---
title: 'The Rhodes Colossus: striding from Cape Town to Cairo (Punch, 10 December 1892)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/rhodes-colossus-punch-1892/
description: 'Full-page Punch cartoon: Cecil Rhodes in khaki, one boot at the Cape and one far to the north on a map of Africa, stretches telegraph wire between his…'
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![The Rhodes Colossus: striding from Cape Town to Cairo (Punch, 10 December 1892)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/rhodes-colossus-punch-1892.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/rhodes-colossus-punch-1892.jpg)

# The Rhodes Colossus: striding from Cape Town to Cairo (Punch, 10 December 1892)

Full-page Punch cartoon: Cecil Rhodes in khaki, one boot at the Cape and one far to the north on a map of Africa, stretches telegraph wire between his hands and holds his hat aloft. The caption reads 'The Rhodes Colossus, striding from Cape Town to Cairo'. The tell: the figure is cast as the ancient Colossus of Rhodes, borrowing the monument's scale and renown for a living businessman's plan (transfer).

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
266
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
[December 10, 1892.]
THE RHODES COLOSSUS
STRIDING FROM CAPE TOWN TO CAIRO.
[signature:] Linley Sambourne
[faint text from the reverse of the page shows through behind the drawing; not transcribed]
```

[← Harrison and Reid, and the people](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nast-harrison-reid-and-the-people-1892/) [The Great Battle of Ansong Ford: The Valor of Captain Matsuzaki →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ansong-ford-toshikata-1894/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)