a giant statue of the Greek
sun god Helios, known by the
Romans as the
god Apollo. Considered one of the Seven Wonders of the
World the statue stood at the entrance to the
harbor of Rhodes (a Greek island) for approximately 55 years. It was built in 280 BC to commemorate the island's
survival of a yearlong seige. Made of bronze and stone with reinforcements of
iron inside, the
Colossus measured around 37 meters (120 feet) in height. It is sometimes said to have straddled the
harbor so that ships
sailing in and out went under its legs, and is depicted in one
account as shielding its eyes from the
sun with one
hand. During an earthquake in 225 BC the statue fell and was
left in
place until
AD 653 when the Arabs raided Rhodes and had it
broken up and the bronze sold for scrap.