Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-11-21
SOMETHING ABOUT COLOSsI
Dimensions Of the Great Statues
of Ancient Times.

Colossi, of which the Bartholdi Statue
is now the most important in the world,
were more common on the globe before
the birth of Christ than to-day. The
ancient and famous maritime countries
about the Mediterranean Sea literally
teemed with them. The Colossus Of
Rhodes, erected by Chares Of Lindos, in
honor of the Sun, is one of the best
known to ancient writers, and was one
of the seven wonders of the world. 1t
was Of brass. cast in separate pieces, and
was twelve years in course of erection
being completed 2S0 B. G. 1t was q
statue OF Apollo, and is variously esti-
mated to have been 80 feet, 80 cubits,
and even los cubits in height. Its
weight was 1900 pounds. Standing
as it did with leg extended on each
side Of the harbor, vessels under full sail
could enter between them. A fight of
winding stairs led to the top. The cost
was 300 talents or very nearly half mil
lion of dollars. Sixty years later it was
thrown down by an earthquake, where
it lay until A. D. 653. when the Saracens,
the captors of Rhodes, sold it to Jew,
who transported it to Alexandria on the
backs of 300 camels. Rhodes, which
now has population of only 10000. in
the height Of its prosperity had over
3, 600 statues, of which 100 were colossi.
The Bartholdi statue is l50 feet high
and weighs 22O tons. The statue is
composed of 2l4 pieces of bronze.
Bavaria, the great female statue at
Munich, personifying that country.
until the Bartholdi statue, was said to
be next in size to the Colossus of Rhodes.
1t is is feet hign, with q pedestal 100
feet and is cast from the bronze of
Turkish and Norwegian cannon. The
figure is partially draped, holding
sword. At its side reposes the Bavarian
lion. the guardian of the kingdom. The
figure is hollow and fitted with stairs.
There are twelve characters in bronze,
and the monument was six years in pre-
paration, being unveiled August 7, 1850,
It was erected by King Louis ], and
modelled by Won Sohwantheler, and
until our Goddess of Liberty was erect.
ed, was considered the most remarkable
statue of modern times.
The other remarkable statue of recent
years is that of San Carlo Borromeo at
Aroma, near the south end of Lake Mag
giore, in Northern Italy. 1t was erect.
ed in 1897, and stands on hill on ped
estal 40 feet high. The head, feet and
hands were cast in bronze; the remain
der of the statue was formed by laying
sheets of hammered copper on pillar
of masonry. The statue itself is 66 feet
high. Three persons may stand in the
head.
Colossal statues were numerous in
Egypt. Legions of them were raised,
mostly Of the hardest stone, many from
fifty to sixty feet high. The most cele.
brated are the statues of Memnon, in
the plain of Thebes, at Koumel-Su
| The two statues, one of which is the
celebrated vocal Msmnon, one Of the
wonders of the old world, were originally
60 feet high and made Of q coarse grit.
stone. Both are seated on thrones and
represent the Monarch Amenaphis III,
probably about 1900 b. g.. The pecu.
| liar characteristic Of the vocal statue was
its giving out at times q sharp metallic
ring. The reason Of this sound is vari-
ously ascribed to an artifice OF tho priests
who struck the sonorous stone of which
the statue was made, to the passage of
currents of air through the cracks. or
tho sudden expansion of aqueous parti.
cles under the suns rays. 1t became
silent about 1900 years ago.
In Greece, Phidias' oolassal statue of
Jupiter (44O B. C.), was the "wonder Of
the world" at that time. 1t was of gold
and ivory and the masterpiece of the
author. He had previously made a
statue Of Minerva, of the same material
80 feet high, and also famous bronze
Pallas Athene at Athens, the plume of
whose helmet and the point Of whose
spear, like Liberty's torch, wers land
marks for incoming sailors. Lysippus,
| in the time of Alexander the Great, over
three hundred years B. c.. erected a
sta tue go feet high, which Fabius, dur.
ling the second Roman war, was anxious
to take to Rome, but was prevented by
its weight.
Ancient Rome had bronze statue OF
Augustus in the Forum; one of Nero in
marble fully 100 feet high, from which
the contiguous amphitheatre is believed
to have derived the name of "Colosse.
um" and bronze statue of Apollo and
one of Jupiter upon the capitol, made
| from the armor Of the Samnites. They
were colossal in size.-[N. Y. CONNER