Colossus of Rhodes

The Colossus of Rhodes was a forty to fifty-meter tall monument built by the sculptor Chares regarded as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. A bronze statue of the Greek sun god, Helios, meant as symbol of Rhodes' prosperity, the Colossus stood at the city's harbor before being toppled in an earthquake that hit the island in 224 BC.

Pieces of the fallen Colossus were broken away over the centuries, and by the year 653, traces of the monument were gone, however some persons looking for fortune and glory took up a search of the world for remnants of the statue.