This paper seeks to set the record straight about the date of the earthquake that hit Rhodes and caused the collapse of the Colossus. For the past 100 years, the most appropriate date for the earthquake has been considered to be the one established by the French scholar M. Holleaux, who dated the earthquake in 227/226 BC. A new date in Olympiad 139.2 (ca. 223/222 BC) is proposed in light of Eusebius’ Chronici Canones, a source usually disregarded by scholars of Hellenistic history. The striking consistency of the date of the earthquake in Olympiad 139.2 in the different transmissions of the Chronological Tables (Latin translation by Jerome and Armenian translation) as well as in the manuscript tradition of Jerome’s Latin translation advocates for the credibility of the source. Polybius’ account of the earthquake (5.88–90) can thus be cast in a new light: the sequence of events presented in this part of the Histories fall in a tighter chronological sequence (139th and 140th Olympiad); the Seleukos (II) mentioned by Polybius can now be identified with Seleukos III; and donations made after the collapse of the Colossus can now be assessed against a more solid historical background.
Stella Skaltsa (Tue,) studied this question.