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Fischer von Erlach is regarded as Austria's greatest Baroque architect. This drawing is from his book "Entwurff
einer historischen Architektur" (1721), a comparative history of architecture from ancient Roman through to
his own Baroque style.
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The color painting at the top of the page is of artistic nature and does not necessarily represent an accurate
reconstruction of the Wonder. Painting by Mario Larrinaga.
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 Since the nineteenth century, archeological
excavations have been undertaken at the Mausoleum site. These excavations together with detailed descriptions by
ancient historians give us a fairly good idea about the shape and appearance of the Mausoleum. A modern reconstruction
of the shorter side of the Mausoleum illustrates the lavish nature of the art and architecture of the building...
a building for a King whose name is celebrated in all large tombs today -- mausoleums.
Bishop Eustathius, observes in his commentary on Homer, in the twelfth century, that it is a marvel.
For 16 centuries, the Mausoleum remained in good condition until it tumbled in an heavy earthquake in 1304 AD.
But when the Knights arrived in 1402 they found it in ruins. Looking for building-stone and material for burning
lime. they found here a plentiful supply of both; they ren'oved to the castle almost the whole of the solid base,
in the interior of which they discovered and destroyed the handsomely decorated tomb-chamber.
In the early fifteenth century, the Knights of St John of Malta invaded the region and built a massive crusader
castle. When they decided to fortify it in 1494, they used the stones of the Mausoleum. By 1522, almost every block
of the Mausoleum had been disassembled and used for construction
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One of the knights
named La Touret describes the plundering of the tomb in his memoires, saying:
"First we found the stairs leading down to the burial chamber below the ground and we were breathless at the
spectacular sight in front of our eyes. The second minute we started looting the place, but we didnt have much
time, because they commanded us back to the castle. The next day when we came back to the same site, precious gold
jewelry and pieces of fine cloth were scattered around the place ...."
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The burial chamber still seen today , was most probably robbed much earlier than the theft by the Knights of Rhodes.
Who was Mausolos
In the fourth century great changes took place in Caria. After it came again under Persian dominion, it was ruled
by the satrap Hecatomnos of Mylasa, from his death on in 377 by his son Mausolus. The kingdom of Caria in the western
part of Asia Minor (Turkey) was so far from the Persian capital that it was practically autonomous. Hecatomnus
had been ambitious and had taken control of several of the neighboring cities and districts. Mausolus extended
the territory even further so that it finally included most of southwestern Asia Minor.
Halicarnassus lived its brightest years during the reign of Mausolus (377-353 BC). During his reign Mausolus transferred
his capital from Mylasa to Halicarnassus. Until then Halicarnassus was a comparatively small city, but Mausolus,
observing her natural advantages for fortification and commerce from sea.
His ideas were never on a niggardly seale, and he set out to create a worthy capital city. He transplanted the
inhabitants of six of the eight Lelegian cities in the neighbourhood. These were of varying size, but some at least,
if we may judge by the tribute they paid to Athens in the fifth century, seem to have been comparable to Halicarnassus
herself, and the population of the new city must have been four or five times that of the old.
Mausolus was well established in his new capital by 367 BC, and before the end of his reign he ruled from here
over a kingdom that included all of Caria and considerable portions of Ionia and Lycia, as well as the islands
of Rhodes, Cos, and Chios. Mausolus enclosed his capital at Halicarnassus with a great circuit of powerful defence
walls studded with watch-towers at regular intervals, along with three separately walled eitadeis, some three and
a half miles long, of which parts are standing today (recently brought into shape by Ericsson-Türkcell, see
Myndos Gate).
Mausolos taxed these subjects heavily to pay for these and other grandscale projects, and it is said that he even
imposed a levy on hair longer then shoulder length.
Mausolus, with his queen Artemisia, ruled over Halicarnassus and the surrounding territory for 24 years. For his
own residence Mausolus built a palace with walls of dried brick, finished in all parts with marble from the Sea
of Marmara. Nothing of this palace survives today, and its position has been the subject of much discussion.
