The Mausoleum of Mausolus, or Mausoleum of Halicarnassus was a tomb built between 353-350 BC at Halicarnassus (present Bodrum, Turkey), for Mausolus (Greek ???????? Maús?los), a provincial king in the Persian Empire, and Artemisia, his wife and sister. (It was the custom in Caria for rulers to marry their own sisters. One reason for these marriages might have been that it kept the power and wealth in the family.)
Though, similar to the Great Pyramid, yet the Mausoleum is different – so different from the Pyramid that it earned its reputation – and a spot within the list – for other reasons. Geographically, it is closer to the Temple of Artemis… And it was the beauty of the tomb rather than its size that fascinated its visitors for years. It was designed by the Greek architects Satyrus and Pythius. The structure was approximately 45-metres (135 feet) in height, and each of the four sides was adorned by a freize created by one of four famous Greek sculptors.
The construction of Halicarnassus where the tomb recided was built on the note that it would be a city worth beholding but safe from its enemies. Mausolus started making Halicarnassus a fit capital for a warrior prince. Mausolus and Artemisia spent their huge amount of tax money on beautifying the city. They bought statues, temples, and buildings of gleaming marble. In the center of the city Mausolus planned to place a resting place for his body after he was dead. It would be a tomb that would forever show how rich he and his queen were. Then in 353 BC Mausolus died, leaving Artemisia broken-hearted.  As a tribute to him, she decided to build him the most splendid tomb in the known world. It became a structure so famous that Mausolus’s name is now associated with all stately tombs through our modern word mausoleum. Artemisia decided that no expense was to be spared in the building of the tomb. She sent messengers to Greece to find the most talented artists of the time. This included Scopas, the man who had supervised the rebuilding of the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. Other famous sculptors such as Bryaxis, Leochares and Timotheus joined him as well as hundreds of other craftsmen. Another school of thought is of the opinion that these sculptors were responsible for the sculpts on each side of the building. Because the statues were of people and animals, the Mausoleum holds a special place in history as it was not dedicated to the gods of Ancient Greece. The tomb was erected on a hill overlooking the city. The whole structure sat in an enclosed courtyard. At the center of the courtyard was a stone platform on which the tomb itself sat which was made of marble. A staircase, flanked by stone lions, led to the top of this platform. Along the outer wall of this were many statues depicting gods and goddess. At each corner stone warriors, mounted on horseback, guarded the tomb. The finished structure was considered to be such an aesthetic triumph that Antipater of Sidon identified it as one of his Seven Wonders of the World. The word mausoleum has since come to be used generically for any grand tomb, though “Mausol-eum” originally meant “in honour of Mausol”.

Tags: Seven Wonders of the world, Mausoleum of Mausolus

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