The Ancients - The Colossus of Rhodes

Episode Date: February 16, 2023

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Colossus of Rhodes has lived on in legend - with fact and fiction often blurring. A 108 ft high statue of the Sun God Helios, it was erected in celebration by the people of Rhodes after successfully defending the island against Alexander the Great's successors in 304 BC. But what happened to this monumental statue, and why did it only stand for 50 years?In this episode Tristan is joined by Professor Andrew Erskine to delve into this iconic monument and the legacy it left. From Alexander the Great to Game of Thrones, what can we learn about the Colossus of Rhodes, and just how wonderful was it really?The Senior Producer was Elena GuthrieThe Assistant Producer was Annie ColoeEdited by Aidan LonerganFor more Ancients content, subscribe to our Ancients newsletter here. If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - enter promo code ANCIENTS for a free trial, plus 50% off your first three months' subscription.To download, go to Android > or Apple store >

Hi, I'm Tristan Hughes, and if you would like the Ancient ad-free, get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit. With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, including my recent documentary all about Petra and the Nabataeans, and enjoy a new release every week. Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com slash subscribe. It's the Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes, your host, and in today's episode, well, we are talking about a massive statue from ancient history.

A colossal statue. A wonder of the ancient world. The Colossus of Rhodes. That, when it was standing upright, dominated the island bastion of Rhodes in the eastern Mediterranean. The story of this ancient wonder is incredible. Of those seven iconic ancient monuments, the Colossus of Rhodes is my personal favourite wonder. So I'm delighted that for the first ever of our ancient episodes about the wonders of the ancient world, don't worry, we will be doing more in the future,

I'm delighted we're able to kick it off with the Colossus, colossus its legacy in ancient history after it fell down a little hint there is remarkable as is its legacy in more recent times you might some of you have watched lord of the rings where they go past those mighty statues the argonath down the river anduin or you might have watched Game of Thrones when some of them visit the city of Braavos and to enter the harbour they go through the legs of a mighty colossal statue overlooking the entrance to this maritime city-state. Well, the real inspiration for that was the Colossus of Rhodes. Whether the Colossus actually stood at the forefront of the Rhodian harbour is debated,

as you're going to hear, but it's a fascinating story, from the story behind why this colossal statue was built, to who it represents, to its falling down, and then to its legacy after this bronze mega statue collapsed. Now to talk through all of this I was delighted to get on the podcast an old professor of mine from the University of Edinburgh. He is I think it's fair to say one of the leading lights, one of the leading experts in Hellenistic history. He was also a great influence on me and my love of Hellenistic history at Edinburgh University is why I think this period of antiquity is so fascinating. His name is Andrew Erskine, Professor Andrew Erskine. I've been wanting to get Andrew on the podcast for a while now and I'm delighted that he is now featuring as our special guest for this episode today. So without further ado, to talk all about the Colossus of Rhodes, here's Andrew.

Andrew, it is a pleasure. Long time no see. We finally got you on the Ancients. Welcome to the show. Well, thanks very much for having me on it. You're more than welcome. And it's a pleasure to have you on for such an incredible topic too. The Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, my personal favourite, but it also Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, my personal favourite, but it also feels like one of the shortest lived wonders too, doesn't it? Yes, it's up for either 56 or 66 years, depending which reading you take, which is not a long time. Though I kind of wonder whether, I mean, it's around for a lot longer after that in a broken form, and whether it just continued as a wonder even so you know it

was a wonder even in its collapsed state and that's something we're definitely going to delve into you are a leading light and experts on the hellenistic world for the background of the colossus of rose let's delve into the late fourth century bc set the scene for us, Andrew, the Eastern Mediterranean at that time, before construction of the Colossus of Rhodes begins, what does this immediate post-Alexander the Great world look like? Well, I suppose the first thing you actually have to do is think about Alexander the Great, because a city like Rhodes, I mean, it's an island city. If you went back to the 5th century, then you'd have three cities on Rhodes. They amalgamate at the end of the 5th century. Rhodes is an important place in the 4th century, but it changes with Alexander

