a statue of enormous or gigantic size. The most eminent of this kind was the Colossus of Rhodes; a statue of Apollo, so high, that ships passed with full sails betwixt its legs. It was the workmanship of Chares, a disciple of Lysippos; who spent 12 years in making it: it was at length overthrown by an earthquake, after having stood 1360 years. Its height was five score and six feet: there were few people could fathom its thumb, &c. Some critics observe, that the Colossus of Rhodes gave its own name to the people among whom it stood; and that many, at least among the ancient poets, call the Rhodians, Colossians; hence they advance an opinion, that the Colossians in scripture, to whom St Paul directs his epistle, are, in reality, the inhabitants of Rhodes. Of this sentiment are Suidas, Calepine, Munster, &c. When the Saracens became possessed of the island, the statue was found prostrate on the ground: they sold it to a Jew, who loaded 900 camels with the brass.

The basis that supported it was a triangular figure, its extremities were sustained with 60 pillars of marble. There was a winding stair-case to go up to the top of it; from whence one might discover Syria, and the ships that went into Egypt, in a great looking-glass, that was hung about the neck of the statue. Among the antiquities of Rome, there are seven famous Colossuses: two of Jupiter, as many of Apollo, one of Nero, one of Domitian, and one of the Sun.