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Colossal Structure – Ancient
© Ferdinand Knab/The Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Images

Colossal Structure – Ancient

Colossus of Rhodes: Built in 282 B.C. by Charles of Lindos for the residents of Rhodes, this bronze behemoth did not straddle the harbor of Rhodes as commonly thought—the distance is wrong—but on an eastern promontory near the harbor. It lasted just 56 years, and was toppled in an earthquake. Historian Pliny wrote of the toppled statue, "Few people can make their arms meet round the thumb." Efforts to reconstruct it failed, and it was sold off in pieces.

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