If Alexander Wills It…
Rhodes, or Rhodos in Greek, meaning; ‘rose’, is an island in the southwestern Aegean sea and is part of a collection of islands known as the Dodecanese. The island covers around 540 square miles and is today one of Greece’s most popular tourist destinations.
The island was once the jewel in the crown of ancient Greece, reaching a peak of maritime supremacy, cultural richness and commercial vigour during the classical and hellenistic periods. In 408 B.C. three established city-states on the island of Rhodes, Ialysos, Kamiros and Lindos, came together in a spirit of unity to found a new federal capital and port which they named after the island.
The new foundation of Rhodes was very deliberately situated on the northern coast in order to take advantage of the island’s best natural harbour. It was a city designed, as much as possible, to resemble Athens, that supremely successful city-state, home to the Parthenon and so many philosophical greats. Rhodes benefited from a well-constructed sewer system as well as a water supply network designed by architect and ‘father of European urban planning’; Hippodamus of Miletus.
Rhodes was embarking a high summer of success, bolstered by sea trade, skilled shipbuilders and open-minded politicians who kept the city prosperous right through to the domination of Rome in the 2nd century B.C.
Rhodes island held a particularly strong and dominating position at a cultural crossroads between Europe, the Middle East and Africa and it was this tactical positioning on the major sea routes which would be the life-blood of its success. Rhodes city itself became an important stop on the trade routes linking the Greek cities in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) with the wealth of Pharaonic Egypt.
During the 330’s B.C., Alexander the Great had taken the island peacefully from the then overlords, Achaemenid Persia, and established a garrison of soldiers there. It’s said he was welcomed and a special cloak made for presentation. Over time this friendly bond, according to one source, led to the Rhodians becoming the executors of Alexander’s will, a disputed idea but a nice claim-to-fame if true.
The Pharaoh’s Loyal Ally
With the establishment of the eponymous Alexandria in 331 B.C, a strong and mutually beneficial bond had been formed between Rhodes and Ptolemy I of Egypt, a bond which caused unrest among Ptolemy’s enemies.
Alexander’s death had caused his empire to fragment and be fought over by his successors, known to history as the Diadochi.
Ptolemy was one such successor, a companion and historian of Alexander, who became Pharaoh of Egypt in c.305 B.C. thus establishing the Ptolemaic dynasty which ended with the famous suicide of Cleopatra in 30 B.C.. Another of the power-hungry Diadochus, Antigonus I Monopthalamus – ‘the one-eyed’, declaring war on Ptolemy, attempted to coax the Rhodians onto his side but they remained loyal to Ptolemy.
As a result, Antigonus sent his son, Demetrius, to take Rhodes by force. 200 warships, 170 transports carrying 40,000 men plus horses along with an allied force of pirate and privately owned vessels all descended on the island in 305 B.C. What ensued was a year-long siege of Rhodes city during which time the inhabitants defended themselves valiantly.
The culmination of this siege came in the building of a Helepolis or ‘taker of cities’ on the order of Demetrius. Reaching more than one hundred feet tall and weighing 160 tons, the Helepolis, an awesome wheeled siege tower, earned Demetrius the nickname Poliorcetes – ‘besieger of cities’. It was, at the time, an invention of mammoth proportions but it wasn’t enough.
With the help of Ptolemy and other members of the Diadochi, Lysimachus of Thrace and Cassander of Macedon, the Rhodians held strong and eventually repulsed Demetrius. An agreement was formed whereby Rhodes would support Antigonus but never carry arms against their ally, Ptolemy. In an act of reconciliation, Demetrius presented the Helepolis to the people of Rhodes. This act concluded one of the most significant events of the island’s history and gave rise to another.
A Colossal Claim to Fame
The entrepreneurial Rhodians sold the Helepolis and other siege equipment, weapons, armour and such like for a cool 300 talents. It’s very difficult to equate a talent into modern measurements but, at the time, this was equivalent to 1.8 million Attic silver drachms, each weighing 4.33 grams and thus totaling nearly 7.8 tonnes of silver! Far from being frittered away, this tidy profit was put to very good use by the Rhodians in honouring their patron deity, Helios, god of the sun and of sight and guardian of oaths.
For this era-defining victory, Helios was praised in gargantuan form. The Rhodians enlisted the help of one of their own, Chares of Lindos, pupil of famous sculptor, Lysippus, a favourite artist of Alexander the Great, to design for them a colossal statue of Helios in all his resplendent glory. Chares did not disappoint. In c. 280 B.C. he delivered his commission, a construction twelve years in the making.
It was a truly awesome sight which captured imaginations for centuries to come. According to one 2nd century B.C. engineer, Philo of Byzantium, the 33 metre high statue required 12 to 13 tons of bronze, an operation, he said; ‘…that involved the bronze industry of the entire world’. Modern historians generally agree that the statue was situated at the entrance to Rhodes’ harbour and so today two pillars stand at the entrance to the Port at the spot where the statue is believed to have stood.
