few could grasp the thumb of the Colossus with both hands. In 977, the Arab governor of the island, who needed money, sold the fragments of the statue for melting down. They were said to have been taken to Syria on 900 camels. From the huge monument to the present day, only one name remains - "colossus", which since then has come to mean a statue or structure of enormous size.
The main sources of information about the legendary bronze giant were the works of Pliny, Philo and short inscriptions and dedications. None of these texts indicate where the Colossus stood. There is no description of the statue - only the most general information. So it is not known what the statue looked like and where exactly it stood.
Sometimes Colossus is depicted standing, legs apart, in front of the entrance to the harbor of Rhodes, and ships pass between his legs. This could not be - the width of the mouth of the harbor was about 400 m, and the legs of the 33-meter statue could not be so widely spaced. It is unlikely that the statue could stand in the center of the city, near the temple of Helios - while there should have been a large undeveloped space around it, which is not confirmed by archaeological excavations. Rather, the Colossus stood somewhere on the seashore, from where ships approaching the island could see it from afar. This is partly confirmed by the fact that recently archaeologists discovered the right hand of the statue at the bottom of the ancient Rhodes harbor.
What did the Colossus look like? Its oldest image dates back to 1556. It is believed that Helios was presented as a standing naked young athlete with a radiant crown on his head, but this is only an assumption. The figure of Helios was usually depicted with his arm extended forward. But this time, the sculptor, apparently, gave her a different position: calculations show that otherwise the arm would have broken off under the weight of its own weight.
Despite the fact that the appearance of the Colossus remains a mystery, there are projects to recreate it. In 2003, the mayor of the city of Rhodes, Diorgos Yianopoulos, announced that negotiations were already underway with a number of companies ready to take part in the “new millennium project”. The revived Colossus will be installed in the sea, not far from the coastline. True, it is difficult to understand the meaning of this expensive action: in any case, the recreated Colossus will have nothing to do with the real Colossus, and will become just a bait for tourists. However, for the latter, the authenticity of the monument is far from always important ...

Travel and home notes.

Part 1. Colossus of Rhodes.

To be honest, I didn't see him. And none of the living now saw; and of the long dead, too. And talk about him has not ceased for 2200 years. It is impossible to be in Rhodes and not remember the Colossus of Rhodes.
Rhodes is best known as the location of one of the wonders of the world - the Colossus of Rhodes. The colossus did not last long; but 56 years, which he stood on his stone (by no means clay!) feet, left such an imprint in people's memory that two millennia have not erased.

Let's start with the fact that the population of the city of Rhodes, the capital of the island of the same name, is now, according to Wikipedia, 55 thousand people. This is not much for a modern city. But the city of Rhodes of the 4th century BC, with a population of 80 thousand people (according to our guide Evgeny Dimenshtein), was a huge city, rich, with a huge merchant fleet. The Rhodesians were the first in the world to create a maritime code, and all the countries associated with them - Egypt, Greece, the countries of Asia Minor - unconditionally accepted it. This rich trading city pursued a successful policy that allowed it to avoid military incursions into its territory for the time being. However, in 308 BC, the city still survived the siege, but withstood the enemy. In memory of this, a huge statue of the patron saint of the island, the sun god Helios, was built, which became known as the Colossus of Rhodes.

Causing universal admiration, the Colossus stood for only about 56 years, and was destroyed by an earthquake. Attempts to restore the statue were unsuccessful.

The fragments of the statue lay for more than 1200 years. Local onlookers and travelers from distant places amused themselves by trying to grasp the thumb of the Colossus with both hands, which not everyone succeeded in doing. In 997 Rhodes was conquered by the Arabs. The new owners of the island, not bound by nostalgia for the former glory of Rhodes, in need of money, sold the fragments of the statue to some merchant.

The merchant, having mobilized a caravan of 900 camels, successfully removed all the scrap, leaving a mystery to posterity: what did the Colossus of Rhodes look like and where exactly did it stand?
For a long time it was believed that the Colossus of Rhodes looked like this:

It was so large that ships entering the harbor passed between its legs.
Then someone, using simple geometric constructions and calculations, proved that this simply could not be: with the height of the Colossus 36 m (according to other sources - 31.5 m), the distance between his legs could not be 400 m (the width of the entrance to harbor), otherwise it would look something like this:

This, not to mention the impossibility of building such a structure, would no longer look majestic, but rather caricatured. Consequently, the Colossus did not stand above the entrance to the harbor, but somewhere to the side, in the adjacent square.

