7/27/2019 Ancient NEWSmismatics: Of Colossus and Coin-An Ancient Silver Didrachm of Rhodes

1/2

Ancient NEWSmismatics: Of Coin and Colossus by L.A. Hambly

1

Rhodes was one of the great maritime cities of the Greek world, located on a spearhead-

shaped island of the same name in the eastern Aegean Sea. Myth has it the island was

born of a union between the sun god Helios and the nymph Rhode, who gave her name tothe island a beautiful pink hibiscus flower native to it. The city of Rhodes was a relatively

late foundation, circa 408 BC, when citizens of three other cities located on the island

decided to unite and build a well-defended coastal capital on a regular plan provided bythe Athenian architect Hippodamus. The Carian Satrap Maussolus brought Rhodes under

his control in 357 BC, but two decades later it was liberated by Alexander the Great.

During the Wars of the Diodachi, Rhodes was an independent power allied to Ptolemaic

Egypt and famous for its outstanding artists, scientists and philosophers. In 305 BC, theMacedonian adventurer Demetrius, son of Antigonus, launched a stupendous siege of

Rhodes in an effort to break its alliance with Egypt (he later became known as

Demetrius Poliorcetes besieger of cities for his Herculean efforts). Among theengines he constructed for the task was the enormous Helepolis, an ironclad siege tower

festooned with torsion catapults and weighing 160 tons. Despite his massive preparations

and investment, Demetrius was thwarted by the ingenious Rhodians and abandoned hissiege within a year. The Rhodians gladly took possession of his mammoth engines and

sold them for a tidy profit of 300 talents (1.8 million silver drachms), which they used to

erect the first truly monumental bronze statue of antiquity, the famous Colossus ofRhodes. The master builder-sculptor, Chares of Lindos, conceived a 100-foot-tall bronze

statue of the sun god Helios, wearing a radiate crown, his arm holding a torch aloft.

"Pompeia's Pick"for November 2013: Silver didrachm of Rhodes. CARIANISLANDS. Rhodes. Ca. 340-316 BC. AR didrachm (21mm, 6.89 gm,

12h). Facing head of Helios, slightly right / POION, rose with bud r.; at l.

bunch of grapes and E, within incuse square.

7/27/2019 Ancient NEWSmismatics: Of Colossus and Coin-An Ancient Silver Didrachm of Rhodes

2/2

Ancient NEWSmismatics: Of Coin and Colossus by L.A. Hambly

2

Consisting of an iron framework covered by thin bronze sheets (not too different from the

modern Colossus, the Statue of Liberty), the Colossus was begun in 292 BC and finisheda dozen years later. The handsome face of Helios had already found its way onto Rhodes

coinage, as this example (struck somewhat before the Colossus was built), boldly

depicting the god looking straight out at the holder. His features likely owed something to

the islands late, lamented liberator, Alexander the Great, including the conquerorsfamous lion-like mane of hair with its central part. The Colossus itself caused a sensation

in the Ancient world and was immortalized as one of the Seven Wonders of the World

by Greek chroniclers including Antipator of Sidon and Philo of Byzantium. Alas, thegreat statue had a brief lifespan of 54 years. A disastrous earthquake struck Rhodes in

226 BC and the Colossus, built long before any concept of seismic-safe construction,

snapped off at the knees and toppled over. Ptolemy III of Egypt offered to pay for itsreconstruction, but the Rhodians decided the heed to the words of the Oracle of Delphi,

who declared the statue an act of hubris that had offended Helios. Its spectacular ruins lay

scattered near the harbor, by one account, until after the Muslim conquest of Rhodes in

AD 653. According to an account (possibly apocryphal) by Theophanes the Confessor,

the citys Arab conquerors sold the remains to a Jewish merchant of Edessa, who needed900 camels to transport the heavy metal to his homeland.