Then in 353 BC. Mausolus died, leaving his queen Artemisia, who was also his sister (It was the custom in Caria
for rulers to marry their own sisters), broken-hearted. It is not certain that Mausolos initiated the construction
of the monument of moussoleion later, but as a tribute to him, Artemisis decided to build him the most splendid
tomb in the known world. It became a structure so famous that it was called one of the Seven Wonders of the world.
Mausolus's name is now associated with all stately tombs through our modern word mausoleum.
Who was Artemisia
Mausolos died in 353 BC. and was succeeded by his wife and sister Artemisia the younger. She ruled for only three
years, but in that time she made herself famous in two notable respects:
The first was the superb tomb with which she has perpetuated her husband's memory, the Mausoleum. For the form
of this monument we have to rely on the description given by the elder Pliny, eked out by the rather scanty remains
unearthed by Sir Charles Newton in 1857 and in more recent years by a Danish expedition.
This is not the place to discuss details, but the general appearance is clear enough. The building was of rectangular
shape and comprised four parts: first, a solid base or podium; above this a colonnade of thirty-six columns, disposed
apparently with eleven on the flanks and nine on the short sides, surrounding a rectangular chamber; above again,
a pyramid of twenty-four steps; and at the top a chariot-and-four bearing (in all probability) figures of Mausolus
and Artemisia. The total height, according to Pliny, was 140 Ionic feet, about 41 metres by modern reckoning. All
four sides were adorned with sculptured friezes by some of the first-rate sculptors of the day, Leochares, Bryaxis,
Seopas, and Timotheus, who each took one side. Three of them were apparently brought from Greece, but Bryaxis has
a Carian name. lt was principally these sculptures, we are told, that caused the Mausoleum to be reckoned among
the Seven Wonders. Fragments of them are now in the British Museum, and a single slab is exhibited in the Castle
of the Knights
Artemisia's other claim to fame is of a totally different character. That a woman should rule over Caria seemed
to the Rhodians an indignity, and also no doubt an opportunity; they therefore equipped a fleet and set out to
take the kingdom from her. Artemisia, learning of this, hid her own fleet in a secret harbour joined by a canal
to the great harbour. This had been constructed by Mausolus close under his palace, so as to have his ships under
his eye and to make his decisions without interference.
The Rhodians sailed in and put their men ashore to occupy the city. Whereupon the queen led her ships quickly out
of the secret harbour, seized the unmanned Rhodian vesseis, and carried them out to sea. The Rhodian soldiers,
deprived of their retreat, were surrounded and destroyed in the market-place. Artemisia then put her own men on
the enemy ships and sailed to Rhodes. There the Rhodians, supposing their own ships to be returning victorious,
admitted the Halicarnassians, and the city was easily captured. To celebrate this victory Artemisia had a trophy
erected there in the form of a statue of herseif brand-ing the city of Rhodes. Humiliating though this was for
the Rhodians, ancient custom forbade that a trophy once set up should be taken down; to hide their shame, therefore,
they afterwards erected a building around it and declared it forbidden ground.
On Artemisia's death in 350 B.C. the succession passed in turn to the other children of Hecatomnos, the last of
whom, Pixodarus, called in a Persian satrap named Orontobates to share his rule; and this satrap was in control
when Alexander arrived in 334, shortly after Pixodarus' death. Of the Macedonian siege of Halicarnassus we have
detailed accounts by Diodorus and Arrian, from which the course of events is reasonably clear. Orontobates was
assisted in the defence by the Rhodian Memnon fighting in the Persian cause, and the city was weil prepared, with
command of the sea. Alexander fixed his headquarters on the north-east side, near the Mylasa gate, and after an
unsuccessful attack on Myndus settled down to the siege of Halicarnassus.
