The Greek word "colossus" is translated as pillar. In European languages ​​it also acquired the meaning of a giant statue. The fact is that in the Aegean Sea, on the island of Rhodes, in the port there was a huge statue of the ancient Greek god of the Sun Helios, which was called the Colossus of Rhodes and was one of the seven wonders of the world. Hence the word - colossal.

But our “colossus with feet of clay” has nothing to do with the Colossus of Rhodes. This image is taken from the Bible, from the book of the prophet Daniel.

The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, from which the king lost peace. He called the wise men and demanded that they interpret the dream. In order to protect himself from scammers, Nebuchadnezzar demanded, on pain of death, not only to interpret the dream, but also to guess its content first. None of the sages was able to fulfill the king’s command, and all of them were threatened with death. Then the prophet Daniel, who was at the Babylonian court, began to pray to God, asking him to reveal to him the content and meaning of the royal dream.

His prayers were heard. Daniel appeared to the king and said: “You, king, had such a vision: behold, some kind of large idol; This idol was huge, it stood before you in extreme splendor, and its appearance was terrible. This image had a head of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of copper, its legs of iron, its legs partly of iron and partly of clay. You saw him until the stone came off the mountain without the help of hands, struck the image, his iron and clay feet, and broke them. Then everything was crushed together: iron, clay, copper, silver and gold became like dust on the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away, and no trace remained of them; and the stone that broke the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. What a dream!”

The prophet not only recounted the contents of the dream to the amazed king, but also gave its interpretation. The golden head meant the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, the silver and copper belly meant the kingdoms of his heirs, and the clay feet meant the times of future decline and collapse of the Babylonian empire.

That's how it all happened. A few centuries later, the Babylonian kingdom fell under the blows of the Persians, who captured all the lands of the near and middle east from Greece to India. The majestic colossus of Babylon fell, unable to stand on its clay feet.

From French: Colosse auxpieds d argiles. From the Bible. The Old Testament (Book of the Prophet Daniel, chapter 2, v. 31-35) speaks of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who saw in a dream a huge, terrifying metal image on clay... ... Dictionary of popular words and expressions

colossus with feet of clay- Cm … Dictionary of synonyms

Colossus with feet of clay- COLOSSUS, a, m. (book). A statue, a structure of enormous size. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Colossus with Feet of Clay- Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the Colossus about feet of clay as a biblical expression. In a figurative sense, “colossus with feet of clay” is fragile, unfaithful, unreliable, unsteady, unstable, unsteady, dangerous, risky, brittle, brittle, slippery,... ... Wikipedia

Colossus with feet of clay- Book Iron. Something that looks majestic and impressive, but is actually weak and fragile. But although he [Hitler] himself claimed that the Soviet Union was a “colossus with feet of clay,” in the depths of his consciousness he gradually began to feel that the war with Russia... ... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language

Colossus with feet of clay- wing. sl. The expression is used when talking about something majestic in appearance, but essentially weak. It arose from the Bible (Daniel, 2, 31 35), from the story about the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who saw a huge metal... ... Universal additional practical explanatory dictionary by I. Mostitsky

colossus with feet of clay- What am I talking about? outwardly majestic, but essentially weak. From the biblical story about the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who saw in a dream a huge metal idol with clay feet, which collapsed when a stone torn from the mountain hit him on the... ... Dictionary of many expressions

Colossus with feet of clay- Book Iron. or Neglect What l. majestic, powerful in appearance, but weak, easily destroyed in essence. FSRYA, 202. /i> Goes back to the biblical story about the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who saw a giant in a dream (cf. colossus from ... ... Large dictionary of Russian sayings

colossus with feet of clay- Wed. Slanderers, enemies of Russia! What did you take? Is Ross still the Sick, Relaxed Colossus? A.S. Pushkin. Borodino anniversary. Wed. The large, terrible idol had a head of pure gold, a chest and arms of silver, a belly and thighs of copper, legs... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary

colossus with feet of clay- book. , often ironic. or neglected something majestic, powerful in appearance, but weak and easily destroyed in essence. The expression goes back to the biblical story about the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who had an ominous dream. He saw... ... Phraseology Guide

Books

• Rus' between two fires - against Batu and the “dog knights”, Mikhail Eliseev. There is no sadder story in the world than “The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land” from Batu’s invasion, and debate about the causes and culprits of this catastrophe has been raging for centuries. How the steppe hordes managed to... Buy for 316 rubles
• 1941. Year of Victory, Vladimir Daines. On the eve of the attack on the USSR, the German leadership believed that the upcoming campaign “would be no more difficult than playing in a box of sand”, that the Soviet Union was “a colossus with feet of clay”: “enough...