because what Alexander does is he transforms that whole eastern Mediterranean. So that if you went in the 5th century, Rhodes near Asia Minor would be on the periphery. But once Alexander comes along and it stretches the kind of Greco-Macedonian world as far as Afghanistan, Rhodes is no longer on the edge. A place like Athens, which was previously central, now becomes more peripheral because Alexander creates a world which is then, he conquers the Persian Empire and then that empire, now Alexander's Empire, is split up into, well, at first, the kind of warlord states, I suppose, rather than kingdoms, because they're not kings

yet, fighting amongst themselves. And it's in that context that Rhodes starts emerging as a more important state. It's on the kind of shipping lanes, moving up from the sort of eastern Mediterranean, from Egypt, Syria, up the coast of Asia Minor. And it's able to exploit that. It also is kind of cautious not to align too strongly with any one state. So that is the situation. And little less than 20 years after the death of Alexander, as these warlords are fighting amongst themselves for this empire. One of the leading figures, Demetrius Polyarchetes, son of a man evocatively called Antigonus the One-Eyed, he lays siege to Rhodes to try and bring Rhodes onto his side. Rhodes, if anything, was probably more friendly with the

Egyptian king Ptolemy. He's another one of Alexander's generals. And this siege by Demetrius of Rhodes is one of the sort of great sieges of antiquity. It lasts about a year. It's from 305, 304, I think. I'm always a little bit hesitant about dates. And it's famous for its length, but also for the fact, and this is one of the, which is what sort of earns Demetrius his name, Polyarchetes, which means the besieger. is one of the which is what sort of earns demetrius his name polyarchetes which means the besieger it's famous for his tremendous siege engines which if we think about sort of things that people sort of bring up to siege a city we might think about sort of large towers or whatever i mean but these

were on a scale hitherto unknown and there were lots of them bringing up to the walls of roads and they were known as the ellipolis city takers I suppose or city capturers is the name which they were given although in this case they didn't end up capturing Rhodes and it was a negotiated settlement. Andrew it is such an incredible story of that siege the siege of Rhodes as you say because it is very much this David versus Goliath situation Demetrius with all of the stuff that he has available yeah and yet the yet the Rhodians, they are able to resist. This is a big moment in Rhodian history. They're now, you know, this jewel in the crown of all of these warlords.

And it is still able to hold its own against someone as massive as Demetrius. This feels like a seismic moment for the city. I think so, yes. And when they come to build the Colossus, it's partly a kind of gift to the patron deity of the city, which is Helios, the sun. And several sources connect the building of it with their liberation from the siege. And so therefore, regarding the actual construction of the Colossus in the wake of this siege, their deliverance from Demetrius, it seems a massive project to undertake. Do we

have any idea how the Rhodians, how they fund it, how they're able to support the construction of this massive statue? Well, one thing which is mentioned in the sources is that they take advantage of Demetrius's siege engines, which he's left lying around. He doesn't take away with them. And as I said, they're large, about 22 metres, the base, a square of about 22 metres, reaching a height of about 44 meters what's that 140 feet something like that yeah several stories high at least isn't it these are absolutely massive beasts of siege engine so they are used to help build the colossus well what we're told by plinny is that they were able to sell these and use the funds we're not told who bought them

it may be that you know they're sort of stripped down used as scrap there would have been lots of iron on them they're protected by iron we're told so maybe the iron was recycled into the colossus i mean the colossus itself is made of bronze but there will be a sort of mixture of different metals used so i mean that would be one thing it's probably also a sign of the increasing wealth of roads in this period as well that they are able to fund to this you mentioned how in the wake of alexander's empire and following his death how places like athens are no longer the center and now it's going a bit more eastwards so because of that should we be imagining the trade routes at this time lots and lots of ships going from places like the Aegean, from Athens to Syria, to new emerging

places to Tyre and Cyprus and so on. So these ships, the shipping routes, they are using somewhere like Rhodes as a key maritime trading centre, a base through which lots of this commerce comes through. Yes, I think so. And I mean, the shipping between Rhodes and Alexandria was a particularly important route. And Rhodes itself, the city, has a whole string of harbours all round it. So it's a very protected place to bring your ships to. You mentioned also sources. Are sources for the Colossus of Rhodes? What sorts of sources do we have available? Is it mainly literature?

