But the battles between them and those regions that supported one or the other lasted for many long years. Rhodes was caught into one of these fights. The inhabitants of Rhodes had sided over with Ptolemy and Antigonus, who was the ruller of neighbouring Cyprus, decided that he didn't appreciate that. So, he sent over his son, the mighty Demetrios, the so-called Conqueror, infamous for his strategic thinking and his talent in constructing innovative seige machines, to take over Rhodes.īuilt in an easily accessible water front, the city of Rhodes was protected by strong and tall walls. So, Demetrios brought over the 'big guns' for this one: a giant seige tower mounted on six ships and 'helepolis', the monster of all seige towers, which measured 45x23 metres and weighed 160 tons! On top of that, Demetrios' army consisted of 40.000 men, more than the Rhodes' entire population. But, after one year, the city still stood. Here is when the accounts take two turns: some say that the Rhodeans managed to withstand the seige helped by luck (a storm that smashed the seige tower that stood on ships) and canning (they flooded the ditch on which helepolis stood and the construction feel into its muddy ruin).

Others say that politicians from Athens intervened and broked a treaty between Antigonus and the Rhodean people. Either way, Demetrios finally up and left, leaving most of his seige equipment and weaponry behind, which the Rhodeans sold for the hefty fee of 300 talents (88 million euro by contemporary account!). It was then decided that the proceedings from the sale should be invested in the construction of the most impressive statue of the time, built to honor Helios (meaning sun in Greek), the protector of Rhodes. Local sculptor Chares from Lindos was appointed with the heavy task, his credentials running high: he had studied under Lysippus, who was Alexander the Great's official bust scuptοr and had also created a 22m high statue of Zeus before. The statue is thought to have depicted Helios standing up in the nude (or in semi-nude form wearing a short robe or holding a piece of cloth over his nudity), probably wearing a crown or being crowned by sun beams. His right arm was either held on top of his head to cover his eyes from the sun or, less likely, holding an ever-burning torch.

Helios bust satue