|
rhodes
 When
somebody visits
Rhodes
for the first time, take note of the myth that sets
her as the home of Helios, the sun god. And another mythical liaison
claims that Rhodes is none other than the child of Aphrodite, the
goddess of love. Simply put, the visitor’ s love for the island is the
result of a relationship that was just bound to end like this, because
Rhodes, the whole island, seduces in a series of inevitable ways,
causing even the most dispassionate visitor at last, to fall.
1100
BC, when the Mycenaean war was over, Dorians come to Rhodes and set up
three city-states: Lindos, Ialysos and Kamiros which later united with
other Doric cities, Cos, Knidos and Halicarnassus, to form the "Doric
Hexapolis" (a federation of six cities).
408 BC, a new
city-state, the city of Rhodes, established on the northern tip of the
island arises and becomes the most powerful. It was first inhabited in
the Neolithic era. A major milestone in the island's history, which
affected the fate of the other Dodecanese as well, was the founding in
700 B.C. of the Dorian Hexapolis, a union of its three cities with
Knidos, Halikarnassos and Kos. Its economy and culture continued to
flourish until the 3rd century B.C., when it was the predominant power
in the Aegean. When, a thousand years later in 1309, it fell into the
hands of the Knights of St. John, it became again the centre of power,
symbolized by its magnificent mediaeval town and the imposing castle
and palace of the Grand Masters.
The island of Rhodes
was an important economic centre in the ancient world. It is located
off the south-western tip of Asia Minor where the Aegean Sea meets the
Mediterranean. The capitol city, also named Rhodes, was built in 408
B.C. and was designed to take advantage of the island's best natural
harbour on the northern coast.
In 357 B.C. the
island was conquered by Mausolus of Halicarnassus (whose tomb is one
of the other Seven Wonders of the Ancient World), fell into Persian
hands in 340 B.C., and was finally captured by Alexander the Great in
332 B.C.. When Alexander died of a fever at an early age, his generals
fought bitterly among themselves for control of Alexander's vast
kingdom. Three of them, Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Antigous, succeeded in
dividing the kingdom among themselves.
The Rhodians
supported Ptolemy (who wound up ruling Egypt) in this struggle. This
angered Antigous who sent his son Demetrius to capture and punish the
city of Rhodes.
The war was long and
painful. Demetrius brought an army of 40,000 men. This was more than
the entire population of Rhodes. He also augmented his force by using
Aegean pirates.
 The
city was protected by a strong, tall wall and the attackers were
forced to use siege towers to try and climb over it. Siege towers were
wooden structures often armed with catapults that could be moved up to
a defender's walls to allow the attackers to scale them. While some
were designed to be rolled up on land, Demetrius used a giant tower
mounted on top of six ships lashed together to make his attack. This
tower, though, was turned over and smashed when a storm suddenly
approached. The battle was won by the Rhodians.
Demetrius had a
second supertower built. This one stood almost 150 feet high and some
75 feet square at the base. It was equipped with many catapults and
skinned with wood and leather to protect the troops inside from
archers. It even carried water tanks that could be used to fight fires
started by flaming arrows. This tower was mounted on iron wheels and
could be rolled up to the walls.
When Demetrius
attacked the city, the defenders stopped the war machine by flooding a
ditch outside the walls and miring the heavy monster in the mud. By
then almost a year had gone by and a fleet of ships from Egypt arrived
to assist the city. Demetrius withdrew quickly leaving the great siege
tower where it was.
To celebrate their
victory and freedom, the Rhodians decided to build a giant statue of
their patron god Helios. They melted down bronze from the many war
machines Demetrius left behind for the exterior of the figure and the
super siege tower became the scaffolding for the project. According to
Pliny, a historian who lived several centuries after the Colossus was
built, construction took 12 years. Other historians place the start of
the work in 304 B.C..
The statue was one
hundred and ten feet high and stood upon a fifty-foot pedestal near
the harbour mole. Although the statue has been popularly depicted with
its legs spanning the harbour entrance so that ships could pass
beneath, it was actually posed in a more traditional Greek manner:
nude, wearing a spiked crown, shading its eyes from the rising sun
with its right hand, while holding a cloak over its left.
