Background:

The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the sun-god Helios that stood over the island city of Rhodes. It was constructed to celebrate a successful defense of the city against a year long siege by an enemy army and navy. Although it collapsed after an earthquake in 226 BC, it is estimated to have been about the same height as the Statue of Liberty. Below is part of what is believed to be the dedication text for the Colossus as is preserved in Greek anthologies of poetry.

To you, O Sun, the people of…Rhodes set up this bronze statue reaching to Olympus, when they had pacified the waves of war and crowned their city with the spoils taken from the enemy…

“The New Colossus” was written during a major wave of American immigration, spanning roughly from 1880 to 1920. Though many of these immigrants did successfully make a new home for themselves in America during this era, doing so was not easy. The boom in U.S. industrialization meant that more jobs existed than ever before. As thousands arrived seeking these opportunities, however, many Americans saw the newcomers as unwelcome competition. A Jewish American poet, Emma Lazarus, was a passionate immigration activist, becoming particularly involved in the plight of Russian Jewish refugees. She wrote the poem in 1883 to help raise funds for the construction of the Statue of Liberty's pedestal, but the poem was not actually mounted on the pedestal until 1903. The poem compares the Statue of Liberty to the ancient Greek Colossus of Rhodes.