Yes. And one of the things is that it's not like, I'm thinking about wonders of the world, it's not like the Pharos Lighthouse in Alexandria, where there are large lumps of stone which are associated with it. Bronze, of course, gets melted down eventually. So no, we have no archaeological remains of it. What we have is literary accounts. And we have no contemporary literary accounts as well. What we have is, there's possibly a verse written during its lifetime, so to speak, but everything else is after the collapse of the Colossus.

And I say it lasts 56, 60, 60. We know it fell in the 220s. How interesting. This verse that you allude to there, is this the so-called the dedicatory poem that was often associated with the Colossus of Rhodes that some believe is, well, potentially was on the base of this massive statue?

That's right, yeah. I mean, it's a poem contained in what's called the Palatine Anthology, and I don't think we know who wrote it. And it often is said to be, I mean, there's no direct evidence that it was inscribed on it. It's a poem written as if perhaps it was inscribed on it, but people could do that as a sort of poetic exercise. It doesn't mean that it necessarily was. So there's argument over, I mean, if it was inscribed of it, obviously contemporary,

but some people suggest it's actually a verse written in the 2nd century BC. Apart from that, probably the earliest mention of it is Polybius writing in the mid 2nd century. And after that, we find quite a lot of references to it. But what that means is we don't have a description of it as it stood, of what it looked like. We know about how it's put together, the circumstances of its building, we know about the circumstances of its fall, but the period between is a little vague. Vague and frustrating. Over on the Warfare podcast by History Hit, we bring you brand new military histories from around the world.

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surviving from a similar time from later sources the fact that we don't have a similar thing for the Colossus of Rhodes must be incredibly frustrating but do we know a bit from these later literary sources let's say around the construction of it itself you mentioned it's made of bronze but do we know anything more about the whole construction process let's say the time it took the eventual size of this colossus and so on well again going to the rome writer pliny he tells us it took 12 years to construct i suppose one of the things we want to think about when thinking about its size is why they wanted to build such a large statue in the first place. I mean, people, maybe they tend to take for granted, but it was exceptional statue. And I kind of wonder,

you know, Rhodians walking around Rhodes, they see these huge contraptions built by Demetrius, you know, and maybe when they're thinking about recognising their salvation from Demetrius, they're thinking scale. They're thinking of challenging Demetrius in some way, hence a huge statue to match his huge siege engines. The other thing about size is that we do know the name of the sculptor who created it, a man from Lindos.

Lindos is another town in Rhodes. It's Cherries of Lindos. We don't know much else about him, but we do know he was the pupil of Lysippos. Now, Lysippos is one of the most celebrated sculptors in the 4th century, celebrated for his work, really creating the visual image of Alexander. He is supposed to be Alexander's favourite sculptor. But Lysippos worked all around the Greek world, not just for Alexander. And he built colossal statues, not as big as this one, but he was famous for his two statues in Tarentum in South Italy, a statue of Zeus put up in Tarentum, a significant city in South Italy, another major trading centre, so a kind of landmark.

The Colossus is 114 feet, something like that. Lysippos' statue is about 60 feet tall, so not as big, but that is still pretty substantial as a statue. So there may also be an element of competition here, you know, a bigger statue than Lysippos' statue built by the pupil of Lysippos. Interesting. So that is a potential influence. You see so many of these statues, don't you, that there's actually an influence from somewhere else. Yeah. And a rivalry between the person who initially taught him all the skills. I mean, that's fascinating. And I guess also when he is constructing this statue, is it completely bronze or is it kind of like the statue that was used at Olympia or the statue of Athena Parthenos where it had a wooden frame or something underneath?

or the statue of Athena Parthenos where it had a wooden frame or something underneath? Completely bronze. So I mean, on the outside, obviously it has inside, it has wood and iron and stone all holding it together. There is discussion about how it's built. Now, I don't understand a lot about

how to build bronze sculptures, but as far as I can work out from the debate about it, there's a writer called Philo of Byzantium who wrote a work on the seven wonders of the world in like the second century BC. And this is attributed to him, but it's probably actually a late antique account, probably from the fourth, fifth century AD. But he has a sort of very vivid account of how it's built. And if I understand him correctly, he sees it as being built in sections working their way up.