Sending round a detachment to invest the city on the west side by the Myndus gate and to prevent reinforcement
from that quarter, he took command in person on the north-east. Filling in the fosse, he brought up his siege-engines
and succeeded in breaking through the wall. Ihe defenders, however, fought back vigorously and built an inner wall
to dose the breach. Ihe fighting continued with fre-quent sallies by the Persians to set fire to the engines, all
of which were repulsed with much slaughter on either side; the historians emphasize the fierce and determined bravery
of both parties. One
Fragments of the mausoleum's sculpture that are preserved in the British Museum include a frieze of battling Greeks
and Amazons and a statue 10 feet (3 m) long, probably of Mausolus.
It was not only one of the wonders of the ancient world:
We know from historians, the Mausoleum was 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.
Nothing is exciting about Maussollos life except the construction of his tomb. The project was conceived by his
wife and sister Artemisia, and the construction might have started during the king's lifetime. The Mausoleum was
completed around 350 BC, three years after Maussollos death, and one year after Artemisia's.
For 16 centuries, the Mausoleum remained in good condition until it tumbled in an heavy earthquake in 1304 AD.
Today, the massive castle still stands in Bodrum, and the polished stone and marble blocks of the Mausoleum can
be spotted within the walls of the structure. Some of the sculptures survived and are today on display at the British
Museum in London. These include fragment of statues and many slabs of the frieze showing the battle between the
Greeks and the Amazons. At the site of the Mausoleum itself, only the foundation remains of the once magnificent
Wonder.
Description and technical datas
According to the description of the Roman author Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79), the monument was almost square, with
a total periphery of 411 feet (125 m). It was bounded by 36 columns, and the top formed a 24-step pyramid surmounted
by a four-horse marble chariot.
The structure was rectangular in plan, with base dimensions of about 40 m (120 ft) by 30 m (100 ft). Overlying
the foundation was a stepped podium which sides were decorated with statues. The burial chamber and the sarcophagus
of white alabaster decorated with gold were located on the podium and surrounded by Ionic columns. The colonnade
supported a pyramid roof which was in turn decorated with statues. A statue of a chariot pulled by four horses
adorned the top of the tomb.
The total height of the Mausoleum was 45 m (140 ft). This is broken down into 20 m (60 ft) for the stepped podium,
12 m (38 ft) for the colonnade, 7 m (22 ft) for the pyramid, and 6 m (20 ft) for the chariot statue at the top.
Sir Charles Newton
Travellers to Bodrum had long reported that many fragments of the aneient Mausoleum were to be Seen built into
the walls of the castle of St. Peter. In June ,844 Charles Alison stopped off at Bodrum at the request of Stratford
C'anning. British ambassador to the Sublime Porte, who instructed hirn to report on what sculptures of the Mausoleum
were visible in the walls of the fortress. Alison's report led Canning to request permission from the Ottoman government
to remove these sculptures to England, and in 1846 Sultan Abdül Meeit gra-ciously granted his request. Canning
sent an expedition to Bodrum to remove the sculptures, which were carried off to England in a British warship.
The marbles, which included thirteen of the original seventeen slabs of an Amazonomachy, a battle hetween Greeks
and Amazons, were exhibitcd in the Mausoleum Room of the British Museum along with more sculptures obtained by
Sir Charles Newton in his excavations at Bodrum in ,856-9 (another expedition sponsored by Canning). During his
exeavations Newton succeeded in finding the site of the Mausoleum itseif, a diseovery he described in his Traveis
and Discoveries in the Levant. 1 used his book myseif on this trip as a guide to the antiquities of Bodrum and
Cnidus.
In 1846 the Museum sent the archaeologist Charles Thomas Newton to search for more remains of the Mausoleum. He
had a difficult job. He didn't know the exact location of the tomb and the cost of buying up all the small parcels
of land in the area to look for it would have been astronomical. Instead Newton studied the accounts of ancient
writers like Pliny to obtain the approximate size and location of the memorial, then bought a plot of land in the
most likely location.
Digging down, Newton explored the surrounding area through tunnels he dug under the surrounding plots. He was able
to locate some walls, a staircase, and finally three of the corners of the foundation. With this knowledge, Newton
was able to figure out which plots of land he needed to buy.
