h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A602128

Ok, here we go..

Most impressive and very informative!

...and among my heaps of info I found that the Egyptian king was Ptolemy III Eurgetes...

What, my Ptolemy?
I'll add it to the footnote then. Thanks!

Stop! Wait!

The Ptolemy you mention first, in the beginning of 'Background' became Ptolemy I Soter, but the one who offered to pay for the reconstruction was his grandson Ptolemy III Eurgetes...

Aha! Brilliant!

Psst! GrandSON, not grandfather...

Arrgh!

This is an interesting article. There are a few things in it I don't understand, so perhaps you can explain further.

What's a harbour mole? I haven't heard this word and although I can find it in the dictionary, I'm still not sure. Is it a pier?

The following paragraph is confusing:

"The statue was constructed of bronze plates over an iron framework7 According to the book of Pilon of Byzantium, 13 600 kilogram of bronze were used and 8 160 kilograms of iron, though these numbers seem low. The Colossus, which relied on weaker materials, must have weighed at least as much and probably more."

It seems to say the Colossus was made of 13 tons of bronze and and 8 tons of iron. It then goes on to say that the Colossus was made from weaker materials than this, so it must have weighed even more. What do you mean? Is the first sentence actually describing something else, not the Colossus? It is very confusing.

Keep up the good work!

The sentence "The Statue of Liberty, roughly of the same size, weighs 225 tons."had dropped down to the footnotes. It's back up again now.
As for the "Harbour mole" the Norwegian word is "havnemolo". I'll see if I can find a translation somewhere.

Ah, found it.
"Mole" (among other things) means breakwater. In Norwegian it's called "molo", and that's why I chose to use that word.

Good article.
Some corrections:
Island should be capitalized in "Island of Rhodes"
"such a pose would mean shutting down..." should be "such a pose would have meant shutting down..."

I heard the Governor of Rhodes wants to rebuild the statue. Is there any truth to this?

Thanks I've fixed it now.
I've done some alterations in the last paragraph, and added two new footnotes. Too many footnotes?

I can't remember any talk about rebuilding when I was in Rhodos two years ago. I'll see if I can find any news about it though. Thanks for the input.

A quick G**gle search gave me this:
"In time for the opening of the 2004 Olympic Summer Games in Athens, planners are proposing to rebuild the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. But a new source of material may be needed. The original was made of melted weapons." I have to find something more handfast, this is only rumours as far as I can see.

I think it would be incredibly cool if they rebuilt it.

I've finally managed to book my holiday. I'm going to Rhodos the 16.of September. I'll ask around then

That's one dedicated researcher!

Excellent stuff

Personally I think it would be a bit cheesy to rebuild it, it wouldn't be much of a wonder nowadays, but then that's just me

Thanks Orcus.
I agree with you there, the harbour of Rhodos city is quite beautiful as it is.
Titania, I guess a trip to Rhodos lay in the cards all along, perhaps the Colossus was the trigger I needed...
I was there two years ago on holiday, spending most of it in the little fishing village Charaki. Been longing back ever since.

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