Voyage to the Colossus of Rhodes
Painting of the Colossus of Rhodes from 1750 CE. The statue was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
I’ve always been fascinated with mythology, especially of Greek and Egyptian background. I remember watching the likes of Jason and the Argonauts, Medea and Clash of the Titans as a young child with my father, and was utterly enthralled with not only the culture it portrayed but with the fantastical creatures, demons, monsters and well-rounded heroes. This love for Greek mythology stuck with me growing up and I absolutely devoured books on the topic.
In school, I remember we had a competition to make anything we wanted with the sole condition that it had to use LED lights. It was around the time that out of all the various figures of ancient Greek mythology, my fascination with Medusa was at its highest. Her story is an interesting one. She was once a beautiful maiden who, cursed by the goddess Athena, was made to look so terrible that the mere sight of her would turn anyone to stone. Over time her anger overtook her and she became a scourge, plaguing mankind. The demi-god Perseus slayed her and used her dreadful head to turn to stone monsters, beasts and other men alike in his self-serving yet glorified journey which ended with the founding of the ancient city-state Mycenae.
Medusa was once a beautiful maiden cursed by the goddess Athena to become a hideous monster who turned to stone anyone who looked upon her
Medusa’s is the story of a woman, who through no fault of her own was wronged, and turned into a hideous beast. A parable, teaching us the psychologically damaging effects of both harming other people, and at the same time not dealing with and overcoming the emotional damage done to us by others. It is literally a story of those who have some sort of power over us (as in the case of Athena’s ability to curse Medusa), turning Medusa into a monster. It’s a parable, supposed to be a stark warning of how not to abuse others and turn them into self-destructive monsters. In any case, I remember winning the competition after making an extremely crude model of Medusa, with the eyes of the snakes on her head fitted with LED lights.
As a teenager, after my somewhat unsuccessful but memorable trip to catch a glimpse of the Loch Ness Monster, I was more daring to book holidays for my family. Around 15-16 years old, I saw an advert outside a travel agency of holidays to Greece, and that really got my brain working. I was plotting to get the whole family over to Greece to see at least one or two of the ancient Greek ruins. My family didn’t have much money back then, but my parents were of the opinion that we should all go on holiday once in a while, and always included something educational in it for my brother and I. Finally, I found a package that was within our budget and it was to the Greek island of Rhodes.
An artist’s impression of what the Colossus of Rhodes would look like now if rebuilt. Click on image to enlarge. (Colossus of Rhodes Project)
After a flight of a couple of hours, my heart beat faster and faster as we got into the hotel shuttle bus from the airport. I was looking forward to entering the city and seeing what Greek life was like. After about 10 minutes, however, the shuttle took a turn down a side road and we ended up at the hotel. The hotel was nice for what it was, with bare necessities but adequate, and it had a swimming pool, but with the breeze coming from the nearby sea, it was somewhat cold. A short 5-minute walk away was the Aegean Sea.
As soon as we dropped our bags in our rooms, away we went to the beach. It was not what we had expected, it was full of pebbles compared to the golden sand as portrayed in the travel agency pictures. And the Aegean itself was absolutely freezing. My brother waded in with enthusiasm, only to turn back around, run back to the shore and start shivering. My father laughed hysterically, my mother complained that he would catch a cold, but I was happy that we were there. Finally, I would get to see the remnants of ancient Greek culture.
The Old Town of Rhodes is studded with ancient architecture and Greek culture. The place comes alive in the evenings.
But then disaster struck, we began to hear the huge roaring of engines from above, and as we turned around, we realised the reason that the holiday package was so cheap. We saw an airplane on its descent towards the airport. Turns out that the hotel was directly in the flight path of all planes landing and taking off from the airport. The noise was deafening. Just like out of a movie, my father, brother and mother turned around towards me slowly and stood there staring daggers at me for what seemed like an eternity.
