Greek Myths XS: The Kolossos (Colossus) of Rhodes

The island of Rhodes has always enjoyed the special protection of sun god Helios. Helios had felt grieved for being overseen at the division of the universe. So, when a new island had risen up from the ocean, Zeus had presented it to him as a consolation gift. Which anoyed Poseidon, who had just been appointed as ruler of the seas. Helios named his new island Rhodes, after his wife at the time, beautiful Rhodos, possibly a daughter of Aphrodite. With Helios’ help, the Rhodians repelled a Macedonian invasion in the 4th century BC, and the grateful islanders erected a massive statue in his honour: the Kolossos, with the height of a 10 floor building. It was considered to be one of the “seven wonders of the ancient world”, but for an envious Poseidon, it was a thorn in his side. After just fifty years, he sent an earthquake and watched with satisfaction how the Kolossos came tumbling down. Since the oracle wisely advised against rebuilding it, the enormous remains laid scattered around for eight centuries to come.

Colossus head, gravure, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Colossus, gravure, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Did you know?

• It was the Greek geographer Strabon (Strabo - 1st cent. AD) who – in his Geographica - mentioned that the oracle had warned against a reconstruction of the Kolossos. The internet is convinced that it was Helios who didn’t want a new statue, but isn’t it more likely that Poseidon vetoed it? The Egyptian farao Ptolemaeus III offered to pay for the reconstruction of the Kolossos, but the Rhodians declined.

• The precise location of the monument remains in dispute. The harbour-straddling Colossus is a medieval conception. After centuries of repurposing, the last parts of the statue would have been taken away during an islamic raid in the 7th century AD.

• About Helios: cfr. ‘Party Island”, “All that Shines”, “Follow the Sun”, “Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh”, “Feel the Static”, “Too little, too late”, “Blind Tasting”, “To the End of the World”.

• Pliny the Elder (1st cent. AD) writes about the scattered remains of the Kolossos (Colossus): “Few people can make their arms meet round its thumb, and the fingers alone are longer than most statues.”

• Helios and Rhodos would have been the parents of Phaiton: cfr. “Joyride”.

• About the division of the universe: cfr. “The third Eye”, “The Weight of the World”.

• Hyginus lists the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World”: Artemis’ (Diana’s)  temple in Ephese, Mausoleus’ tomb in Halikarnassos (Halicarnassus), the Kolossos (Colossus) of Rhodes, the Zeus (Jupiter) statue in Olympia, king Kyrous’ (Cyrus’) house in Sicilian Ekbatana (Ecbatana), Semiramis’ walls in Babylon and the Egyptian pyramids.

• The island of Rhodes also features in an obscure myth about the Cretan prince Althaimenes (Althaemenes). He fled Crete and came to Rhodes out of fear of a prophecy: that he would unalive his father Katreus (Catreus). The oracle didn’t mention his sister Apemosyne, and yet, he unalived her first. He didn’t believe her, when she complained about an assault by Hermes and ended her life on the spot. In the mean time, the father sailed from Crete to Rhodes, to join his son. But Althaimenes took him for a pirate, unalived him and thus, fulfilled the prophecy. This time, the gods did take notice. The earth opened up and Althaimenes sunk right into it.