Colossus with feet of clay - this is a kind of characteristic or assessment of something outwardly majestic and powerful, but in fact weak.

Where did this expression come into our everyday life - a colossus with feet of clay?

Firstly, what is a colossus? Translated from ancient Greek the word colossus means a big statue. This word went down in history and passed almost in its original form into other languages, thanks to the famous Colossus of Rhodes- a giant statue erected by the Greeks at the entrance to the port harbor of the city of Rhodes, located on the island of the same name in the Aegean Sea.

The inhabitants of Rhodes erected this statue as a sign of gratitude to the Sun God. Helios, which they believed helped them withstand a long siege and drive out the invaders who attacked the city in 305 BC. They decided to erect the statue to an unprecedented size so that it could be seen from everywhere not only by the inhabitants of the island of Rhodes, but also by all the ships entering the port or sailing past on the sea.

A sculptor named Hares worked on the construction of the statue for twelve years, and he managed to present the god Helios in the form of a tall and slender youth, with a radiant crown on his head and with a torch in his raised hand. The statue was installed on a marble pedestal facing the sea. Helios seemed to be peering into the distance. In any case, this is exactly how historical sources describe the Colossus of Rhodes, although no one has seen either the statue itself or its “lifetime” images.

The statue was made of clay, which was coated with a metal frame. From above, the entire figure of the monument was covered with bronze sheets. The height of the Colossus of Rhodes was 36 meters - approximately the height of a 12-story building! (According to other sources, the statue was even higher - 60 meters!) According to legend, the metal for the construction and covering of the statue was captured - the invaders, who had besieged the island for a whole year, fled, leaving behind all their siege weapons and other heavy metal equipment.

The Colossus of Rhodes stood in all its splendor for sixty-five years. In 222 BC. e. the statue collapsed under the shock of the earthquake. As the historian Strabo wrote, “the statue lay on the ground, overthrown by an earthquake and broken at the knees.” But the recumbent Colossus also caused surprise with its size. Another famous ancient historian, Pliny the Elder, mentioned that “only a few could clasp the thumb of a statue with both hands.”

The remains of the Colossus of Rhodes lay on the ground for more than a thousand years, then they were sold by the Arabs, who captured the island in the tenth century AD, to some enterprising merchant. Why the merchant needed the statue, for what... purpose is not known.

It is interesting that in idea and in description, the Statue of Liberty in America is very similar to the statue of the Colossus of Rhodes. Also located in the harbor, also on an island, also holding a torch in her hand...

Other interesting expressions from Russian speech:

Incense is the general name for incense that smoked not only in front of altars

Interesting expression - scapegoat. The phrase is unsaid, but everything is fine

An interesting expression is to buy a pig in a poke. It can be classified as intuitive

The nightingale is the most pleasant songbird living in the vastness of Russia. Why of all

Kuzka's mother(or show Kuzka’s mother) – a stable indirect phrase

Expression mutual responsibility- this is an expression of direct meaning, that is, it means that

Since ancient times, many peoples have believed that a crocodile cries when

Die Hard- this expression is usually associated with the capture of Sweden by Peter the Great

the expression with a red thread has nothing to do with ideology. And it has a relation

Leavened patriotism – a short, straight-to-the-target ironic definition for

Great Wall of China - the largest architectural and construction work

Expression to Caesar-Caesarean biblical origin, like many others

Do not be confused by this idiotic formulation, compiled specifically for

Chinese ceremonies – we often use this phraseological unit in conversation. How

By expression cast bells it is absolutely impossible to guess what other meaning

Verst- Russian measure of length that existed in Russia before the introduction of metric

About the origin of the expression Columbus egg different sources report approximately

An interesting expression is to buy a pig in a poke. It can be classified as intuitive

If this expression let the red rooster fly read by a foreigner studying

Expression no bones to collect quite familiar to our Russian ears. His

Since ancient times, even before the advent of geometry, people tied measures of length to parts of their

It seemed like a well-known expression, you can't get there on a crooked goat . It means that

It turns out that the emergence of this phraseological unit is directly related to religion, more precisely to

Got it like chickens in cabbage soup they say when they unexpectedly find themselves in extremely unpleasant situations

Orphan Kazan - a very interesting expression. Orphan - understandable, but why exactly?