Newton then excavated the site and found sections of the reliefs that decorated the wall of the building and portions
of the stepped roof. Also a broken stone chariot wheel, some seven feet in diameter, from the sculpture on the
roof was discovered. Finally, he found the statues of Mausolus and Artemisia that had stood at the pinnacle of
the building.
Today these works of art stand in the Mausoleum Room at the British Museum. There the images of Mausolus and his
queen forever watch over the few broken remains of the beautiful tomb she built for him.
In 377 B.C., the city of Halicarnassus was the capitol of a small kingdom along the Mediterranean coast of Asia
Minor. It was in that year the ruler of this land, Hecatomnus of Mylasa, died and left control of the kingdom to
his son, Mausolus. Hecatomnus, a local satrap to the Persians, had been ambitious and had taken control of several
of the neighboring cities and districts. Mausolus in his time, extended the territory even further so that it finally
included most of southwestern Asia Minor.
Mausolus, with his queen Artemisia, ruled over Halicarnassus and the surrounding territory for 24 years. Mausolus,
though he was descended from the local people, spoke Greek and admired the Greek way of life and government. He
founded many cities of Greek design along the coast and encouraged Greek democratic traditions.
Then in 353 B.C. Mausolus died, leaving his queen Artemisia, who was also his sister (It was the custom in Caria
for rulers to marry their own sisters), 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. The building was also so beautiful and unique it became one of
the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
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 to Artemis at Ephesus. Other famous sculptors such as Bryaxis, Leochares and Timotheus joined him as
well as hundreds of other craftsmen.
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. 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.
At the center of the platform was the tomb itself. Made mostly of marble, the structure rose as a square, tapering
block to about one-third of the Mausoleum's 140 foot height. This section was covered with relief sculpture showing
action scenes from Greek myth/history. One part showed the battle of the Centaurs with the Lapiths. Another depicted
Greeks in combat with the Amazons, a race of warrior women.
On top of this section of the tomb thirty-six slim columns, nine per side, rose for another third of the height.
Standing in between each column was another statue. Behind the columns was a solid block that carried the weight
of the tomb's massive roof.
The roof, which comprised most of the final third of the height, was in the form of a stepped pyramid. Perched
on top was the tomb's penultimate work of sculpture: Four massive horses pulling a chariot in which images of Mausolus
and Artemisia rode.
Soon after construction of the tomb started Artemisia found herself in a crisis. Rhodes, an island in the Aegean
Sea between Greece and Asia Minor, had been conquered by Mausolus. When the Rhodians heard of his death they rebelled
and sent a fleet of ships to capture the city of Halicarnassus. Knowing that the Rhodian fleet was on the way,
Artemisa hid her own ships at a secret location at the east end of the city's harbor. After troops from the Rhodian
fleet disembarked to attack, Artemisia's fleet made a surprise raid, captured the Rhodian fleet, and towed it out
to sea.
Artemisa put her own soldiers on the invading ships and sailed them back to Rhodes. Fooled into thinking that the
returning ships were their own victorious navy, the Rhodians failed to put up a defense and the city was easily
captured quelling the rebellion.
Artemisa lived for only two years after the death of her husband. Both would be buried in the yet unfinished tomb.
According to the historian Pliny, the craftsmen decided to stay and finish the work after their patron died "considering
that it was at once a memorial of their own fame and of the sculptor's art."
The Mausoleum overlooked the city of Halicarnassus for many centuries. It was untouched when the city fell to Alexander
the Great in 334 B.C. and still undamaged after attacks by pirates in 62 and 58 B.C.. It stood above the city ruins
for some 17 centuries. Then a series of earthquakes shattered the columns and sent the stone chariot crashing to
the ground. By 1404 A.D. only the very base of the Mausoleum was still recognizable.
Crusaders, who had occupied the city from the thirteen century onward, recycled the broken stone into their own
buildings. In 1522 rumors of a Turkish invasion caused Crusaders to strengthen the castle at Halicarnassus (which
was by then known as Bodrum) and much of the remaining portions of the tomb was broken up and used within the castle
walls. Indeed sections of polished marble from the tomb can still be seen there today.
At this time a party of knights entered the base of the monument and discovered the room containing a great coffin.
