Chares in Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

1. An Athenian general, who succeeded to the command after the condemnation and death of Leosthenes. He was sent by the Athenians against Alexander, tyrant of Pherae, but, instead of coming to action with the foe, he harassed the Athenian allies to such a degree by his extortions and oppression that the Social War was the result (B.C. 358). Some time after, he was sent to aid Byzantium against Philip of Macedon, but he only incurred the contempt of his foe, and excited the discontent of the allies, so that the Athenians finally recalled him, and put Phocion in his place. This, however, did not prevent them from choosing him for their general at the battle of Chaeronaea, where his ignorance and incapacity mainly contributed to the loss of the day. He was one of those whom Alexander ordered to be delivered up to him after the destruction of Thebes; but he succeeded in mollifying the conqueror, and was permitted to live at Athens. 2. Of Mitylené. A Greek historian, chamberlain of Alexander the Great. He was the author of a comprehensive work, containing at least ten books, upon the life-chiefly the domestic life-of this monarch. This history had the reputation of being trustworthy and interesting. Only a few fragments of it remain, ed. by Geier (Leipzig, 1844). 3. Of Lindos in Rhodes. A Greek artist, a pupil of Lysippus. In B.C. 280 he produced the largest statue known in antiquity-the colossal image of the Sun, 120 feet high, placed at the entrance of the harbour of Rhodes, and generally known as the Colossus of Rhodes. This was destroyed by an earthquake as early as B.C. 224. The thumbs were thicker than the average span of a man's hand, the fingers larger than many ordinary statues. See Colossus; Seven Wonders of the World.