Like a goat's milk (to receive) - they talk about a person from whom there is no benefit,

King for a daythey talk about leaders or bosses who find themselves in power

Expression sink into oblivion familiar and understandable to everyone. It means to disappear from memory,

Name of the city-state Carthage we know from history books

Pulling chestnuts from the fire - this expression will gain complete clarity if we add to

This expression is squaring the circle, you've probably come across it somewhere. And that's what it is

Like looking into the water - an expression that is clear in meaning, but not immediately clear in meaning

The expression at the top of Ivanovo, or rather, to yell at the top of Ivanovo, is very well known

The expression or phrase and there are spots on the sun emphasizes that in the world

The expression even when an old woman suffers a hole speaks for itself. According to the dictionary

And you, Brutus! - an expression familiar to almost every educated person, even

Ivan, who does not remember his kinship, is a purely Russian expression rooted in our

Word candles in Russian has several meanings: first of all, these are candles for

Expression make mountains out of molehills completely clear, does not contain any

Register Izhitsa- an expression from the category of things that have passed from our everyday life into the past. But

Starting with the letter G

Colossus with feet of clay

Colossus with feet of clay
From French: Colosse auxpieds d\"argiles.
From the Bible. The Old Testament (Book of the Prophet Daniel, chapter 2, v. 31 - 35) speaks of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who saw in a dream a huge, terrifying metal image with clay feet. But suddenly a stone, torn from the mountain, hit these clay legs, broke them, and the colossus was defeated. The dream turned out to be prophetic: the Babylonian kingdom soon collapsed, like an idol with feet of clay.
From the end of the 18th century. this expression began to be used in relation to Russia. And as the French ambassador to the court of Catherine II, Count Segur, reports in his essay “Memoirs, or Memoirs and Anecdotes” (Paris, 1827), the first to call Russia that was the French philosopher-educator Denis Diderot (1713-1784), who visited the country (1773-1774 ) at the invitation of Catherine.
Recalling his stay in Russia, Segur writes in his “Memoirs” that if previously Russia “was only a colossus with feet of clay, then this clay was allowed to harden and it turned into bronze.” This characterization of Russia is explained by the fact that Segur’s memoirs were written by him after the defeat of Napoleonic army and the capture of Paris by Russian troops.
In 1830, when the question of armed intervention in Russian-Polish relations was raised in the French parliament, many again recalled the words of Denis Diderot. A. S. Pushkin wrote in his poem “Borodin Anniversary”:
But you, troublemakers of the chambers,
Easy-tongue twists,
You, the rabble of the disastrous alarm,
Slanderers, enemies of Russia!
What did you take?.. Is Russia still
A sick, relaxed colossus?
Is northern glory still
An empty parable, a false dream?
German literature gave its own versions of Diderot's famous words - “Asian colossus” (1833), whose author was Heinrich Laube (1806-1884), and “Northern colossus” by the German critic and publicist Karl Ludwig Berne (1786-1837). The latter expression was applied in the 1840s not only to Russia, but also to its Emperor Nicholas I. The phrase “Russian colossus” was also popular at this time.
The Western European press later widely used the expression “colossus with feet of clay,” using it to characterize not Tsarist Russia, but the Soviet Union.
Allegorically: something outwardly great, strong, grandiose, but in fact weak from the inside, easily vulnerable, which makes all the power of this “colossus” illusory.

Encyclopedic dictionary of popular words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”. Vadim Serov. 2003.

Colossus with feet of clay

The expression is used when talking about something majestic in appearance, but essentially weak. It arose from the Bible (Daniel, 2, 31-35), from the story of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who saw in a dream a huge metal image on clay feet; a stone torn from the mountain struck the clay feet of the idol and broke them (a symbol of his kingdom, which was destined to collapse).

Dictionary of catch words. Plutex. 2004.

See what “Colossus with Feet of Clay” is in other dictionaries:

Cm … Dictionary of synonyms

COLOSSUS, a, m. (book). A statue, a structure of enormous size. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

A winged expression that characterizes something that is majestic in appearance, but essentially weak. It arose from the biblical story about the interpretation by the prophet Daniel of the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:31-35). History of the expression ... Wikipedia

Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the Colossus about the feet of clay as a biblical expression. In a figurative sense, “colossus with feet of clay” is fragile, unfaithful, unreliable, unsteady, unstable, unsteady, dangerous, risky, brittle, brittle, slippery,... ... Wikipedia

Colossus with feet of clay- Book Iron. Something that looks majestic and impressive, but is actually weak and fragile. But although he [Hitler] himself claimed that the Soviet Union was a “colossus with feet of clay,” in the depths of his consciousness he gradually began to feel that the war with Russia... ... Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Literary Language

Colossus with feet of clay- wing. sl. The expression is used when talking about something majestic in appearance, but essentially weak. It arose from the Bible (Daniel, 2, 31 35), from the story about the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who saw a huge metal... ... Universal additional practical explanatory dictionary by I. Mostitsky

colossus with feet of clay- What am I talking about? outwardly majestic, but essentially weak. From the biblical story about the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who saw in a dream a huge metal idol with clay feet, which collapsed when a stone torn from the mountain hit him on the... ... Dictionary of many expressions