And as they put each section on on they create a kind of pile of earth around the statue and then they put another section on then they create more earth around it to hold it in place and so on now that's rejected by recent scholars as just not how they built bronze statues in the ancient world what they do is they cast them in sections like sort of arm or whatever it is or half an arm in casting. And there's evidence of quite large casting pits. And then they would put these bits together to create the whole statue. Don't ask me more about the details

of how it's put together because I don't really understand all that. No, fair enough, fair enough. It must've been like for the time in regards to bronze casting, one of the biggest undertakings ever done into that moment of ancient history given the size of it you know it is a colossus i will therefore not ask you any more about the actual building

actually one actual thing which is interesting about the building the sculptor caries or cherries he would appear to have had a contract to produce it and there is a writer called sextus empiricus who's not interested in sculpture at all he's writing about mathematics and this kind of thing. And he tells a story that the sculptor or architect or however we describe the person who creates something like this, arranged a contract to build it at a certain height. And then the Rhodians said, no, we want it bigger. We want it bigger than that. And so he said, well, I can do it twice the height, but it'll cost you twice as much.

So they said, fine. he said well i can do it twice the height but it'll cost you twice as much so they said fine but he realized as he was working on it that he made a mistake in that to build something twice the height uses you know it's not only twice as high it's also bigger in all sorts of respects and this is what sexist empiricus is interested in uh the proportions you know you're going to need for twice the height you might need eight times more than you make you know if you make a small thing i don't know like a little lego figure you use certain amount of plastic but if you were to make it twice the height or eight times the height you wouldn't need eight times as much plastic because otherwise you'd just have like a pencil you need a lot more and he hadn't factored this in when he made this deal and so he realized he was going

bankrupt and according to sexus empir, the consequence was he committed suicide. He may not have. It might have just been a mathematician's story, you know. But if you look at some accounts, we'll say it was begun by this man, Cheres, and it was continued by another man called Lachies. Now, this is to some extent scholarly ingenuity at work here because there is another brief poem or epigram which attributes the sculpture to a man called Lachies of Lindos and so scholars put all these bits together and they say well he committed suicide his pupil Lachies continued to construct it but probably the epigram is a mistake

well it's a cool story to include nonetheless I'm glad you stopped me in my tracks and and we managed to get that in because I had no idea about that at all Andrew. I mean but let's therefore delve into Rhodes's time in the third century when the Colossus is upright. Do we think it's in the harbour I'm guessing? Are we imagining a massive statue overlooking the harbour so that sailors and ships the first thing that they would see on the horizon, they would be able to spot this massive statue of the sun god Helios. Yes. Well, yes and no. Obviously, if you look at sort of these medieval prints or sort of Renaissance prints, you have this figure standing one foot on either side of the harbour and the ships going between, which I think, I haven't really watched Game of Thrones, but I believe

that there is a figure modelled on that in Game of Thrones. Yes. It's not like that. I mean, the most recent suggestion is that it stood at the Temple of Helios, which is, I think, in the vicinity of the Acropolis. So it would, I imagine, have been visible from a distance. And anyway, Rhodes is described as looking like a kind of amphitheatre, I mean, or a theatre. So curving around. So we don't know it really. I don't actually have any evidence for where it was put, but a, or a theatre, so curving around. So we don't know, we don't

actually have any evidence for where it was put, but a likely place is near the Temple of Helios. I've got to ask, therefore, once it is constructed and before it falls down, we'll get to it falling down soon, but during that third century, therefore, for those 60-odd years or so that it is upright and standing, I mean, how does it enhance Rhodes' reputation, its prestige, its power, as these Hellenistic kingdoms are starting to cement, to emerge, whether it's the Antigonids or the Ptolemies or the Seleucids? How does having this massive statue visible for all to see, I guess a legacy of their great defeating of Demetrius the Besieger. How does it enhance Rhodes' reputation over those decades?

