What is "ozymandias"

"Ozymandias" (in five syllables: , ; or four: , ) is a sonnet written by English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822), first published in the 11 January 1818 issue of The Examiner in London. It was included the following year in Shelley's collection Rosalind and Helen, A Modern Eclogue; with Other Poems (1819) and in a posthumous compilation of his poems published in 1826. "Ozymandias" is regarded as one of Shelley's most famous works and is frequently anthologised.

In antiquity, Ozymandias was a Greek name for the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II. Shelley began writing his poem in 1817, soon after the announcement of the British Museum's acquisition of a large fragment of a statue of Ramesses II from the thirteenth century BC, leading some scholars to believe that Shelley was inspired by this. The 7.25-ton fragment of the statue's head and torso had been removed in 1816 from the mortuary temple of Ramesses at Thebes by Italian adventurer Giovanni Battista Belzoni. It was expected to arrive in London in 1818, but did not arrive until 1821. Shelley wrote the poem in friendly competition with his friend and fellow poet Horace Smith (1779–1849), who also wrote a sonnet on the same topic with the very same title. Smith's poem was published in The Examiner a few weeks after Shelley's sonnet. Both poems explore the fate of history and the ravages of time: that all prominent figures and the empires that they build are impermanent and their legacies fated to decay into oblivion.

Ozymandias (real name Adrian Alexander Veidt) is a fictional character in the acclaimed graphic novel miniseries Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, published by DC Comics. Named Ozymandias in the manner of Ramesses II, he is a modified version of the comic book character Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt from Charlton Comics. His name recalls the famous poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, which takes as its theme the fleeting nature of empire and is excerpted as the epigraph of one of the chapters of Watchmen. Ozymandias is ranked number 25 on Wizard's Top 200 Comic Book Characters list and number 21 on IGN's Top 100 Villains list.

" Ozymandias" is a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

The name may also refer to:

Ozymandias is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in 1996 in Uncanny X-Men #332, and was created by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Joe Madureira.

Ozymandias is the name of a musical project by neo-classical Swiss pianist, Christophe Terrettaz.

"Ozymandias" is the fourteenth episode of the fifth season of the American television drama series Breaking Bad, and the 60th overall episode of the series. Written by Moira Walley-Beckett and directed by Rian Johnson, it aired on AMC in the United States and Canada on September 15, 2013.

Upon airing, the episode received overwhelming acclaim from critics and audiences, and has since been called one of the best episodes of television ever made. At the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards in August 2014, Walley-Beckett won the Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series Emmy for her screenplay, and Bryan Cranston and Anna Gunn won Lead Actor and Supporting Actress Emmys, respectively, for their performances in this episode.