No ancient account
mentions the harbour-spanning pose and it seems unlikely the Greeks
would have depicted one of their gods in such an awkward manner. In
addition, such a pose would mean shutting down the harbour during the
construction, something not economically feasible.
The statue was
constructed of bronze plates over an iron framework (very similar to
the Statue of Liberty which is copper over a steel frame). According
to the book of Pilon of Byzantium, 15 tons of bronze were used and 9
tons of iron, though these numbers seem low. The Statue of Liberty,
roughly of the same size, weighs 225 tons. The Colossus, which relied
on weaker materials, must have weighed at least as much and probably
more.
Ancient accounts tell
us that inside the statue were several stone columns which acted as
the main support. Iron beams were driven into the stone and connected
with the bronze outer skin. Each bronze plate had to be carefully cast
then hammered into the right shape for its location in the figure,
then hoisted into position and riveted to the surrounding plates and
the iron frame.
The architect of this
great construction was Chares of Lindos, a Rhodian sculptor who was a
patriot and fought in defense of the city. Chares had been involved
with large scale statues before. His teacher, Lysippus, had
constructed a 60-foot high likeness of Zeus. Chares probably started
by making smaller versions of the statue, maybe three feet high, then
used these as a guide to shaping each of the bronze plates of the
skin.
It is believed Chares
did not live to see his project finished. There are several legends
that he committed suicide. In one tale he has almost finished the
statue when someone points out a small flaw in the construction. The
sculptor is so ashamed of it he kills himself.
In another version
the city fathers decide to double the height of the statue. Chares
only doubles his fee, forgetting that doubling the height will mean an
eightfold increase in the amount of materials needed. This drives him
into bankruptcy and suicide.
There is no evidence
that either of these tales are true.
The Colossus stood
proudly at the harbour entrance for some fifty-six years. Each morning
the sun must have caught its polished bronze surface and made the
god's figure shine. Then an earthquake hit Rhodes and the statue
collapsed. Huge pieces of the figure lay along the harbour for
centuries.
"Even as it lies,"
wrote Pliny, "it excites our wonder and admiration. Few men can clasp
the thumb in their arms, and its fingers are larger than most statues.
Where the limbs are broken asunder, vast caverns are seen yawning in
the interior. Within it, too, are to be seen large masses of rock, by
the weight of which the artist steadied it while erecting it."
 It
is said that an Egyptian king offered to pay for its reconstruction,
but the Rhodian's refused. They feared that somehow the statue had
offended the god Helios, who used the earthquake to throw it down.
In the seventh
century A.D. the Arabs conquered Rhodes and broke the remains of the
Colossus up into smaller pieces and sold it as scrap metal. Legend
says it took 900 camels to carry away the statue. A sad end for what
must have been a majestic work of art.
The Pyramids of Egypt
(c. 2680-c. 2544 BC).
The Hanging Gardens
of Babylon (600 BC)
The statue of Zeus
(mid 5th century BC) by the Greek sculptor Phidias was the central
feature of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, Greece.
The Temple of Artemis
at Ephesus in Greece (356 BC).
The Mausoleum of
Halicarnassus (c. 353 BC) in Asia Minor.
The Colossus of
Rhodes was a 30m bronze statue of the Greek sun god Helios, erected at
280 BC, to guard the entrance to the harbour.
The Pharos
(lighthouse) of Alexandria (c. 280 BC), Egypt.
1522-1912 AD Rhodes
falls into Ottoman hands.
1912 AD Italians
occupy the island for 32 years.
1948 AD Liberation
and Unification of the Dodecanese with the rest of Greece
A second ancient
theatre is located in Lindos. Under the Roman Empire Rhodes enjoyed a
measure of nominal independence. In 395 AD, after the division of the
Roman Empire, Rhodes was attached to the Byzantine Empire. It remained
under Byzantine control until 1309, when the
Knights of St John of
Jerusalem was established. In 1522, after a bloody Turkish siege led by
Suleiman I, the knights were forced to evacuate the island. Turkish
sovereignty over Rhodes lasted until 1912, when it was occupied
without resistance from the Turkish troops, by the Italian army. After
the II World War ended, the island was liberated from the defeated
Italians by the Greek and other Allied Army Forces and united with
Greece in 1947.
Rhodes Sightseeing Photos
|