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
An earthquake is a movement of the earth, caused either by volcanic activity below the surface or by a large area of earth, weaker than that which surrounds it, slipping a little downwards.
Earthquakes need not be severe. In some parts of the Pacific they are a daily, and not especially frightening, occurrence.
The motion occurs in very different ways, having sometimes a perpendicular, sometimes a horizontal undulating, and sometimes a whirling motion. It also varies much in degrees of violence, from a shock which is hardly perceptible to one which bursts open chasms and changes the appearance of the ground itself. During these shocks sometimes smoke and flames, but more frequently stones and torrents of water are discharged. Research Earthquake
A tsunami or tidal wave as they are popularly known, is a seismic sea wave originating from any one of several submarine geological phenomena, such as volcanic explosions or earthquakes. They travel in the open ocean at speeds up to 640 kmh. On Boxing Day 2004, (the 26th December 2004) an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter Scale occurred under the sea off the coast of Sumatra. The resultant tsunami or tidal waves killed over 125,000 people throughout the entire Indian Ocean area extending from Burma, Indonesia and Malaysia in the east, west to Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and the Seychelles. Research Tsunami
John Howard was an English prison reformer and philanthropist. He was born in 1726 and died in 1790 of fever. His father, a wealthy London tradesman, died when his son was about 19 years old, and left him an independent fortune. In 1756 John Howard undertook a voyage to Lisbon to view the effects of the recentearthquake. The vessel in which he embarked being captured, he was consigned to a French prison. The hardships he suffered and witnessed prior to his release first roused his attention to the subject of his future researches. In 1773 he resolved to devote his time to the investigation of the means of correcting the existing abuses in the management of prisons. With this view he visited most of the English county jails and houses of correction, and in March, 1774, he laid the result of his inquiries before the House of Commons, for which he received a vote of thanks.
In 1775 and 1776 he visited many of the continental prisons, as well as those of Scotland and Ireland; and the substance of his investigations appeared in a work he published in 1777. This work was supplemented by his experiences of foreign prisons (1778-1783). In 1789 he published an Account of the Principal Lazarettos in Europe, with notes on Continental and British prisons and hospitals. In the same year he made a final journey through Germany and Russia, when prisons and hospitals were everywhere thrown open for his inspection as a friendly monitor and public benefactor. Research John Howard
St John Chrysostom was a Greek missionary. He was born in 344 at Antioch and died in 407. Secundus, his father, who had the command of the imperial troops in Syria, died soon after the birth of his son, whose early education devolved upon Anthusa, his mother. Chrysostom Studied eloquence with Libanius, the most famou's orator of his time, and soon excelled his master.
After having studied philosophy with Andragathius he devoted himself to the Holy Scriptures, and determined upon quitting the world and consecrating his life to God in the deserts of Syria. He spent several years in solitary retirement, studying and meditating with a view to the church. Having completed his voluntary probation he returned to Antioch in 381, when he was appointed deacon by the Bishop of Antioch, and in 386 consecrated priest. He was chosen vicar by the same dignitary, and commissioned to preach the Word of God to the people.
He became so celebrated for the eloquence of his preaching that the Emperor Arcadius determined, in 397, to place him in the archiepiscopal see of Constantinople (Istanbul). He now exerted himself so zealously in supressing heresy, paganism, and immorality, and in enforcing the obligations of monachism, that he raised up many enemies, and Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, aided and encouraged by the Empress Eudoxia, caused him to be deposed at a synod held at Chalcedon. The emperor banished him from Constantinople, and Chrysostom purposed retiring to Bithynia; but the people threatened a revolt. In the following night an earthquake gave general alarm. In this dilemma Arcadius recalled his orders, and Eudoxia herself invited Chrysostom to return. The people accompanied him triumphantly to the city, his enemies fled, and peace was restored, but only for a short time.
A feast given by the empress on the consecration of a statue, and attended with many heathen ceremonies, roused the zeal of the archbishop, who publicly exclaimed against it; and Eudoxia, violently incensed, recalled the prelates devoted to her will, and Chrysostom was condemned and exiled to Armenia. Here he continued to exert his pious zeal until the emperor ordered him to be conveyed to a town on the most distant shore of the Black Sea. The officers who had him in charge obliged the old man to perform his journey on foot, and he died at Comana, by the way. Here he was buried; but in 438 his body was conveyed solemnly to Constantinople, and there interred in the Church of the Apostles, in the sepulchre of the emperor.
At a later period his remains were placed in the Vatican at Rome. The Greek Church celebrates his feast on the 13th of November, the Roman on the 27th of January. His .works, which consist of sermons, commentaries, and treatises, abound with information as to the manners and characteristics of his age. Research St John Chrysostom
Walter Matthau is an American actor. He was born in 1920 at New York as Walter Matuschanskavasky, a name he used for his cameo appearance in the 1974 film 'Earthquake'. He made his Broadway debut in 1948 as understudy for the role of an 85-year old bishop in 'Anne of the Thousand Days'. A film career followed rave reviews of his role in 1955 in the play ' Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?'. Research Walter Matthau
In Greek mythology, Atlantis was an island continent, said to have been claimed by the sea following an earthquake. The Greek philosopher Plato created what was once thought to be an imaginary early history for it and described it as a utopia. Research during the early and mid-20th centuries suggested very strongly that the Empire of Atlantis refers to the Minoan empire based on the island of Crete, an empire which was destroyed - as Plato described it 1000 years later - by an enormous volcanic eruption on a nearby island which left a crater over 80 km square, and caused massive tidal waves which washed the people of the surrounding islands to their deaths. Excavated buildings reveal frescoes on their walls with scenes which match the descriptions of a tranquil life based around commerce and the sea described by Plato. However, the Minoan civilisation did not die out with the destruction of the empire. Writings found in Crete which predate the ancient Greek civilization refer to many of the gods associated with later Greek mythology, suggesting that the Greeks adopted at
least some Minoan culture. Research Atlantis
In Maya mythology, Kisin is the evil earthquake spirit. He lives beneath the earth in a purgatory where all souls except those of soldiers killed in battle and women who died in childbirth spend some time. Suicides are doomed to his realm for eternity. Research Kisin
Ground Zero is a thriller starring Janet Gunn, Terra Scott and Jack Scalia in a story about a woman trying to stop a company from conducting nuclear tests at the site of a former earthquake. Ground Zero was directed by Richard Friedman in 1999. Research Ground Zero
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