00:01But it was on the small island of Rhodes that a giant was created.
00:06The islanders set themselves an unprecedented technical challenge
00:09to engineer a statue of superhuman proportions.
00:17It was the greatest statue ever built.
00:20A giant celebration of victory.
00:22And a lost triumph of engineering that has baffled experts for centuries.
00:29The Colossus once guarded the harbour to the island of Rhodes.
00:34It stood for nearly a century and was one of the ancient wonders of the world.
00:40At 110 feet high, it was nearly as tall as the Statue of Liberty, built over 2,000 years later.
00:47With the help of archaeologists, it's possible to rediscover the techniques the ancients used
00:52to construct the largest bronze statue of all time.
00:57And with the help of structural engineers, we can piece together what the Colossus may have looked like.
01:09The story of the Colossus began in 305 BC, when a powerful enemy fleet began a year-long siege of
01:16the small island of Rhodes.
01:18The attackers far outnumbered the small island's population, but against all odds, the islanders defeated them.
01:26To celebrate their surprising victory, the Rhodians decided to build a giant bronze statue of their sun god, Helios.
01:37A local sculptor, Harries of Lindos, was given the challenge of building a statue nearly twice as tall as any
01:45ever built.
01:47Construction took 12 long years of hard labour and 200 tons of bronze.
01:53To begin, the architect, Harries, had to work out where best to build the statue.
01:59Well, as an engineer, the key considerations the sculptor would need to think about in finding a location for the
02:06Colossus would be,
02:07firstly, the visibility. It would have to be in a prominent position overlooking the harbour.
02:11Secondly, it would need a really strong rock foundation to be built upon.
02:18Early representations of the Colossus show the statue astride the harbour.
02:22This convention continues today, as in this recent commercial for a communications company.
02:30But would it have been possible for the statue to have stood like this?
02:34Well, the old harbour here at Rhodes is in a natural bay, but still the mouth of the harbour is
02:39very large compared to the height of the Colossus.
02:42This tower on the right of the harbour mouth is about the height that the Colossus was.
02:47And you can see how ridiculous it would be that it could stand astride the harbour mouth with its legs
02:53at an impossible angle, very difficult to support.
02:57Recent archaeological finds have now convinced experts that the Colossus stood on the hill overlooking the bay, where a medieval
03:05castle now stands.
03:08Further evidence of a sanctuary to the sun god Helios, near the castle, suggests that this was where the Colossus
03:14had once stood.
03:17There was no precedent for a statue of this size, so at every stage of construction, Harris was taking a
03:23step further into the unknown.
03:27He decided to build a wooden frame over which he would hang beaten bronze panels.
03:33Starting at the feet and working upwards, the Colossus was supported by a mound of earth, as it grew to
03:39over 100 feet high.
03:44The island of Rhodes was renowned for its bronze work, which was a major export.
03:50But because the Colossus was so large, the entire casting pit could only make one small section at a time.
03:57We have evidence from around the time that the Colossus was built that the Rhodians were experts in bronze work.
04:03This is one of the largest bronze casting pits ever found from ancient Greece, and it proves that the Rhodians
04:10were able to make large, hollow bronze pieces.
04:13It works a bit like a kiln. They would fashion a large block of clay, and then by placing wax
04:20around the outside in a thin layer, and more clay outside that,
04:24they could create the shape that they wanted to cast.
04:27They would pack earth down around the whole structure, and then fire the clay from beneath, using fires in the
04:34bottom of the pit.
04:36That would then set the clay into the shape of the form.
04:39The wax would be drained out, and the liquid bronze poured in from the top.
04:45Hundreds of these pieces were cast and carried up the growing mountain to be attached to the wooden framework.
04:54Stones were dropped down inside to give stability.
04:58But after 12 years of construction, when the earth was removed, how could Hares be sure that the Colossus would
05:05stand up?
05:08To support a human shape with two legs, a sculptor might use a third support disguised in some way.
05:15Something draped down to the ground through which they can have a third leg, essentially, for the structure to stand.
05:23Whatever technique he used, Hares' masterpiece withstood the elements for nearly 60 years.
05:30But in 224 BC, there occurred one natural force the Colossus could not survive.
05:44The nerve plague doesn't just shake it backwards and forwards, but it would also twist it.
05:51And twisting the top of the tripod would break the connections between the legs.
05:56And at that point, given that the ankles are secured in the ground, it's the knees that are going to
06:02be the weak point.
06:02And that's where it would buckle.
06:11The people of Rhodes consulted an oracle, which warned that to rebuild the Colossus would bring them misfortune.
06:20So the giant statue lay in pieces for over a thousand years, until finally the bronze was sold for scrap.
06:30Although it fell, this ancient world wonder has lived on as an inspiration to sculptors down through the ages.
06:36Most famously, in Auguste Bartholdi's design for the Statue of Liberty, built in the late 1800s.
06:43The Hollywood