Well, we can only speculate, but I think it is a statement of Rhodian significance. And one might compare it to Athens with its Parthenon. Again, highly visible. So I think, yes, it's a statement and a statement of Rhodian independence. And in relation to the various kingdoms, something like Ptolemaic Egypt, I mean, they're putting up large statues of the Ptolemies, these sort of large sphinx-like statues, maybe not huge bronze ones, but size is an important thing in the Hellenistic world. I mean, think about Demetrius. I mean, he's also famous for his huge ships. So making a statement about, you know, we have this huge

statue, which is representing us. And we also have to remember it's a religious statue. You know, it's as Strabo describes it, a votive offering. It's not just for the sake of it. It has a significance. And so it's, I suppose, asserting the protection of Helios over roads to anybody approaching it. So what happens to the Colossus, Andrew? In the 220s, there is a major earthquake which takes place off Rhodes, because Rhodes is, well, there are these fault lines that run through that part of the Mediterranean, running just south of Rhodes, I forget. You have the Anatolian Plate and the Arabic Plate, I'm not sure. So Rhodes is an area which is affected by earthquakes. There's

thought to be another one takes place in the 190s BC as well. And then there's another one under the Roman Empire. So this earthquake takes place and Polybius mentions it. He says about it that an earthquake struck Rhodes and that the city walls were brought down and the shipyards, ship sheds, and the great colossus is what he says so he picks out three things that are affected he doesn't see anything about impact it might have had on the population or deaths or anything like that he just tells us about these three structural things and they're all i suppose key elements of roads i mean the walls that protected it from demetrius when he says the ship shedseds that might seem kind of not so important but the

thing is that a naval pile like Rhodes it wouldn't keep its ships just floating in the harbour like we might consider it when they're not being used they're put in ship sheds and so they will have lots and lots of these sheds with a huge fleet kept protected in them so if they collapse we can imagine that much of the Rhodian navy at the time was destroyed. That was significant in that respect. Polybius doesn't have much to say about the Colossus, except it fell. But what he does say is that the Rhodians went around the kingdoms and cities of the Greek world and they asked for assistance to sort of recuperate for the recovery after this earthquake. Maybe the collapse of the Colossus was something

which helped this campaign. But we're told that the kings of the Greek world, the Ptolemies, Seleucids, even the rulers in Syracuse and Sicily, sent enormous amounts of aid. And he describes the huge amount of aid which goes to Rhodes in this period. And interestingly, he tells us that Ptolemy sent, I forget how much it was was but it's a large sum of money for the purpose of rebuilding the Colossus and we don't know not told this by Polybius we're told this by someone else I think but the Rhodians are not sure about this and they approach an oracle you know would this be a sensible thing to do and they decide that they're not going to rebuild the Colossus I'm not sure if any source tells us any further as to why but maybe they

just feel, you know, that is fate. But it's not turned to scrap or anything. It's left lying there. It is so interesting, Andrew, isn't it? Because you look at other things like the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus or wherever, where things are rebuilt and the money is given there by other patrons and the local population do opt to rebuild it. But roads they decide to leave it as it is but this isn't the end of the statue's existence the crumbled remains of the statue i'm guessing they must still be quite massive in their own right and they become tourist attractions in their own right that's what it seems to be i mean i'll read you out a short passage from plinny describing it because it's i think better the way he puts it than the way I can put it if he says even lying on the ground it is a marvel few people can make their arms meet

around the thumb of the figure and the fingers are larger than most statues and where the limbs have been broken off enormous cavities yawn while inside are seen great masses of rock with the weight of which the artist steadied it when he erected it so you get the impression of tourists coming there and clambering over it and as he says they're you know trying to hug the thumb and see if they can get their arms around it and this kind of thing so therefore you have these remains and they last deep into the roman period but what ultimately happens to these remains they're not visible today They're not visible today. They're not visible today. Now, I mean, later medieval chronicles, there's an eighth century chronicler called Theophanes, and he's one of several, who claimed that it was seized during