Defeated, we returned to the hotel, only to find that the whole building shook whenever a plane landed or took off. Luckily that night, we were told that not many planes arrived at night, so our sleep was undisturbed. The morning was another story, plane after plane landing and taking off, forcing us to take a local bus into the city.
We arrived first in the Old Town and went directly to the harbour. There, we hoped to see the ruins of the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, alongside the likes of the Great Pyramids of Giza; the Lighthouse at Alexandria; and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
The Colossus was actually a statue of the Greek Sun God named Helios, erected in 280 BCE to celebrate Rhodian victory of over invading Macedonians and was made of bronze. According to historical descriptions, it was around 33 metres (approximately 108 feet) tall and was built by Chares of Lindos, who is said to have committed suicide after seeing a small flaw in the statue’s construction. It was the tallest statue in the ancient world. It collapsed during a devastating earthquake in 226 BCE which also destroyed large sections of the city and was never rebuilt. Its exact location was lost to the sands of time, though some people claim that it straddled the entrance to the Mandraki Harbour, while others claim that it only stood to one side of the entrance. At that time the oracle of Delphi pronounced that the city of Rhodes had offended Helios through they negative actions, so they dared not to rebuild the statue in case it offended the god further.
The Old Town of Rhodes is lined with cobbled roads, like Sokratous Street, known for its tourist shops and vibrant atmosphere.
When we arrived at the harbour we found scores of tourists all pointing their cameras and furiously taking pictures. We looked out into the harbour, saw absolutely nothing but water and a gigantic cruise ship off to one side. Asking around, I realised that nothing of the statue remained, which was a real let down.
Nevertheless, we continued our short holiday by taking bus rides into the countryside; sampling local cuisine (which had to be adjusted to suit our requirements, since both my mother and I are vegetarians); browsing through the various antique and tourist shops; and playing backgammon with the elderly Rhodians sitting outside Greek coffee houses along the cobbled streets of the city.
Though our voyage to see the Colossus of Rhodes ended up a failure, since not even ruins of the statue existed and the hotel was placed firmly in the flight path of the airport, we enjoyed ourselves as a family making the most of what we could afford and do at the time. It was and continues to be one of the most memorable experiences of time spent abroad with my family and at the same time the folly of youth.
Pastor Niral Patel
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- The “One God” Theory Comes from Greek Mythology
- Greece seeks Chinese investment as PM visits
- Byzantine Art Form of Saint Dorje Shugden
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- Images of the Wildman Inside and Outside Europe
- Osiris: The Egyptian God of the Underworld
- Chariots of the Gods
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The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the Greek sun-god Helios, erected in the city of Rhodes, on the Greek island. An interesting mythology behind this huge statue. It was built between the years 292-280 BCE, to honour the Ancient Greek god of the Sun, Helios recording to history. The people of the city of Rhodes in Greece were saved from a terrible siege and that’s where this statue was built. The Greek mythology was strongly influenced by the ancient Egyptian myths. Sound interesting. Rhodes has been famous since antiquity as the site of Colossus of Rhodes, and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. This ancient town is a step back in time and is one of the biggest best-preserved Medieval settlements of Europe. It’s the oldest populated medieval city in Europe with some 5000 people living inside the castle walls. Worth a visit to see for ourselves the beauty of this ancient town with many myth stories .
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One of the seven wonders of the ancient world was the Colossus of Rhodes. This beautiful Greek island of Rhodes, is most visited because of its combination of beaches, archaeological sites, and extensive medieval town. Rhodes has one of the longest and most splendid histories of any place in the world. The Colossus of Rhodes was once a gigantic 33-metre-high statue of the sun god Helios. There is a folklore story behind this beautiful place but as a massive earthquake destroyed most of the parts. Recording to the locals it was not rebuilt again due some other reason.
Pastor and family did not managed to see it excepts the ruins of ancient Greek culture. Yet this trip has a fond memories for Pastor to enjoy a family bonding trip together.
Thank you Pastor Niral Patel for this sharing.