In sculpture, a colossus is a statue of enormous magnitude. The Asiatics, the Egyptians, and in particular the Greeks, have excelled in these works. The most celebrated Egyptian colossus was the vocal statue of Memnon in the plain of Thebes, supposed to be identical with the most northerly of two existing colossi (60 feet high) on the west bank of the Nile.
Among the colossi of Greece the most celebrated was the Colossus of Rhodes, a brass statue of Apollo 70 cubits high, esteemed one of the wonders of the world, erected at the port of Rhodes by Chares, 290 or 288 BC. It was knocked down by an earthquake about 224 BC. The statue was in ruins for nearly nine centuries, when the Saracens, taking Rhodes, sold the metal, weighing 720,900 lbs, to a Jew, about 653. There is no authority for the popularly-received statement that it bestrode the harbour mouth, and that the Rhodian vessels could pass under its legs.
Among the colossi of Phidias were the Olympian Zeus and the Athena of the Parthenon; the former 60 feet high and the latter 40 feet.
The most famous of the Roman colossi were the Jupiter of the Capitol, the Apollo of the Palatine Library, and the statue of Nero, 110 or 120 feet high, and from which the contiguous amphitheatre derived its name of Colosseum.
Among modern works of this nature is the colossus of San Carlo Borromeo, at Arona, in the Milanese territory, 60 feet in height; the 'Bavaria' at Munich, 65 feet high; the statue of Hermann or Arminius near Detmold, erected in 1875, 90 feet in height to the point of the upraised sword, which itself is 24 feet in length; the height of the figure to the point of the helmet being 55 feet;
the statue of Germania, erected in 1883 near Rudesheim, a figure 34 feet high, placed on an elaborately-sculptured pedestal over 81 feet high; and Bartholdi's statue of Liberty presented to the United States by the French nation, and which measures 104 feet or to the extremity of the torch in the hand of the figure 138 feet. It is erected at New York harbour on a pedestal 114 feet, is constructed for a lighthouse with what was at one time was one of the most powerful fixed lights in the world, and stands 317 feet above mean tide. Research Colossus
Boniface IX was a pope from 1389 until 1404. He was elected during the schism in the church while Clement VII resided at Avignon. He made a shameless traffic of ecclesiastical offices, dispensations, etc, and lavished the treasures thus procured on his relations or on costly edifices - the fortification of the castle of St Angelo, for instance, and the Capitol. He died in 1404. Research Boniface IX
Brennus was the name or title of several princes of the ancient Gauls, of whom the most famous was the leader of the Senones, who invaded uhe Roman territory about the year 390 BC. He conquered Etruria from Ravenna to Picenum, besieged Clusium, defeated the Romans near the Allia, sacked Rome, and besieged the capitol for six months, but ultimately retired on payment of a large amount of gold. Connected with this invasion are the well-known stories of the massacre of about eighty venerable senators who awaited the Gauls in their chairs of office in the Forum; of the salvation of the capitol by the cackling of geese;
and of the throwing of the sword of Brennus into the scales when the Romans complained that the weights used by the Gauls were false.
According to Polybius the Gauls returned home in safety with their booty; but according to Livy, Brennus was disastrously defeated by Camillas, a distinguished Roman exile who arrived with succour in time to save the capitol. Research Brennus
Edward Gibbon was an English writer and historian. He was born in 1737 at Putney and died in 1794. He was the son of a gentleman of an ancient Kentish family. He entered Magdalen College, Oxford, where he remained for fourteen mouths. Having declared himself a Roman Catholic, his father placed him under the care of Pavillard, a learned Calvinistic minister at Lausanne, by whom he was reconverted to the Protestant faith. His residence at Lausanne was highly favourable to his progress in knowledge and the formation of regular habits of study. The belles-lettres and the history of the humanmind chiefly occupied his attention. In 1758 he returned to England, and immediately began to lay the foundation of a copious library; and soon after composed in the French language his Essai sur l'Etude de la Litterature (published in 1761).
In 1763 he visited Paris and Lausanne, and he journeyed in Italy during 1764. It was here that the idea of writing his great history occurred to him as he sat musing among the ruins of the capitol at Rome, while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter. In 1770 he published a pamphlet entitled Critical Observations on the Sixth Book of the AEneid. In 1774 he obtained a seat in parliament for Liskeard, and was a silent supporter of the North administration and its American politics for eight years.
In 1776 the first quarto volume of his Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was published, and at once made a public reputation for its author. In 1778 he drew up on behalf of the English government a Memoire Justificatif in answer to the manifesto of the French court, and for this service he was made one of the lords of trade. On the retirement of North he lost his appointment, and soon after withdrew to Lausanne in 1783, where, in the course of four years, he completed the three remaining volumes of his history, which were published together in 1788.
