The Colossus of Rhodes has become symbolic of the island and was one of the original Seven Wonders of The World. After the failed first siege of Rhodes in 305BC, the Macedonian Demetrio Polyorketes ("besieger of many cities") struck a peace deal with the Rhodian defenders and recognised the city’s status as an independent state.
To show good will, Polyorketes left behind all the siege equipment that had been used to target the city during the twelve months of war, this including a huge "helepolis" or "overthrower of cities", a gigantic 9-story-high siege tower constructed of metal. His idea was that the metal should be sold off and the proceeds used to commission a statue to commemorate the war.
The original plan was for Lysippos, a Peloponnesian sculptor to erect a statue of the Chariot of the Sun. This never materialised and Lysippos gave the job to a certain Khares of Lindos, a talented local artisan who favoured the construction of a bronze statue of the island’s patron, Apollo Helios.
This idea was agreed upon and the mammoth task reputedly took Khares twelve years to complete after which, noticing a relatively small flaw in the work, he took his own life.
Greek mythology depicts the Colossus as being about 120 feet tall and weighing in excess of 130 tonnes. Of course, the ancient texts all favour the un-confirmed legend that the Colossus straddled Mandraki harbour, with one foot astride each wall of the harbour entrance beneath which the ships could sail. Modern day investigations place the Colossus as most likely being situated beneath the foundations of the Palace of Grand Masters although no excavations have ever taken place to prove or disprove this theory.
The Colossus was toppled during a violent earthquake in 227BC and laid undisturbed for almost nine centuries. In 654AD, the remains were bought by a Jewish trader and were said to have been taken away on the backs of 900 camels. It is also said, much to the chagrin of the Greeks, that the remains were melted down to make Turkish ammunition to be used in subsequent sieges of the city.
It is of course the romantic option to envisage this enormous statue spanning the harbour entrance and every so often, a fisherman will claim to have netted a piece of bronze from the seabed "proving that the Colossus existed and did indeed straddle the harbour". But dating techniques always disprove these optimistic claims and the pieces dredged up invariably turn out to be lumps of rusted iron from long-sunken boats.