Which ancient wonder was destroyed by an earthquake around 226 BC?

The Colossus of Rhodes was the ancient wonder destroyed as a standing statue by an earthquake around 226 BC.

The bronze image of Helios had been completed only a few decades earlier, after Rhodes resisted a siege by Demetrius I of Macedon. Its construction required a large internal framework and enormous quantities of bronze, making it one of the most ambitious sculptural projects of the Hellenistic age.

The earthquake struck Rhodes around 226 BC and broke the statue at the knees. According to ancient accounts, the Rhodians declined an offer to rebuild it after consulting an oracle. The fallen fragments remained visible for centuries and became a tourist attraction in their own right.

The Colossus was therefore not melted down immediately or carried away when it fell. A later tradition says an Arab force sold its bronze in the seventh century, but historians question details of that account. The earthquake date and the statue’s collapse are the key established points.