Mausoleum of Maussollos at Halicarnassus
This is one of the seven ancient wonders of the world and is the origin of the term mausoleum. This was a huge building constructed to hold the remains of Mausolus and his wife Artemisia.
Mausolus was the rule of the Persian satrap (like a state or province) of Caria. Caria was on the outskirts of the Persian Empire and as a result was largely independent.
There is some debate about what it actually looked like and much of our present reconstruction of its image is based upon accounts of it in ancient texts. It is believed that at the top of it’s massive stepped roof stood a gigantic sculpture of Mausolus and Artemisia in a chariot pulled by four large horses. [In more recent excavations a broken stone chariot wheel 2 meters in diameter was found.] Here is one depiction of the building.
Construction of the huge white marble tomb probably began during Maussollos’ life and finished a few years after his death around 350BCE. The Mausoleum was built on top of a hill overlooking the city of Halicarnassus. It stayed there for quite some time and was largely untouched when Alexander the great conquered the city in 334BCE. However, it is believed to have been greatly damaged by a series of earthquakes in the intervening years. In The fifteenth century the Knights of St. John of Malta invaded the area and built a large castle. In building this castle they used any of the stones from the mausoleum. In 1522 the crusaders decided to strengthen the castle and much of what remained of the mausoleum was broken up and used in the walls. Even to this day one can still see pieces of polished marble incorporated in the wall of the castle there (the city is now called Bodrum).
Some notable sculptures from the building have survived through the years and are presently at the British museum in London.
February 3rd, 2006 at 12:28 pm
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February 7th, 2006 at 11:31 am
[…] The Lighthouse at Alexandria no longer exists in its vertical glory. However, we do believe that it once existed, and at that time it may have been 440 feet tall. Despite all the hypotheticals in the previous sentence, if this estimate is correct this building would easily have been one of the largest man made structures on earth at the time. It was built in the third century BC and lasted an amazingly long time. It is thought to have been largely destroyed in the 14th century by two earthquakes in 1303 and 1323. As with the mausoleum of Maussollos some of the stone from the ruin was used in the making of a fortification in the area. In the case of the lighthouse some of the stone was used in a fort built by the sultan of Egypt, Al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qa’it Bay (who’s story is also quite amazingly), in the same place that the lighthouse stood. […]