colossal [M17th] Kolossos was the Greek word for ‘a gigantic statue’, and was originally used to describe the statues of Egyptian temples. The most famous example was the huge bronze figure of Apollo that stood beside the harbour entrance at Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It was completed in 280 bc, but destroyed by an earthquake in 224 bc. This statue was known as the Colossus of Rhodes, colossus [OE] being the Latin, and subsequently English, version of the word. The idea that the statue stood astride the entrance to the harbour is widely held, but wrong. Nevertheless, it has given us the phrase bestride like a colossus, which is from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar: ‘Why man, he doth bestride the narrow world / Like a Colossus.’ The Colosseum [E17th] has been the name since medieval times of the Amphitheatrum Flavium, a vast amphitheatre in Rome begun by the Emperor Vespasian around ad 75 and used for gladiatorial combats, fights between men and beasts, and mock battles.