The Colossus of Rhodes: Its Height and Pedestal

Abstract

This is one of several interrelated articles on the Colossus of Rhodes submitted to ATINER journals. No conclusive literary or archaeological evidence exists to demonstrate the exact height (or configuration) of the Colossus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, or the nature of any pedestal on which the giant statue, the largest in the Greek world, was mounted. This study gathers together for the first time all the relevant ancient and modern evidence concerning these questions, offering fresh interpretations of the material and determining that the Colossus was at least 110 feet tall and stood on a three-tiered pedestal some fifty feet high-- a combined height of 160 feet. A related study printed in another ATINER journal on the Colossus’ location, places the statue, a votive offering to Helios, God of the Sun and the island’s patron deity, at the apex of the acropolis of Rhodes city among the island’s other most sacred temples and monuments atop what is today known as Monte Smith. The latter, approaching a height of about 300 feet in antiquity, would have elevated the Colossus some 460 feet above the sea below and also made it an ideal light tower for vessels approaching and leaving Rhodes’ five harbors. A number of photographs and illustrations complement the inquiry.