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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ed Snible, post: 3512014, member: 82322&quot;]There was a thread on the very largest bronze of Rhodes last year at <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/rhodes-ae36.311054/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/rhodes-ae36.311054/">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/rhodes-ae36.311054/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Here is the facing head variety. Thick enough that someone attempted to make a hole and gave up part-way through.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]931476[/ATTACH] </p><p>Rhodes/Rhodos, Caria, 1st Century B.C., AE 19.7g, 35.5mm</p><p>Obverse: radiate facing head of Helios</p><p>Reverse: PO, rose, magistrate&#039;s name SFAIROS below, all within wreath</p><p><br /></p><p>In 164 BC, Rhodes became a permanent ally of Rome and it was sacked by Cassius in the 40s BC. I believe this was minted between those two events.&nbsp; Not sure how the chronology of the facing head type fits in with the right-facing type.</p><p><br /></p><p>During this period there was a giant bronze colossus just lying on the ground downtown!</p><p><br /></p><p>The 33 meter tall colossus had snapped at the knees during a 226 BC earthquake. The statue was so massive that after a Muslim army captured Rhodes in 653 AD it took 900 camels to haul the bronze away.</p><p><br /></p><p>I suspect that Rhodes&#039; source of bronze for coinage was the less-interesting mangled chunks of the statue. Recycling was part of their culture; the colossus itself was made from weapons Demetrius Poliorcetes&#039;s army left behind.&nbsp; (I am unsure which ancient source documents this.)</p><p><br /></p><p>The colossus was 108 feet tall. Think of an 11 story building. About 1/3 as tall as the Statue of Liberty in New York. About the same height as the Las Vegas Statue of Liberty.</p><p><br /></p><p>A hollow 108&#039; statue like the Colossus would have taken more than 900 camels to transport if it was complete. I am confident that the statue wasn&#039;t all there by the time it was sold for scrap. I believe some of the Rhodes bronze coins not only depict a Wonder of the Ancient World, but were made from the metal of that wonder.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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