The Colossus was a bronze statue of Helios, the sun god, which stood about 120 feet high. The statue was erected in about 280 B.C. by the citizens of Rhodes.
Legend has it that it straddled the entrance to the harbor, but it probably stood to one side.
An earthquake destroyed the statue in 224 B.C., but it's huge pieces were looked upon with awe for centuries. Nearly a thousand years later, a scrap metal dealer bought the pieces and had them melted down.