In 1793 he returned to England, where he died on the 16th of January, 1794. His history, though not without its defects, has great merits. Its style, if at times somewhat stiff and pompous, has the energy and elevation required for so great a theme; his learning is vast and thorough, and his insight into human nature in every variety of circumstances in remote countries and epochs is that of a great and philosophical historian. In 1796 his friend LordSheffield published two quarto volumes of his miscellaneous works, of which the most valuable part is the Memoirs of his Life and Writings. Research Edward Gibbon
Edwin Austin Abbey was an American painter and illustrator. He was born in 1852 at Philadelphia and died in 1911. He was the staff illustrator from 1871 at Harper's Weekly and in 1878 moved to London. He illustrated ' Selections from the Poetry of Robert Herrick', 'Old Songs', 'comedies of Shakespeare'. Between 1890 and 1902 he executed panels, illustrating the Quest of the Holy Grail, for Boston Public Library. In 1902 he painted a coronation portrait for Edward VII and in 1911 executed a group of murals at Pennsylvania State Capitol. Research Edwin Abbey
Gaetano Donizetti was an Italian operatic composer. He was born in 1797 at Bergamo and died in 1848. He studied music at Bologna under the distinguished Abbe Mattei and in the Naples Conservatoire and later joined the Army. While a soldier he wrote his first opera, Enrico di Borgogna, in 1818. In 1822 his Zoraide di Granata gained him the honour of being crowned on the Capitol. In 1830 appeared his Anna Bolena, which first, along with Lucrezia Borgia and Luciadi Lammermoor - the latter his masterpiece - acquired for him a European fame. In 1835 Donizetti was appointed professor of counterpoint at the Royal College of Naples, but removed in 1840 to Paris, bringing with him three new operas, Les Martyrs, La Favorita, and La Fille du Regiment, of which the last two are amongst his most popular productions. Of his other operas none except LindadiChamouni (1842) and Don Pasquale (1843) achieved any special triumph. He had written as many as sixty-four operas when he died. Research Gaetano Donizetti
Gelon was an ancient Greek ruler. He was tyrant of Gela, and afterwards of Syrracuse. Afetr the death of Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela, he seized the sovereign power in 491 BC, and about 485 BC gained possession of Syracuse. From this time he bent all his energies to the aggrandizement of his new Capitol, the power and importance of which he greatly increased by his conquests and good government. His aid was sought by the Greeks against Xerxes, but a formidable invasion of Carthaginians under Hamilcar engaged him in Sicily. The result was the total defeat of the Carthaginians in the great battle of Himera in 480 BC. It is celebrated in an ode by Pindar. Gelon died in 478 BC, and was succeeded by his brother Hieron. Research Gelon
John Quincy Adams was an American politician. He was born in 1767 at Boston and died in 1848.
The eldest son of John Adams, he was a boy of precocious talents, he was early taken abroad by his father, studied at the University of Leyden, and at fourteen began his public career as secretary to Francis Dana, Minister to Russia. He was graduated at Harvard in 1788, admitted to the bar in 1791, and at once began to write on public affairs. From 1794 to 1797 he was Minister to Holland; from 1797 to 1801, Minister to Prussia. In 1803, the Federalists elected him to the US Senate.
Approving Jefferson's embargo, he became estranged from the Federalists, acted with the Republicans, and in 1808 resigned. In 1809, Madison appointed him Minister to Russia, and in 1814 he was one of the commissioners who negotiated the treaty of Ghent; he then became Minister to England. From 1817 to 1825, he was Secretary of State to President Monroe. In the election of 1824, though he received but eighty-four electoral votes to ninety-nine for Jackson, he was, by a coalition of his friends with those of Clay, chosen President by the House of Representatives, becoming the sixth President of the United States.
Adams' administration was marked by intelligence and firmness, and by extreme integrity in all matters, especially that of appointments, but was made a stormy one by the bitter attacks of his enemies in Congress and by his own unbending and pugnacious character. He favoured protection and internal improvements at Federal expense. He failed to be re-elected in 1828. In 1831, still vigorous at sixty-four, he entered Congress as an independent member for the Quincy district in Massachusetts, which he continued to represent until his death. A model legislator, active and efficient in every valuable department of congressional business, his most memorable services were in behalf of the right of petition, threatened by the pro-slavery members, and in other assistance to the anti-slavery cause. He died at his post in the Capitol on February the 23rd, 1848. Twelve volumes of his diary have been published, abounding in information and acute though censorious judgments on the events of his long public career, and in evidence of his high character and patriotism. Research John Quincy Adams
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Colossus