No less a mystery to posterity is the design of the deceased sixth wonder of the world. Over the past 2300 years, not only construction drawings have been lost, but also the memories of those who built the Colossus or watched its construction. But in human memory, the phrase “colossus with feet of clay” has been preserved and firmly stuck to the Colossus of Rhodes (by the way, referring to a completely different colossus). And, already recently, I went for a walk on the Internet and even got into Wikipedia a version that the Colossus of Rhodes was an iron frame, smeared with clay, covered with a bronze shell on top. To understand that this simply could not be, it is enough to remember what clay is. This clay statue could not have been fired, since for this it would have been necessary to light a fire at least 31.5 m high. And unbaked clay behaves very badly: during the rains it gets wet, floats; The colossus, if it were made of clay, would very soon turn into just a pile of mud. And the clay dried in the hot sun cracks, breaks, the pieces again fall off and fall down ...

Therefore, one should not think that the famous Rhodes sculptor and architect Hares, who designed and led the construction of the Colossus, was dumber than you and me, and created a majestic statue that took 12 years to build from clay.
According to another, not very common version, the iron frame of the Colossus was surrounded by a masonry of small stones fastened with mortar; a sheathing of thin bronze sheets was attached to the top.
To me, the version based on the reconstruction of the English scientist Marion seems to be the most reliable.

According to this reconstruction, the frame of the statue consisted of three stone pillars connected by iron crossbars. Two pillars passed through the legs of the statue, and a third, shorter one was hidden by the folds of the cloak. On the pillars, with the help of radial rods, iron rims similar to human ribs were strengthened; in general, the design somewhat resembled a human skeleton. Parts of the statue minted from a bronze sheet (outer skin) were attached to the rims; the seams of the joints were carefully sealed. The colossus, being hollow everywhere except for the legs, looked like it was entirely cast in bronze. According to ancient authors, the construction of the statue took only 13 tons of bronze (modern scientists believe that more).

If the frame supporting the statue were made entirely of iron, the Colossus might have stood for hundreds of years until rust ate through its iron frame. But the frame of the Colossus was stone. The stone is strong, but brittle and does not have the toughness of iron. Tremors during the devastating earthquake that struck Rhodes in October 225 BC broke the fragile stone pillars, and the Colossus collapsed.
This version is confirmed by the words of the Roman scientist and writer Pliny the Elder, who in his treatise "Natural History" wrote about the fragments of the Colossus of Rhodes as follows: "... but even lying on the ground, it (the statue) is surprising ... The broken parts of it gape with vast caves. Inside, you can see stones of enormous size, with which Hares sought to create stability during installation.
So the sixth wonder of the world perished. What it looked like - now no one knows for sure. Only images of the head of the Colossus on half-worn coins have survived.

For a long time, instead of the Colossus, the entrance to the harbor of Mandraki was decorated with two deer, proudly towering on columns (the deer is one of the symbols of the city). However, at the end of September 2009, when I visited Rhodes, there was only one deer. The fate of the second one is unknown: either the vandals-tourists stole it, or they took it away for restoration, but the pillar was empty. So we will lose all the beauties of Rhodes ... The next one who goes to Rhodes - please make sure that the deer is returned!

P.S. Especially for ardent supporters of the theory of the Colossus of Rhodes, made of clay, whose main argument is: “If history has preserved the saying “Colossus with feet of clay”, then it was made of clay!”.
First, let's turn to Wikipedia,
which is right in most cases. "Colossus - in the history of art - a statue of enormous size." And then a list of the colossi of antiquity in the amount of seven pieces. Each of them could be the very same, on feet of clay - not necessarily the Colossus of Rhodes. Below - Egypt, colossi.

Second, let's turn to Wikipedia again.

“The colossus with feet of clay is a biblical expression.
This catchphrase goes back to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, interpreted by the prophet Daniel in the Book of the Prophet Daniel, chapter 2 verses 1-49.

Briefly: in the Old Testament, the Book of the Prophet Daniel, it is said about the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who saw in a dream a huge, terrifying metal idol on clay feet. But suddenly a stone, torn off from the mountain, hit these clay feet, broke them, and the colossus was defeated. The dream turned out to be prophetic: the Babylonian kingdom soon collapsed, like an idol on clay feet.

