Rhodes Island is located in the Aegean Sea, 4,500 meters west of mainland Greece and 19,000 meters north of Turkey. Rhodes Island, which is part of Greek territory, has an area of 14,000 square kilometers and a population of over 7,000 people.
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The Sun God Apollo |
Rhodes Island is considered one of the cradles of ancient Greek civilization. According to legend, after the war for supremacy among the Greek gods, Zeus became the ruler of the gods. Zeus divided the territories among the other gods but forgot to assign a piece to Apollo, the Sun God who discovered the heavenly abode. When Apollo returned, Zeus granted him a stone deep beneath the Aegean Sea. The stone joyfully emerged from the sea to welcome the Sun God to reside there. Apollo was pleased with his territory and named the island after his daughter, Rhodes (daughter of the goddess of love). Apollo’s three sons—Caminos, Maunosos, and Limgos—were also granted lands on this island, and each day they worked on building their own kingdoms. Life on Rhodes Island was prosperous, attracting powerful nations such as Athens, Sparta, Macedonia, Persia, and Rome, which successively invaded and damaged many strongholds. In 227 BC, the cities on Rhodes Island were once again devastated by a strong earthquake.
Three other strongholds on the island, after being destroyed by the earthquake, were not rebuilt but instead, desolate villages were established nearby, preserving some stone wall foundations. Only the city of Rhodes, the residence of the Sun God Apollo, was almost completely rebuilt and expanded, so there are no visible traces of the ancient earthquake’s destruction. Here, one can glimpse the rare former splendor of this city through various excavated artifacts, such as marble walls, a head of the statue of Apollo carved in the 2nd century, and a statue of the nude goddess of love, Aphrodite, sculpted in the 1st century. However, the bronze statue of Apollo, regarded as the “Seventh Wonder of the Ancient World”, mysteriously vanished at some point in history.
The process of casting the statue of the Sun God took place around the 5th century BC. When the Persians invaded Rhodes Island, all the residents retreated to defend the stronghold of Limgos, located at the eastern tip of the island. Ultimately, they repelled the Persian invasion. After defeating the Persian forces, the people melted down all the enemy weapons left behind to forge iron. The sculptor Litas cast a bronze statue of the Sun God Apollo and placed it at the harbor, a magnificent sight for the maritime domain. Additionally, the Roman philosopher contemporary with Apollo, named Antipot, is also considered a “Seventh Wonder of the Ancient World.”
In a strong earthquake over 2,200 years ago, the grand statue of the Sun God collapsed. Some say that the fallen statue could not be recast and, by the 7th century, it was melted down into various weapons. Others claim that the statue was stolen, with pirates’ ships sinking in a storm at sea. Today, the future generations can only imagine the statue’s form based on brief accounts recorded in history. The Statue of Liberty in New York (USA) was cast based on the concept of the Sun God statue, depicting a figure holding a torch, wearing a crown, radiating light like the sun.