The party, deciding it was too late to open it that day, returned the next morning to find the tomb, and any treasure
it may have contained, plundered. The bodies of Mausolus and Artemisia were missing too. The Knights claimed that
Moslem villagers were responsible for the theft, but it is more likely that some of the Crusaders themselves plundered
the graves.
Before grounding much of the remaining sculpture of the Mausoleum into lime for plaster the Knights removed several
of the best works and mounted them in the Bodrum castle. There they stayed for three centuries. At that time the
British ambassador obtained several of the statutes from the castle, which now reside in the British Museum.
In 1846 the Museum sent the archaeologist Charles Thomas Newton to search for more remains of the Mausoleum. He
had a difficult job. He didn't know the exact location of the tomb and the cost of buying up all the small parcels
of land in the area to look for it would have been astronomical. Instead Newton studied the accounts of ancient
writers like Pliny to obtain the approximate size and location of the memorial, then bought a plot of land in the
most likely location. Digging down, Newton explored the surrounding area through tunnels he dug under the surrounding
plots. He was able to locate some walls, a staircase, and finally three of the corners of the foundation. With
this knowledge, Newton was able to figure out which plots of land he needed to buy.
Newton then excavated the site and found sections of the reliefs that decorated the wall of the building and portions
of the stepped roof. Also a broken stone chariot wheel, some seven feet in diameter, from the sculpture on the
roof was discovered. Finally, he found the statues of Mausolus and Artemisia that had stood at the pinnacle of
the building.
Today these works of art stand in the Mausoleum Room at the British Museum. There the images of Mausolus and his
queen forever watch over the few broken remains of the beautiful tomb she built for him.
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The mausoleum of Halikarnassos (near Bodrum in modern day Turkey) is one of the ancient seven wonders in the world.
The monument was according to some sources still standing in the 12th century AD.
Between 1856 and 1858 Sir Charles Newton and in 1865 G.M.A. Biliotti excavated the ancient ruins. An nowdays the
British Museum in London now houses some examples of sculpture and relief's from the mausoleum. On the original
site there is nothing left but ruins.
On this page I present my series of photographs of the frieze of the mausoleum which I have in the British Museum
taken in July 1999. All images contain a short description of the depicted scene.
The relief's depict a battle between the Amazons and the Greek and were sculpted around 350 BC by four different
artists.
For more information on the story behind the images see the link to the Perseus Project below.
The frieze can be read like a cartoon, hence the title of this article. The scenes are dramatic and dynamic
The images on this page are displayed in the order that they are displayed in the British Museum. The names refer
to the inventory number of the British Museum. You can either click on of the links below or go to the site map
to see thumbnail images of each fotograph.
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Sculptures
London, British Museum:
Loewen vom Mausoleum
London, British Museum:
Reiter vom Mausoleum
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At the very top of the tomb was a twenty-four-step pyramid surmounted by a marble chariot twenty-five feet tall.
The marble base contained a room in which both Mausolus, of whom the tomb was built for, and his wife Artemisia
were to be entombed. The Mausoleum had a perimeter of 411 feet (125 meters). It was built to be known for its beauty,
richness, and grace.
The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus was built in approximately 353 B.C., and it was said to be one of the finest buildings
in all of Halicarnassus. The Mausoleum's construction was ordered by Queen Artemisia to be a tomb and monument
of King Mausolus. After his death, Queen Artemisia resolved to build him the most immaculate tomb the world had
ever seen. She sent for the most gifted artist of that time period. Sculptors like Scopas who had helped rebuild
the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and others such as Timotheus Bryaxis and Leochares. The architects who answered
Artemisia’s call were Satyros and Pythias. In building the tomb no effort was made to out do the pyramids. Two
years after her husband's death and the construction of the tomb began, Queen Artemisa died. At this time the tomb
was still incomplete, however the sculptors resolved to finish their work. The tomb became known as the mausoleum,
and the word has passed into our language, as a word used to describe a large tomb. Earthquakes destroyed the Mausoleum
in the fifteenth century, shattering the columns and sending the chariot crashing down.
