Mausolus was the eldest son of Hecatomnus, a native Carian who became the satrap ofCariawhen Tissaphernes died, around 395 BC. He is best known for the monumental shrine, the Tomb of Mausolus, erected for him by order of his sister and widow Artemisia.
Artemisia and Mausolus spent huge amounts of tax money to embellish their city. They commissioned statues, temples and buildings of gleaming marble. On a hill overlooking the city Artemisia planned to place a resting place for her body, and her husband’s, after their death. It would be a tomb that would forever show how rich they were.
Artemisia lived for only two years after the death of her husband. The urns with their ashes were placed in the yet unfinished tomb. As a form of sacrifice ritual the bodies of a large number of dead animals were placed on the stairs leading to the tomb, and then the stairs were filled with stones and rubble, sealing the access. According to the historian Pliny the Elder, the craftsmen decided to stay and finish the work after the death of their patron “considering that it was at once a memorial of his own fame and of the sculptor’s art.”
Artemisia spared no expense in building the tomb. She sent messengers toGreeceto find the most talented artists of the time. These included Scopas, the man who had supervised the rebuilding of thetempleofArtemisatEphesus. The famous sculptors were Leochares, Bryaxis, Scopas and Timotheus, 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 sat. A stairway flanked by stone lions led to the top of the platform, which bore along its outer walls many statues of gods and goddess. At each corner, stone warriors mounted on horseback guarded the tomb. At the center of the platform, the marble tomb rose as a square tapering block to one-third of the Mausoleum’s 45 m (148 ft) height. This section was covered with bas-reliefs showing action scenes, including the battle of the centaurs with the lapiths and Greeks in combat with the Amazons, a race of warrior women.
On the top of this section of the tomb thirty-six slim columns, ten per side, with each corner sharing one column between two sides; rose for another third of the height. Standing between each pair of columns was a 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 pyramidal. Perched on the top was a quadriga: four massive horses pulling a chariot in which rode images of Mausolus and Artemisia.
The Mausoleum overlooked the city ofHalicarnassusfor many years. It was untouched when the city fell to Alexander the Great in 334 BC and still undamaged after attacks by pirates in 62 and 58 BC. It stood above the city’s ruins for sixteen centuries. Then a series of earthquakes shattered the columns and sent the bronze chariot crashing to the ground. By 1404 AD only the very base of the Mausoleum was still recognizable.
The site and a few remains can still be seen in the Turkish town ofBodrum.
“Mausoleion” translates as “dedicated to Mausolus,” and Mausolus’s name is now the eponym for all stately tombs, in the word mausoleum.