An earthquake toppled the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The bronze statue represented the sun god Helios and stood at Rhodes, a Greek island city in the eastern Mediterranean. Ancient accounts say it was completed around 280 BC, but it remained standing for only a few decades before a powerful earthquake struck in about 226 BC.
The earthquake broke the statue at the knees, leaving its enormous pieces on the ground. According to later tradition, the Rhodians declined an offer to rebuild it after an oracle warned against doing so. The fallen fragments reportedly remained a famous sight for centuries.
A popular modern image places the Colossus astride the harbor entrance, with ships passing between its legs. That pose is almost certainly impossible because the statue’s estimated height would not have allowed such an arrangement. Its actual location and construction method remain debated.