By 1404 AD only the square base remained intact, the rest of the stone was used by the Crusaders for building material.
It was the Crusaders who discovered what was in the base of the monument, and it was during this time that a group
of Crusaders ransacked the tomb stripping it of all its treasure. In 1897 a British archeologist named Newton began
to excavate the remains. He found fragments of the chariot and uncovered statues of both Mausolos and Artemisia.
The remains can be found in the Mausoleum Room of the British Museum.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Mausoleum overlooked the city of Halicarnassus for many centuries. It was untouched when the city fell to Alexander
the Great in 334 B.C. and still undamaged after attacks by pirates in 62 and 58 B.C.. It stood above the city ruins
for some 17 centuries.
Then a series of earthquakes shattered the columns and sent the stone chariot crashing to the ground. By 1404 A.D.
only the very base of the Mausoleum was still recognizable. Crusaders, who had occupied the city from the thirteen
century onward, recycled the broken stone into their own buildings. In 1522 rumours of a Turkish invasion caused
Crusaders to strengthen the castle at Halicarnassus (which was by then known as Bodrum) and much of the remaining
portions of the tomb was broken up and used within the castle walls. Indeed sections of polished marble from the
tomb can still be seen there today.
In 1846 the Museum sent the archaeologist Charles Thomas Newton to search for more remains of the Mausoleum. He
had a difficult job. He didn't know the exact location of the tomb and the cost of buying up all the small parcels
of land in the area to look for it would have been astronomical. Instead Newton studied the accounts of ancient
writers like Pliny to obtain the approximate size and location of the memorial, then bought a plot of land in the
most likely location.
Digging down, Newton explored the surrounding area through tunnels he dug under the surrounding plots. He was able
to locate some walls, a staircase, and finally three of the corners of the foundation. With this knowledge, Newton
was able to figure out which plots of land he needed to buy.
Newton then excavated the site and found sections of the reliefs that decorated the wall of the building and portions
of the stepped roof. Also a broken stone chariot wheel, some seven feet in diameter, from the sculpture on the
roof was discovered. Finally, he found the statues of Mausolus and Artemisia that had stood at the pinnacle of
the building.
Today these works of art stand in the Mausoleum Room at the British Museum. There the images of Mausolus and his
queen forever watch over the few broken remains of the beautiful tomb she built for him.
.
Who was Mausolos
In the fourth century great changes took place in Caria. After it came again under Persian dominion, it was ruled
by the satrap Hecatomnos of Mylasa, from his death on in 377 by his son Mausolus. The kingdom of Caria in the western
part of Asia Minor (Turkey) was so far from the Persian capital that it was practically autonomous. Hecatomnus
had been ambitious and had taken control of several of the neighboring cities and districts. Mausolus extended
the territory even further so that it finally included most of southwestern Asia Minor.
see Myndos Gate).
Mausolos taxed these subjects heavily to pay for these and other grandscale projects, and it is said that he even
imposed a levy on hair longer then shoulder length.
Mausolus, with his queen Artemisia, ruled over Halicarnassus and the surrounding territory for 24 years. For his
own residence Mausolus built a palace with walls of dried brick, finished in all parts with marble from the Sea
of Marmara. Nothing of this palace survives today, and its position has been the subject of much discussion.
Then in 353 BC.
Mausolus died, leaving his queen Artemisia, who was also his sister (It was the custom in Caria for rulers to marry
their own sisters), broken-hearted. It is not certain that Mausolos initiated the construction of the monument
of moussoleion later, but as a tribute to him, Artemisis decided to build him the most splendid tomb in the known
world. It became a structure so famous that it was called one of the Seven Wonders of the world. Mausolus's name
is now associated with all stately tombs through our modern word mausoleum.
Who was Artemisia
Mausolos died in 353 BC.
and was succeeded by his wife and sister Artemisia the younger. She ruled for only three years, but in that time
she made herself famous in two notable respects:
The first
was the superb tomb with which she has perpetuated her husband's memory, the Mausoleum. For the form of this monument
we have to rely on the description given by the elder Pliny, eked out by the rather scanty remains unearthed by
Sir Charles Newton in 1857 and in more recent years by a Danish expedition.