Being such a monumental investment and project, the Colossus required a huge amount of funding over a period of 12 years. The coinage of Rhodes city began in around 408/7 B.C. with the introduction of a silver coinage bearing a deeply cut image and vigorous rendering of Helios, seen full-face with luxuriant hair, blown back by the wind as his chariot carried him, as the sun, across the sky. Helios’ imposing image was paired with that of a rose (a pun on the name of the city) and also the city’s ethnic; POΔION, meaning ‘of Rhodes’. Tetradrachm coins, worth four drachma, were the main denomination until later in the 4th century when the didrachm or two drachma silver coin became preeminent. Issues of these Rhodian coins were fairly regular with spikes in production correlating with construction projects or military engagements.
It was, however, the construction of the Colossus which instigated a spike in activity at the mint and, as such, these Rhodian didrachms financed its construction. From 304 B.C to c.265 B.C. an issue of coins depicting Helios in profile are thought to possibly portray the Colossus itself. If this is the case then the statue wore a radiate taenia or band of spikes, designed as if to be the gleaming rays of sunlight issuing forth from Helios’ head. Full facing didrachms featuring this new crown of sun rays were struck alongside the profile portrait didrachms and they too played their part in financing the era-defining statue which would, like the giant of world history that it was, stride its way into antiquity’s hall of fame as a wonder of the ancient world.
The Sun of God
Those who were able to see the Colossus in situ didn’t know how lucky they were. In 226 B.C., after towering over the harbour of Rhodes city for only 54 years, tremors from a powerful earthquake toppled the statue which, according to ancient writer Strabo, broke off at the knees.
It was not a good sign for the Rhodians who ritually honoured Helios every year by sacrificing four consecrated horses in an act of driving them over a precipice into the sea. This equine sacrifice was the culmination of the Halieia festival, a highlight of the island’s religious calendar with chariot races, gymnastic events and music contests.
In an act of solidarity, Pharaoh Ptolemy III Euergetes ‘the Benefactor’ offered to pay for the Colossus’ reconstruction. The Rhodians, deeply concerned about such an ominous omen, had consulted one of the most powerful women of the classical world, none other than the Pythia, high priestess of the Temple of Apollo, most famously known as, the Oracle of Delphi.
In a trance-like state, fevered by the intoxicating gases billowing forth from the earth, the Pythia channeled the voice of Apollo himself and warned not to rebuild Helios’ Colossus. Taken as a sign that Rhodes’ patron god had caused the earthquake as retribution for their insolence, the Rhodians respectfully declined Ptolemy’s gesture. As such the Colossus lay in pieces, embedded in the ground where it fell for a number of centuries. It remained a wonder which drew in the curious from far and wide.
Roman author and friend of Emperor Vespasian, Pliny the Elder, wrote in the 1st century A.D.; ‘Even as it lies, 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.’. For 880 years the Colossus lay broken in the earth, an apparition of its former glory.
In 654 A.D. Arab invaders, Ummayad Muslims, led by caliph Muawiyah conquered Rhodes and completed the job which the earthquake had begun centuries before. Muawiyah’s forces broke the statue up and transported the hacked bronze pieces to Syria where they were sold to a Jewish merchant. It’s reported in a number of sources that the bronze was carried away by upwards of 900 camels and then may have been used to make coins, tools, artifacts and weapons. Centuries later, in a case of mistaken identity, the extant Rhodian didrachms would become much revered religious relics.
The religious houses of Christian Europe saw in Helios’ portrait an image of the Passion of Jesus Christ whereby the son of God was adorned with the crown of thorns. These coins, it was believed, were the very biblical coins, thirty pieces to be exact, that Judas Iscariot received upon betraying Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Alas we know this not to be the case but it’s an entertaining historical footnote to behold.
A Statue for Liberty
While the production of Rhodian silver coins bearing the image of Helios came to an end during Roman domination in the 1st century B.C., it’s the legacy of these coins that really brings them into a league of their own.
These were coins made by the very people who built the Colossus and saw it with their own eyes. To the Rhodians these coins represented life and liberty. On the subject of Liberty, one can fail but notice the more than passing resemblance between Helios and Auguste Bartholdi’s masterpiece, Liberty Enlightening the World, more commonly known as the Statue of Liberty.
The French sculptor is known to have been inspired by the story of Rhodes’ colossus, an inspiration which took the beaming rays of Helios’ crown and placed them on Liberty’s head. Rhodes’ coins survive as relics of this source of inspiration, the original blueprint of freedom personified.
To raise money for Liberty’s pedestal, American poet, Emma Lazarus, wrote a sonnet called ‘The New Colossus’ in 1883, a poem which would, in 1903, very appropriately be cast onto a bronze plaque and mounted inside Liberty’s pedestal.
In words that would be equally applicable to Liberty herself, an ancient eulogy in praise of Helios from the Greek Magical Papyri, beautifully expresses the colossal importance of his celestial body; ‘the earth flourished when you shone forth and made the plants fruitful when you laughed and brought to life the living creatures when you permitted’.