If Wikipedia does not convince in this case, you can turn to the primary source - the Bible. I checked: that's exactly what it is; only in the Bible in more detail, and, in my opinion, more interesting.

Materials:
1. Wikipedia.
2.Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions.
3.A. Domashnev T. Drozdova "From the depths of centuries", Moscow publishing house, "Young Guard", 1985
4. Bible - any edition.
, , .

Illustrations No. 1,2, 10 - 16, 18. - from the Internet, No. 3-5, 7-9 from the book by A. Domashnev and T. Drozdova "From the depths of centuries", No. 6 - Pani Zosia.

This is one of the most monumental and grand statues ever built by man. The Colossus of Rhodes - a statue of the ancient Greek sun god Helios, stood in the port city of Rhodes, located on the island of the same name in the Aegean Sea, in Greece.

The island of Rhodes is located off the southwestern coast of Asia Minor, where the Aegean Sea borders the Mediterranean. Not on the coast of the beautiful harbor of the northern coast of the island in 408 BC. a city was built, which was also called Rhodes.

In 357 BC. e. the island was conquered by King Mausolus, for whom a mausoleum was later built in Halicarnassus, also recognized as one of the seven wonders of the world. In 340 BC. Rhodes fell under Persian rule, and in 332 BC. The island was conquered by Alexander the Great.

When Alexander the Great died of a fever, his generals began carving up his vast empire. Three of them - Ptolemy, Seleucus and Antigonus - each received their share of the possessions that once belonged to Macedon. Ptolemy I Soter established himself in Rhodes. Egypt also belonged to Ptolemy. Antigonus also claimed Rhodes. He sent his son Demetrius to capture and destroy the capital of Rhodes.

Demetrius landed on Rhodes with 40,000 troops. After keeping the city of Rhodes under siege for a whole year, despite the construction of many siege weapons, he was forced to retreat due to the Ptolemaic fleet approaching Rhodes.

To perpetuate the memory of their victory, the people of Rhodes decided to erect a huge statue of the patron of the city - the sun god Helios, to thank him for his intercession. Helios was not just a particularly revered deity on the island, the legend says that he carried Rhodes out of the depths of the sea on his hands.

Ancient authors give different information about the height of the statue of the Colossus of Rhodes: there is evidence that its height is 30-35 meters, while some argue that the height of the statue was about 35-40 meters. One of the unknown authors of the beginning of our era reported that the Colossus rested his feet on two opposite dams of the harbor and the ships going to Rhodes had to sail under him.

However, none of the ancients mentioned that the statue of the deity stands directly above the harbor, in such a strange position - after all, this would be an insult to the ancient Greek god. In addition, she could block the entrance of large ships to the harbor. The stability of the giant in this case is also called into question.

The sculpture of the Colossus of Rhodes was made in the traditional Greek style: a naked young man, with a crown in the form of diverging rays of the sun on his head, peering into the distance. With his right hand he covered his eyes, and with his left he held the flowing robe.

There is another description of the statue by Philo, according to which the Colossus was a male figure standing on a pedestal of white marble, to which his feet were attached for stability, of such a size that "they themselves exceeded many statues." The Colossus of Rhodes held a torch in his outstretched hand. When the torch was lit, it served as a beacon day and night.

Pliny the Elder was struck by the fact that only a few people could wrap their hands around the thumb of the statue.

The Rhodians commissioned this statue of the Colossus to be created by the sculptor Hares, a student of the famous Lysippus. He had to create a statue of such dimensions "so that it surpasses all others."

The proceeds from the sale of siege machines abandoned by the commander Demetrius were used to build the statue, in addition, the bronze parts of the giant siege towers were melted.

First, Chares cast and placed the legs of the Colossus on a pedestal. Then he gradually cast the rest of the body. With the gradual elevation of the sculpture, the earthen mound around it also rose.

The statue of the Colossus of Rhodes took 12 years to build. When the head of the statue was decorated with a radiant wreath and the mound around it was dismantled, the amazed inhabitants of Rhodes saw a magnificent work of art.

