Gold coin Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - The Colossus of Rhodes - proof

Seven wonders of the ancient world

The sixth of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the Colossus of Rhodes. The legendary monument is commemorated by a gold coin of the Czech Mint weighing one troy ounce.

The island of Rhodes lies off the coast of Asia Minor. In ancient mythology, it was the chosen land of the god Helios, who raised it from the bottom of the sea. The locals were fabulously wealthy, culturally advanced and also very religious. Because they held their sun deity in high esteem, they erected an unprecedented monument in the form of a gigantic statue to him to thank you for his help in fighting the Greek invaders. The so-called Colossus of Rhodes was created by the sculptor Charles of Lindus, a pupil of Lysippus himself, from thirteen tons of bronze and eight tons of iron. An embankment was gradually built up around the structure and the material was carried up a spiral ramp. The construction lasted approximately twelve years, and in each year the statue grew by three metres. Today, no one knows exactly what the final work looked like. Some scholars believe that Helios stood straddling two opposite quays of the harbour, so that ships wishing to dock in Lindos had to undercut it. More likely, however, is that the statue stood at the edge of the city. Whatever the reddish-brown giant looked like, he had only been impressing sailors for sixty-six years. Then, in a massive earthquake, it broke at the knees and crashed into the sea. "Even lying still, he was a miracle," wrote the historian Pliny. The sophistication of the ancient builders is evidenced by the fact that the Statue of Liberty, which was built two thousand years later, has the same design as the ancient wonder of the world…

The reverse side of the coin, which is the work of the medal maker Petra Brodská, DiS., presents a supposed image of the Colossus of Rhodes, supplemented with the English inscription COLOSSUS OF RHODES. The obverse side, which is common to the entire cycle, presents all seven wonders of the world - the Egyptian pyramids, the hanging gardens of Semiramis, the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, the statue of Zeus in Olympia, the mausoleum in Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the lighthouse on the island of Faro. As the coins of the Czech Mint are issued with the foreign license of the island of Niue, they also bear its national emblem, the nominal value of 50 DOLLARS (NZD) and the year of issue 2023 on the obverse side.

The mintage is only 200 pieces of one-ounce coins.