Book Iron. or Neglect What l. majestic, powerful in appearance, but weak, easily destroyed in essence. FSRYA, 202. /i> Goes back to the biblical story about the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who saw a giant in a dream (cf. colossus from ... ... Large dictionary of Russian sayings

Wed. Slanderers, enemies of Russia! What did you take? Is Ross still the Sick, Relaxed Colossus? A.S. Pushkin. Borodino anniversary. Wed. The large, terrible idol had a head of pure gold, a chest and arms of silver, a belly and thighs of copper, legs... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary

colossus with feet of clay- book. , often ironic. or neglected something majestic, powerful in appearance, but weak and easily destroyed in essence. The expression goes back to the biblical story about the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who had an ominous dream. He saw... ... Phraseology Guide

Books

• Rus' between two fires - against Batu and the “dog knights”, Mikhail Eliseev. There is no sadder story in the world than “The Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land” from Batu’s invasion, and debate about the causes and culprits of this catastrophe has been raging for centuries. How did the steppe hordes manage to...

The expression is used when talking about something majestic in appearance, but essentially weak. It arose from the Bible (Daniel, 2, 31-35), from the story of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who saw in a dream a huge metal image on clay feet; a stone torn from the mountain struck the clay feet of the idol and broke them (a symbol of his kingdom, which was destined to collapse). From the end of the 18th century. This expression in Western Europe began to be applied to the Russian Empire. According to the testimony of the French ambassador at the court of Catherine II, Count Segur, the first to call Russia this way was the French materialist philosopher Denis Diderot (1713 - 1784), who visited Russia in 1773-1774. (Comte de Segur, Memoires ou Souvenirs et anecdotes, Paris, 1827, v. II, p. 143, 214). Segur also says that Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of Frederick the Great, told him that although Russia is a colossus with feet of clay, it is “a huge colossus that cannot be attacked, since it is covered with ice armor and has long arms. He can stretch them out and strike where he pleases; his capabilities and his strengths, when he is well aware of them and knows how to use them, can be disastrous for Germany” (Segur, II, pp. 143-144). Recalling his stay in Russia, Segur himself exclaims that if at that time Russia “was only a colossus with feet of clay, then this clay was allowed to harden and it turned into bronze” (ibid., p. 214). These words of Segur are explained by the fact that the memoirs were written by him after the defeat of Napoleonic army and the capture of Paris by Russian troops. In 1830, when in France, in the press and in parliament, they started talking about armed intervention in Russian-Polish relations, they again began to repeat that Russia was a colossus with feet of clay. This caused the angry lines of A. S. Pushkin in the poem “Borodin Anniversary”:

But you, troublemakers of the chambers,
Easy-tongue twists,
You, the rabble of the disastrous alarm,
Slanderers, enemies of Russia!
What did you take?..
Is Russia still
A sick, relaxed colossus?
Is northern glory still
An empty parable, a false dream?

In 1842, I. S. Turgenev, in a note “Several remarks about the Russian economy and the Russian peasant,” wrote: “... and in France they are beginning to feel that the old metaphor: “Colosse aux pieds d'argile” is absurd, that Russia is alone only impotent annoyance can be compared with those huge states that so quickly arose and disappeared even faster in Asia; that in the Russian people one cannot fail to recognize a strong, living, undestroyed principle; that while they spoke about us with fake contempt, under which, perhaps, another feeling was hidden, we all grew and are growing until now” (I. S. Turgenev, Collected works, vol. XI, M. 1956, p. 431 -432). In German literature (about which more details can be found in Otto Ladendorf, Historisches Schlagworterbuch, Strassburg - Berlin, 1906), variants of the expression arose: “Asian colossus” (Heinrich Laube (1806-1884), Das neue Jahrhundert, 1, 11-1833), “Northern colossus" (for the first time, apparently, by Ludwig Berne (1786-1837), applied in the 40s not only to Russia, but also to Nicholas I, and "Russian colossus" (in the late 40s and 50s 1960s). The Western European bourgeois press later repeatedly used the expression “colossus with feet of clay,” using it to describe not only Tsarist Russia, but also the Soviet Union.

Of course, tsarist Russia, with its feet of clay, would not have withstood such military trials. Only the Soviet state was able to do this (Speech by A. A. Zhdanov at the pre-election meeting of voters in the Volodarsky electoral district of Leningrad on February 6, 1946, Pravda, February 8).