Bestride the world like a Colossus

This expression is sometimes used to describe a dominant or forceful personality. The allusion is to the Colossus of Rhodes, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world, which was a gigantic bronze statue of Apollo that once stood astride the harbour of Rhodes in 280 BC. It was toppled by an earthquake 65 years later. The expression was coined by Shakespeare in Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene II to describe Julius Caesar himself, “He doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus.”