the Arab conquest of Rhodes in the seventh century, so a century before. But the chronicles are a little, they give the impression that they think that the Colossus was toppled then rather than much, much earlier. And they tell us it was sold to a Jewish merchant and then carried off on 900 camels. Clearly, it can't have been on camels directly from Rhodes because they have to be landed somewhere first. The story may have a kind of anti-Arab, anti-Jewish feeling to it, I think as well. And I do wonder, by the 7th century, how much of it would have been left. I think that once Christianity has taken over the region, which it certainly would, by the 7th century, how much of it would have been left. I think that once Christianity has taken over the region, which it certainly would have by the 7th century,

that the statue as a religious object wouldn't have had the significance it had before. So I could imagine that all this bronze would have been gradually gone long before then. But I mean, that's speculation. What we have is this story. It is so interesting, keeping on that legacy of the Colossus after it collapses because we just before we completely wrap up I love that you mentioned Game of Thrones earlier and that's you highlighted there is that I think it's a place called Braavos this rich trading nation but they have it seems to be very much the inspiration for George RR Martin was the Colossus of Rhodes and they have as you say the statue above the harbour

entrance and ships going through the legs which is that popular perception was the Colossus of Rhodes. And they have, as you say, the statue above the harbour entrance and ships going through their legs, which is that popular perception of the Colossus of Rhodes down through antiquity. You look at Wikipedia or wherever, Google images, and you just see these antique depictions of the Colossus of Rhodes. And it's that image again and again and again, isn't it? It's become ingrained in our minds almost. Yes, it's quite hard to actually take away the idea that it probably didn't look like that. And we have to think it has to be a kind of statue which is going to readily stand you know it's unlikely to a night scale to have its arms up in the air or anything like that it's helios so it

may have had a kind of radiated crown or something like that which does appear on uh rhodian coins but unfortunately they don't have an image of helios standing, they don't have an image of Helios standing. So they don't have an image of their own colossus on their coins, which would have been good if they had. That would have been very helpful,

but sadly not. But when it does collapse, it breaks in the, I think it's the knees, it's certainly the legs. So whether from the knees down it carried on standing, I'm not sure.

But that's the impression the sources give. I mean, Andrew, this has been absolutely fascinating. It's lovely to actually now chat about one of the wonders of the world and to get you on the podcast, as you were my professor several years ago at Edinburgh University. I mean, for yourself, you're a leading expert on the Hellenistic world, but also on like Polybius, when Rome meets the Greek world, the Roman conquest and so on and so forth.

The bloody nature of Hellenistic court politics and factions and so on. on and so forth, the bloody nature of Hellenistic court politics and factions and so on. What is it about the Colossus of Rhodes, this massive architectural achievement during the Hellenistic period, that really fascinates you? I think it's the fact that it's its size, but also I think the fact that it kind of gives voice to the independent Greek city-state in this period. That it's not all kingdoms and kings and warrior kings, but the polis, as the Greek city-state in this period. That it's not all kingdoms and kings and warrior kings, but the polis, as the Greek city-state is described, continues and survives, and Rhodes is a flourishing example of this, until it comes face to face with the power of Rome. Well, there you go. It's been an absolute pleasure having you on the podcast, and thank you so much for taking the time out of

your schedule today. Thanks. Well, there you go. There was Professor Andrew Erskine explaining all about the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It's my personal favourite monument from all of ancient

Mediterranean history. I find the Colossus of Rhodes and its story, that massive siege with Demetrius the Besieger, how the Colossus came to be. I find it all so, so fascinating indeed. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and if you want to help us out in the future as we continue to grow, to get bigger, to get better as 2023 goes on and hopefully deep into the future too,

well you know what you can do. You can leave us a lovely rating on apple podcasts on spotify wherever you get your podcast from it really helps us as we continue to grow the podcast as we continue our infinite mission to share these awesome stories from our ancient history from pre-history with you and with as many people as possible and also so we can give the spotlight to experts such as Andrew, the spotlight that they deserve for the many hundreds of hours, thousands of hours of research, the many years they've put into researching these particular areas from our distant past that they find so fascinating. So if you'd be kind enough to leave us a lovely rating, it really does help us out. But that's enough from me, and I'll see you in the next episode.