This is not the place to discuss details, but the general appearance is clear enough. The building was of rectangular
shape and comprised four parts: first, a solid base or podium; above this a colonnade of thirty-six columns, disposed
apparently with eleven on the flanks and nine on the short sides, surrounding a rectangular chamber; above again,
a pyramid of twenty-four steps; and at the top a chariot-and-four bearing (in all probability) figures of Mausolus
and Artemisia. The total height, according to Pliny, was 140 Ionic feet, about 41 metres by modern reckoning. All
four sides were adorned with sculptured friezes by some of the first-rate sculptors of the day, Leochares, Bryaxis,
Seopas, and Timotheus, who each took one side. Three of them were apparently brought from Greece, but Bryaxis has
a Carian name. lt was principally these sculptures, we are told, that caused the Mausoleum to be reckoned among
the Seven Wonders. Fragments of them are now in the British Museum, and a single slab is exhibited in the Castle of the Knights
Artemisia's other claim
to fame is of a totally different character. That a woman should rule over Caria seemed to the Rhodians an indignity,
and also no doubt an opportunity; they therefore equipped a fleet and set out to take the kingdom from her. Artemisia,
learning of this, hid her own fleet in a secret harbour joined by a canal to the great harbour. This had been constructed
by Mausolus close under his palace, so as to have his ships under his eye and to make his decisions without interference.
The Rhodians sailed in and put their
men ashore to occupy the city. Whereupon the queen led her ships quickly out of the secret harbour, seized the
unmanned Rhodian vesseis, and carried them out to sea. The Rhodian soldiers, deprived of their retreat, were surrounded
and destroyed in the market-place. Artemisia then put her own men on the enemy ships and sailed to Rhodes. There
the Rhodians, supposing their own ships to be returning victorious, admitted the Halicarnassians, and the city
was easily captured. To celebrate this victory Artemisia had a trophy erected there in the form of a statue of
herseif brand-ing the city of Rhodes. Humiliating though this was for the Rhodians, ancient custom forbade that
a trophy once set up should be taken down; to hide their shame, therefore, they afterwards erected a building around
it and declared it forbidden ground.
On Artemisia's death in 350 B.C. the succession passed in turn to the other children of Hecatomnos, the last of
whom, Pixodarus, called in a Persian satrap named Orontobates to share his rule; and this satrap was in control
when Alexander arrived in 334, shortly after Pixodarus' death. Of the Macedonian siege of Halicarnassus we have
detailed accounts by Diodorus and Arrian, from which the course of events is reasonably clear. Orontobates was
assisted in the defence by the Rhodian Memnon fighting in the Persian cause, and the city was weil prepared, with
command of the sea. Alexander fixed his headquarters on the north-east side, near the Mylasa gate, and after an
unsuccessful attack on Myndus settled down to the siege of Halicarnassus.
Sending round a detachment to invest the city on the west side by the Myndus gate and to prevent reinforcement
from that quarter, he took command in person on the north-east. Filling in the fosse, he brought up his siege-engines
and succeeded in breaking through the wall. Ihe defenders, however, fought back vigorously and built an inner wall
to dose the breach. Ihe fighting continued with fre-quent sallies by the Persians to set fire to the engines, all
of which were repulsed with much slaughter on either side; the historians emphasize the fierce and determined bravery
of both parties. One
Artemisia I
Encyclopædia Britannica Article
flourished 5th century BC
queen of Halicarnassus, a Greek city in Caria, and of the nearby island of Cos in about 480.
Artemisia ruled under the overlordship of the Persian king Xerxes (reigned 486–465) and participated in Xerxes'
invasion of Greece (480–479). Despite her able command of five ships in the major naval battle with the Greeks
off the island of Salamis near Athens, the Persian fleet suffered…
Fragments of the mausoleum's sculpture that are preserved
in the British Museum include a frieze of battling Greeks and Amazons and a statue 10 feet (3 m) long, probably
of Mausolus.
