The Colossus of Rhodes: Archaeology of a Lost Wonder

The Colossus of Rhodes is both the most famous and the least well-known monument of Ancient Greece. Numbered among the Seven Wonders of the World, this bronze statue of the god Helios, thirty-four metres in height, was created by the sculptor Chares of Lindos between the years 295 and 283 BC, only to be destroyed by an earthquake in 227 BC. The legends which have spread after its collapse seem so strange and contradictory that specialists in Greek sculpture have been dissuaded from investigating the topic. Nathan Badoud publishes the first comprehensive study devoted to the Colossus. His book mobilises a large array of sources, ranging from antiquity to the present day. It proposes an intellectual excavation through the layers of the literary, artistic, and scientific tradition. It envisages the statue in its religious, political, and topographical contexts. It explores its function, its technique, its appearance, its meaning, and its location. It reconsiders the beginnings of the Hellenistic world, marked by the emergence of Rhodes as an imperial power, embodied by the Colossus.

Nathan Badoud, Director, Archaeological Service of the State of Geneva

Nathan Badoud is an archaeologist and historian specializing in classical antiquity. He has held teaching and research posts in several universities, including Neuchâtel, Bordeaux, Rome, Vienna, Oxford, and Harvard. He also spent four years working in Greece as a member of the French School at Athens. A Fellow of the Swiss National Science Foundation, he was formerly Professor of Classical Archaeology at the University of Fribourg. He is now Director of the Archaeological Service of the State of Geneva.