Note 127 — Chapter II

Chares flourished at the beginning of the third century B. C. The accounts of the height of the Colossus of Rhodes differ slightly, but all agree in making it 105 English feet. It was twelve years in erecting, (B. C. 292-280,) and it cost 300 talents. There is no authority for the statement that its legs extended over the mouth of the harbour. It was overthrown 56 years after its erection. The fragments of the Colossus remained on the ground 923 years, until they were sold by Moawiyeh, the general of the Caliph Othman IV., to a Jew of Emessa, who carried them away on 900 camels, A. D. 672. Hence Scaliger calculated the weight of the bronze at 700,000 pounds.—Smith’s Dict. of Biog. and Mythology.