The Colossus of Rhodes towered proudly over the city and harbor for 56 years. In the morning, the rays of the rising sun, reflected in the polished bronze plates covering the statue, made the figure of the god dazzlingly shine. Travelers and merchants sailing to Rhodes saw a statue “floating” above the island from afar, and only then did a beautiful harbor open up to their eyes.

The colossus on the island of Rhodes stood for a relatively short time - only about fifty years. In 225 BC. e. the statue was destroyed by an earthquake. As Strabo writes, "the statue lay on the ground, overthrown by an earthquake and broken at the knees." The knees were the weakest spot.

But even then, the Colossus of Rhodes was surprising for its size. Strabo wrote that "because of some prophecy, the Rhodians no longer installed it." The fragments of a huge statue lay on the ground for more than a thousand years, until they were sold by the Arabs, who captured Rhodes in 977, to a merchant who, according to one of the chronicles, loaded 900 camels with them.

Currently, measures are being taken to reconstruct the Colossus of Rhodes. The statue is again going to be erected in Rhodes, but this time the figure will be made of luminous details.

The sculptors worked on the creation of a giant statue of the Colossus of Rhodes for 12 years. The 36-meter statue in the form of a slender strong young god with a wreath on his head was admired by everyone who sailed past the island of Rhodes, and was also visible from the nearest islands. Clay was the main material during construction, metal was only at the base and on the coating. This was the reason for the collapse of the famous statue ... Let us first turn to the history of the construction of the Colossus of Rhodes. According to ancient legend, Helios, the god of the sun, saved the besieged inhabitants of the island of Rhodes from the commander Demetrius Poliorketos, who was trying to capture the island. In the end, thanks to the advice of the Colossus. the commander had to retreat and the island was liberated. In honor of this event, in 304 BC, it was decided to build a huge statue of the god who became the patron of the island, and to preserve the memory of the great victory for centuries. The sculptor Hares decided to build the Colossus standing at full height and peering into the distance.

It took 12 years to build a statue of the god, based on three massive stone pillars fastened with iron beams. The whole structure was sheathed with bronze sheets, and the cavity was filled with clay. The inhabitants of the island did not see the statue until the end of construction, as the embankment surrounding the colossus was constantly raised for the convenience of work. And only when the mound was removed, the Rhodians saw their god standing on a huge white marble pedestal.

Initially, the word Colossus was used to refer to any statue, but after the construction of the Colossus of Rhodes, only very large structures began to be called so. As one of 7 ancient wonders of the world the statue was first mentioned by the ancient Greek author Philo of Byzantium.

Helios - god of the sun

Helios lived on the eastern shore of the ocean in a palace of gold and copper. Every morning, standing on a golden chariot with four winged horses, he rode out of the silver gate to the western shore of the Ocean. Another palace was located on the western bank, from where the sun god returned back to the east in a boat of gold.

According to legend, Helios worked from morning to evening, illuminating the Earth and could not attend the division of the world, because he did not get anything. He decided to raise the island from the depths of the sea, and named it in honor of his wife Rhoda - Rhodes.

More than 13 tons of bronze and about 8 tons of iron were spent on the construction of such a large-scale monument. The Colossus of Rhodes gave rise to a fashion for large statues, already after 2 centuries about a hundred large sculptures were built on the island. Perhaps, if this statue did not exist, then there would not be such structures as the Statue of Liberty in New York, or the Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Brazil. Or maybe they wouldn’t even build our Motherland in Volgograd :)

The statue of the Colossus stood for only 50 years, after which it was destroyed by an earthquake in 222 BC. Her weakest point was her knees, immediately giving a crack. For a long time, the Colossus lay on the ground, striking everyone with its size. Pliny the Elder wrote in his chronicles that few people managed to wrap both hands around the thumb on the hand of the hulk. This is where the famous expression "Colossus with feet of clay" comes from.

Pliny the Elder

The fragments of a huge statue lay on the ground for about a thousand years, until the Arabs, who captured Rhodes in 977, sold it to an unknown merchant who had to transport them on 900 camels.

In 2008, it was decided to restore the Colossus of Rhodes in the form of a light installation, in its original place. German art connoisseur Gert Hof plans to allocate about 200 million euros for this project. The height of the new Colossus will be higher than the original - about 60-100 meters. If you are interested in the ancient wonders of the world, also read about the mausoleum in Halicarnassus, or the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, no less interesting material is collected there.