It was not only one of the wonders of the ancient world:
We know from historians, the Mausoleum was 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.
Nothing is exciting about Maussollos life except the
construction of his tomb. The project was conceived by his wife and sister Artemisia, and the construction might
have started during the king's lifetime. The Mausoleum was completed around 350 BC, three years after Maussollos
death, and one year after Artemisia's.
For 16 centuries, the Mausoleum remained in good condition until it tumbled in an heavy earthquake in 1304 AD.
Today, the massive castle still stands in Bodrum, and
the polished stone and marble blocks of the Mausoleum can be spotted within the walls of the structure. Some of
the sculptures survived and are today on display at the British Museum in London. These include fragment of statues
and many slabs of the frieze showing the battle between the Greeks and the Amazons. At the site of the Mausoleum
itself, only the foundation remains of the once magnificent Wonder.
Description and technical datas
According to the description of the Roman author Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79), the monument was almost square, with
a total periphery of 411 feet (125 m). It was bounded by 36 columns, and the top formed a 24-step pyramid surmounted
by a four-horse marble chariot.
The structure was rectangular in plan, with base dimensions of about 40 m (120 ft) by 30 m (100 ft). Overlying
the foundation was a stepped podium which sides were decorated with statues. The burial chamber and the sarcophagus
of white alabaster decorated with gold were located on the podium and surrounded by Ionic columns. The colonnade
supported a pyramid roof which was in turn decorated with statues. A statue of a chariot pulled by four horses
adorned the top of the tomb.
The total height of the Mausoleum was 45 m (140 ft). This is broken down into 20 m (60 ft) for the stepped podium,
12 m (38 ft) for the colonnade, 7 m (22 ft) for the pyramid, and 6 m (20 ft) for the chariot statue at the top.
Sir Charles Newton
Travellers to Bodrum had long reported that many fragments of the aneient Mausoleum were to be Seen built into
the walls of the castle of St. Peter. In June ,844 Charles Alison stopped off at Bodrum at the request of Stratford
C'anning. British ambassador to the Sublime Porte, who instructed hirn to report on what sculptures of the Mausoleum
were visible in the walls of the fortress. Alison's report led Canning to request permission from the Ottoman government
to remove these sculptures to England, and in 1846 Sultan Abdül Meeit gra-ciously granted his request. Canning
sent an expedition to Bodrum to remove the sculptures, which were carried off to England in a British warship.
The marbles, which included thirteen of the original seventeen slabs of an Amazonomachy, a battle hetween Greeks
and Amazons, were exhibitcd in the Mausoleum Room of the British Museum along with more sculptures obtained by
Sir Charles Newton in his excavations at Bodrum in ,856-9 (another expedition sponsored by Canning). During his
exeavations Newton succeeded in finding the site of the Mausoleum itseif, a diseovery he described in his Traveis
and Discoveries in the Levant. 1 used his book myseif on this trip as a guide to the antiquities of Bodrum and
Cnidus.
In 1846 the Museum sent the archaeologist Charles Thomas Newton to search for more remains of the Mausoleum. He
had a difficult job. He didn't know the exact location of the tomb and the cost of buying up all the small parcels
of land in the area to look for it would have been astronomical. Instead Newton studied the accounts of ancient
writers like Pliny to obtain the approximate size and location of the memorial, then bought a plot of land in the
most likely location.
Digging down, Newton explored the surrounding area through tunnels he dug under the surrounding plots. He was able
to locate some walls, a staircase, and finally three of the corners of the foundation. With this knowledge, Newton
was able to figure out which plots of land he needed to buy.
Newton then excavated the site and found sections of the reliefs that decorated the wall of the building and portions
of the stepped roof. Also a broken stone chariot wheel, some seven feet in diameter, from the sculpture on the
roof was discovered. Finally, he found the statues of Mausolus and Artemisia that had stood at the pinnacle of
the building.
Today these works of art stand in the Mausoleum Room at the British Museum. There the images of Mausolus and his
queen forever |