Colossus of Rhodes

### Height

173 blocks (including the torch points on the arm).134 blocks (including the crown points on the head).

### Adventure Block

Green Stained Clay

**The Colossus of Rhodes** is a tall statue in the ocean. It is the 5th location in Wayward Wonders.

It is based on the real Colossus of Rhodes located in Rhodes, Greece.

## History

The idea for the Colossus of Rhodes was first developed in 304 B.C., when the Rhodians made plans to create a statue to commemorate their victory in the Seige of Rhodes.

Rhodes was targeted by Alexander the Great's son Antigonus for helping his brother Ptolemy, whom he was battling. Antigonius sent his son Demetrious, and a huge army of Macedonians, to beseige Rhodes, resulting in the year-long Seige of Rhodes. The war ended with Demetrious signing a peace treaty with Rhodes in exchange for Rhodes remaining neutral in the war between Antigonus and Ptolemy.

To commemorate their victory, they planned out the creation of the Colossus of Rhodes, a 108-foot-tall statue of their patron god: Helios, the Greek God of the Sun. The Colossus would be holding a torch in his left hand, and a bow in his right.

Construction didn't start until 292 B.C., and the main architect was Chares of Lindos, a former soldier of the war, and a student of Lysippos.

To build the statue, the Rhodians sold war equipment for 500 bronze talents and 300 iron talents. A talent was a former measurement of weight that was also a unit of currency. It would be made of gold, bronze, silver, and iron. 1 talent in 2018 equals out to 26 kilograms – or 57 pounds – in weight, and it also equals out to $1,400,116.57 in price. So 500 talents in 304 B.C. totals out to $700,058,285 and 300 talents in 304 B.C. totals out to $420,034,971 in 2018. The overall price for building the Colossus of Rhodes was $1,120,093,256 by 2018 standards.

Then they found weapons - preferably swords - left behind by Demetrious's men. These weapons were mostly made of Corinthian bronze, but the others were made of iron and brass. The Rhodians melted down these weapons into a liquid state, then they cast them into plating. When they ran out of bronze, they made bronze of their own using Cypriot-imported copper chips and mixed it with iron. They also cast the iron into beams and rods to hold the statue together.

The statue's skeleton was made up of iron beams and rods, and then bronze and brass plating covered the outside.

Chares committed suicide after the statue's completion, after someone had pointed out a small flaw in the design.

The statue stood for 54 more years before an earthquake sent it crashing to the ground in 226 B.C. 800 years later, Arabs under the monarchy of Muawiyah the First invaded Rhodes, discovered the statues remains, and melted it down into scrap metal before selling it to an Edessan metals merchant, who took it away.

## In the game

### Physical Description

The statue depicts Helios, dressed in a golden crown, loincloth, and sandals, holding a golden torch in his left hand, and a golden longbow in his other hand.

The statue is mostly made of green-stained clay and green wool, but yellow-stained clay, yellow wool, and glowstone make up the clothes, torch, and bow. Blocks of redstone make up his eyes.

The statue stands a total height of 173 blocks (173 meters/519 feet).

The statue is situated on 2 12-block tall pieces of land projecting from the water.

The first block of the statue itself is at 76.00000.

The highest point of the crown (the crown points) is at 210.00000.

The main block level of the inside of the torch is at 225.00000.

The highest point of the statue (the torch points) is at 249.00000.

## Trivia

In the game, The Colossus of Rhodes is 173 blocks high (173 meters/519 feet).

* In real life the Colossus of Rhodes was 108 feet high.

The Colossus of Rhodes has at often times been compared to the Statue of Liberty.

* They have the same dimensions, design, layout, and greenish coloration. The last one is due to atmospheric oxidation, where metal slowly corrodes when air or water is chemically applied.